Day 1 - Heading to Rakaia Gorge

On a perfect blue-sky day (why are we leaving paradise?) we headed south stopping for lunch at Cheviot and groceries at Amberley. Then set off into relatively new territory via Oxford and tiny places like Cust and Glentunnel finally arriving at the Rakaia Gorge campground at 4pm. Weather still perfect if a little cool. Only another couple of campers here as the main campground is closed for winter.

The bridge over the Waimakariri River is pretty awesome:

With the main campground closed, we don't have a view of the river but here is what it looks like.

We actually stayed at that lodge years ago on a ski trip but left after one night because the hosts were ghastly!

We are here for two nights and plan to do some walks in the Rakaia Gorge area tomorrow.