Kingfisher Blue

We stopped at the Allanton Wildlife Reserve to stretch our legs and have a spot of refreshment. The reserve was at the water’s edge and, as the tide was out, there was an expanse of mud with pools on it.

There were ducks, stilts, gulls and, best of all, kingfishers who flew out from the shelter of the trees and perched on one in a row of short posts, seeking food from the mud.

The New Zealand Kingfisher is different from the one resident in the UK in that, when still, it has a white front and apparently a dark back. In flight, though, the mid blue feathers on its wings are obvious and have a beautiiful sheen. So kingfisher blue has a different meaning here.

Jean

Time Machine

No, this did not transport us back to the beginning of November so we could have more weeks in New Zealand. It was a timeball located on a hill above Lyttelton Harbour, which was enabled sailors to check their marine chronometers, thereby determining the longitude of their ships more accurately.

The balls were large painted wooden or metal balls that dropped at a predetermined time and there were hundreds of them around the world, all prepared according to Greenwich Mean Time. As the ball began its descent, the captains in the ships in the harbour would all set their chronometers.

Jean

More train spotting

As noted before, New Zealand’s rail system is border-line non-existent and away from big cities only tourist ones like this, the Tranz-Coast Express between Christchurch and Picton, fly the flag.

For much of the way up to Kaikoura it runs next to the road and we happened on it when it emerged from a tunnel as we were taking scenic shots of the bay and mountains just south of Kaikoura. Thought about catching it to Picton tomorrow but as the track again follows the road we will be on on Sunday decided against it. Dave

More snow

Having left the west side of South Island behind some while ago we lost snow-covered mountains here on the east side but we picked them up again today as we approached Kaikoura. Nice to see them on our final two days before we cross back to North Island on Sunday. Dave