Looking over to the Matiri Valley

Six kilometres north of Murchison, up the Matiri Road to the roadend, is the Matiri Valley and Kahurangi National Park. Tramping tracks (and around 4 or 5 huts) provide access to the Matiri Plateau and the head waters of the Matiri River. Some of these tracks provide an array of challenging trips for well equipped and experienced trampers only.

Landforms of the Matiri Valley are spectacular, and found nowhere else in NZ. Looking at the ranges in the distance of my photo, there are several 'interesting' names given to these mountains, such as 1000 Acre Plateau (the oldest land form in NZ), Bad lines, The Haystack, and The Neddle. Goodness knows where these names eventuated from!

We had a very chilly night last night. Getting up to milk at some ungodly hour this morning (4.20am to be more exactly), was a bit of a shock. It was so cold out; 3.9 degrees C to be exact! It really did feel like autumn was upon us. It was so nice however to see lots of stars (and the moon) in the early morning sky - it was very pretty - something we usually don't see a lot of at that time of day due to the fog.

Walking home from the cowshed, through the paddocks, for breakfast, the fog had come in, and I noticed frost on the grass - just a tad bit early for this time of year. However, after the fog lifted and the sun came out, we have a lovely clear day, with a brilliant blue sky. The highs of the last two weeks have gone - it's just about 2pm, and only 22 degrees C. So much more pleasant than the 30's we have been experiencing.