Winter Sunshine at Tai Tapu & up Gibraltar Rock

Thursday 2 July

Misty morning in Tai Tapu - no sign of the ostriches until the sun burned through. I put our new duvet cover on the bed and was very pleased with it - all snuggly and homely, and Frida Kahlo looked very happy on it!💙💚

Late morning after chores & admin we walked into the village and checked out The Store at Tai Tapu for lunch. The Store has some great cabinet food, a funky lego section and a general gifts and housewares section too. I rather liked the pipecleaner flowers on each of the tables - they were very jolly!

After a yummy panini each we walked back past the fabulous historic library & old St Paul's church then along the new river walkway in the winter sunshine to McLeods Bridge at the Old Tai Tapu Road.

Late afternoon we set off on an adventure up to Gibraltar Rock on Summit Pass. The drive up the hill was steep & winding and we parked up near the saddle and set off through the tree fuschia grove to walk up to the rock. Turned out to be a bit damp & muddy, and sadly on the shady side of the hill so very chilly.

We managed to scramble around 5m up the actual rocky part of the peak but realised it was a bit risky as it was so slippery so we turned back - there wasn't exactly a defined path and we reckoned discretion was the better part of valour. Made do with admiring the views from the road at the top and on the way down - looking out over Lake Ellesmere to the south and the Banks Peninsula to the east. Was shocked to see a bunch of cyclists pedalling ferociously up the road - that was quite a massive slope.

Cooked a flat chook on the Weber for dinner and enjoyed a spot of Downton before snuggling under our toasty new duvet cover. 😴