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Wakefield, South Island – April 4 to April 9, 2017
We had another long drive from Hanmer Springs to Wakefield — this time with a bit of rain here and there, so we broke it into a few segments. Our lunch stop was a cafe in Murchison that had a small playground — good for burning off a little energy (and a big lunch)! 🙂
In addition to the rain, there were lots of construction slow downs, which were fine with me…the slow part. 🙂 As we drove along, there were some beautiful views of the hills and mountains in the distance. I actually managed to snap a couple pictures from the car.
We arrived in Wakefield around 5ish where we stayed in a red barn that had been converted into a house with beautiful views of hills, sheep, and the mountains in the distance. The kids were excited about having bunk beds, and we all were surprised and excited to see a spa (hot tub) in the yard! 🙂
There was also a friendly little cat named Milo. 🙂
The next day we had a nice walk around the town and then headed down a path that brought us to a really nice picnic park with a great zip line (flying fox).
We continued walking up the path and found our way to the to the top of a high hill with amazing views all the way to Nelson!
On our way down, we followed another path that took us through a really wooded, steep area, but it had a nicely groomed trail. We walked back through town and then up another street beyond our house to St. John’s Anglican church, which was built in 1846 and is the second oldest surviving church in New Zealand. The church and its cemetery are situated on a hill overlooking the countryside and town. We spent a little time roaming around the cemetery and reading headstones, not quite as old as ones we found in the U.K. but still interesting.
That evening, we played a couple rounds of petanque (like bocce ball), had hamburgers and corn on the grill and relaxed in the spa for a bit.
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