During lockdown, most of us stayed home the entire time. Because their jobs are deemed essential, Gayle and Simon were able to go back to work after just three weeks, and Esther went to town to do the grocery shopping a couple of times. However, some of us never even got into a vehicle for six entire weeks. By the end of that time, we were quite ready to see something else, so one Sunday afternoon when it was too rainy to go down to the river bed, we decided to take a drive. A road goes out of our town to the southeast, and ever since we moved here we’ve been wanting to drive to the end. We decided that was the perfect time to do so! The road goes through farmland for a short ways, then through dense bush with only logging roads going off to the left side; the Ahaura River parallels the road to the right. After the dense bush section, the road comes out into farming country again, and then dead ends at the river, about 45 minutes’ drive from here. The scenery was amazing! There were several waterfalls in one area. We stopped to take photos of this one, and then stopped a little farther on where a farmer was moving cattle across the road.
At the end of the road, we drove up onto a stopbank and along it to the end where the river goes up against the mountains.
After we turned around, we drove along the stopbank the other direction from the road, until it came to an end in a paddock. Miss Joy woke up then, while we were bumping along over big rocks, and looked at me with the most puzzled look on her face, as if she was asking me what in the world was happening.
Here are a couple of views of the river as we drove back.
We saw a flock of Arapawa sheep in a paddock on the way up the road; as we went back, a few of them were on the road. They raced along in front of the van for a good ways until they finally tired and turned off.
We also saw another herd of cattle being moved across the road!
It was really good to get away from home for a short time, and quite fun to see some new places.