Day 69 - Sun 27 May - Ashburton Today we went for a tiki tour out to the mouth of the Hakatere/Ashburton River. There was a collection of colourful fishing huts there and a large number of birds clustered at the river mouth. On the way out we had stopped in at Lake Hood development. It was strange to see a canal development with no access to the sea as we have in the Coromandel.

Day 68 - Sat 26 May - Timaru to Ashburton It was another crisp start to the day so we didn't head off straight away. It was an uneventful run up to Ashburton with the mountains clear and white. Our POP stop at Donegal Downs is on a small lifestyle property with miniature ponies, chooks and a very friendly black cat. The owners, Jo and Darrell, made us very welcome and shared some of their fresh eggs with us. Later in the afternoon we went along to Ashfords w...