Sunshine after the rain

Saturday 3 May

Finally!! We awoke as the sun peeked through the clouds and started drying up the floods - about time too! Spent the morning packing up stuff, Louis dashed out to buy a generator then did a few hours of work for Ellamy Studios and I decided to change the bed linen so spent an hour or so at my old haunt Liquid Laundromat.

Said goodbye to our host John at Treehouse Retreat (and his two lovely dogs - Ivy the Swedish Vallhund & Rango the manic race-around fella who raced off out of my photo) and headed off inland along the Waimakariri River to The Willows NZMCA camp. We were concerned that, with its riverside locatio,n it may also be rather swampy - but we reckoned we should swing by & check it out. The custodian called us back on our way out there and confirmed that the site was open and pretty dry so we decided to chance it - and were delighted that she had warned us of the big pothole at the end of the tar seal so we could slow right down and avoid it.

Settled in under the rather ominous clouds and in front of the ghostly willows, met Pearl & Vic the two white Japanese Spitz dogs on site, then wandered down to explore the river.

The sun was dropping low over the snow capped Southern Alps and creating the most stunning vista. Golden hour lasted for over an hour as the sun gradually descended through layer after layer of cloud before finally dipping below the mountains. We climbed down the artificially reinforced banks to wander along parts of the wide riverbed and were surprised at how dry it was - the flood waters had obviously washed through a day or two earlier, but had mostly receded leaving a trail of leafy & grassy bunting wrapped around some of the stones, in their wake.

Abby & Jez rolled up with Harley just before the sun actually set so we stood and watched in awe as the sky and river reflections treated us to a dazzling display of fiery light as the sun dropped below our horizon. One final photo of lava like clouds before heading back to Banjo for a pasta bake dinner and another good catch up! 🥰