#omarama

[oceaniastuff]

Omarama Clay Cliffs, Omarama, Quailburn, New Zealand: These natural rock formations are just 10 km west of Omarama. The Clay Cliffs are a stark sight - tall pinnacles separated by narrow ravines. These otherworldly formations are made up of layers of gravel and silt, originally formed by the flow from ancient glaciers over a million years ago. The cliffs are on private land. There's a donation box at the gate where you can pay the $5 vehicle admission fee. To get to the Clay Cliffs, turn onto Quailburn Rd off SH8 and then onto unsealed Henburn Rd. The Ōmarama hot tubs, back on the main highway, make for a great stop afterwards.

[cynaesthesie]

[jontycrane]

Alps to Ocean Trail - Lake Ohau Lodge to Omarama

My second and longest day on the A2O trail, cycling 64km from Lake Ohau to Omarama, over the highest point of the trail, including a 14km side trip to the popular Clay Cliffs. From Lake Ohau Lodge the trail climbs steadily upward with big views of the landscape. The Tarnbrae High Point, 900m above sea level, was easier to reach than expected, but I was on an eBike… From here was one of the most…

[kaelula-sungwis]

Omarama Clay Cliffs | Waitaki, New Zealand by Jos Buurmans Via Flickr: Although i had seen these cliffs from a distance several times while driving through Canterbury to Otago, I had never visited the Omarama Clay Cliffs until recently. I was pleasantly surprised by the textures and colours on display at this formation made of gravel and silt that was deposited by rivers that flowed here millions of years ago.

[teamodiyemeyenkiz]

Front Yard - Farmhouse Landscape Inspiration for a large, fully-shaded farmhouse's winter gravel landscaping.

[stuenzed]

First road trip of 2024

[fannibalmusical]

Natural Stone Pavers Front Yard Design concepts for a large, fully-shaded farmhouse's front yard with stone landscaping in the winter.

[project3x5]

Inspiration for a large, fully-shaded farmhouse's winter gravel landscaping.

Inspiration for a huge farmhouse full sun front yard gravel landscaping in winter.

[myhouseidea]

[misplacedmidlanders]

Thursday, May 16th 2024. Lake Pukaki > Ben Ohau > Cromwell

This morning we circled back to Lake Pukaki, driving along the east side where we saw the area where they had built part of Lake Town in The Desolation of Smaug (the scene where the refugees all gather after their town is burnt down, although this is entirely based Jake's description of it as I literally have no memory of this film). 

The farm's owner, Ian, was essentially the Radagast of our tour so far, in that he described a very lengthy family history of how the farm was eventually passed down to him, but only spent about two minutes talking about the actual filmmaking that had happened there - although his starry suit and the mannequin strapped to the back of his car (a mannequin called Richard, and no I'm not kidding) at least made this more entertaining. We then grabbed some snaps of the lake and had a bit of archery sesh - shooting arrows at a poster of Smaug (360⁰ no-scoped him, I did).

Afterwards we went to Ben Ohau where they filmed the Battle of the Pelennor Fields in The Return of the King where we staged a re-enactment of The Witch King getting shanked in the face, and then Jake and I both recited King Théoden's speech to his soldiers (the others on our tour) before their charge towards the Sauron's army (Jake went the Shakespeare route with his Théoden performance, and I went with more of a Toby Flenderson from The Office type performance, to mixed results). 

We were then joined by Priscilla Cameron (and her dog Ginny), the owner of said field who had also worked as an extra during the time that they filmed there. At one point they had 500 horses and 2000 extras, 650-700 of whom were locals who they had hired as orcs and soldiers. She then informed us about nine years after they had filmed there that she had found one of the spears that they had left behind, and so we took photographs with an actual movie prop in the same field it was originally used in (naturally Jake and I posed for several pictures where we murdered each other with this spear, a foreshadowing for next week when it's just the two of us).

We grabbed lunch in Omarama at The Wrinkly Lambs where I enjoyed steak and chips before we made our way down to the Jones Family Fruit Store in Cromwell where I had my third ice cream in a week (the hotels all have gyms and yet I have taken the pathway to ice cream every time). For our dinner tonight we had Mexican at Amigos Cromwell and tomorrow we'll be heading down to Queenstown where our tour will be starting to come to an end (cue the violins).

[aonoexpat]

20-08-2023 (2/2)

----- Continuation of part 1 -----

The sunrise the next morning was a beautiful sight, but Elrond had never been as frozen as he was that night! I was glad the doors weren't frozen shut and I could still get out to take some nice pictures:

I'd been keeping a close eye on the status of the roads around these parts, and was overjoyed that the road to Aoraki, which had previously been closed due to heavy snow, had been reopened. At 3724 meters, Aoraki is the tallest mountain in Aotearoa, and a wildly impressive sight to see:

We drove up as close as we could get along the Hooker Valley Road, and then geared up for a hike up to Hooker Lake. Sunscreen and sunglasses were essentials, for the entire trail was covered in a thick layer of snow. The bushes all around the track looked like soft little snowy hills, and I'm proud to announce I only slipped and fell down a set of steps once. My travel buddy joked that she wished she had recorded all the noises I made every time my feet slipped and I almost fell, which happened countless times during the ~4 hours it took us to get there and back. Especially the three ice-covered swing bridges across the Hooker river were dizzyingly treacherous terrain. Though we both felt sore from walking in the snow, the end goal was 1000% worth it! I bet this track is a lot of fun during summer as well, but this felt like the epitome of "walking in a winter wonderland" ❄️🎶

We had a lot of fun throwing snow balls and pushing our faces into the soft snow when we needed to cool down from the walking. By the time we got back to the parking lot we were both exhausted, but very pleased with the day we'd had ❤️

During the drive back we called ahead to a holiday park in Twizel to make sure they'd have space for two cars, because we were both craving a hot shower and a proper meal. The camp kitchen wasn't worth much, but we managed to cook up a feast for ourselves and cozied up to the fireplace with a movie for what would be our last night together, at least for now. In the morning we both went our separate ways, because our plans and wishes had started to diverge. I really enjoyed caravan-ing up with somebody else, it's nice to know you have somebody to talk to before you go to bed, somebody to have a cup of tea with in the morning, and somebody to share the beautiful sights with. Who knows, we might catch up again at a later date! We did briefly run into each other shortly after parting ways at the Omarama clay cliffs, which are a really cool sight (again, a short drive brings you to a dramatically different landscape):

For now I'm back on my own, and while I was planning to head to Oamaru and view the blue penguins, that's going to have to wait for a bit. I decided to take a leap and try my luck at finding a temporary job in the Tāhuna area. It's a bustling region right now due to the ski season, there are loads of tourists here (who drive so slowly omg who have I become that this bothers me) so I'm hopeful I might find a place to work. I'd like to earn back some of the money I've been spending on fuel, and the thought of being in a more populated area for a while, having fun with colleagues, playing music... sounds quite nice to me right now. Who knows though, I might not find anything and decide to just move on after a couple of days after all. Time will tell. In the meantime I'm trying to get some rest, it's been a rather intense week with a lot of driving and I'm content to just sit still for a moment and collect my thoughts. I've been feeling a bit better, getting my sense of adventure back, but I'm not quite as chipper as I'd like to be yet. I do believe I'll get there again though :) I spent some time today looking at photos from my trip to Australia eight years ago, and they reminded me that everything is temporary, and I'll likely look back on all of this with a huge smile in eight years' time too. Negative thoughts can seem overwhelming, and they may make me feel like I'm not making the most of my time here, but even just writing these posts today has made me realise I've been having a lot of fun lately, and I will likely continue to do so 😁

[tomchatt]

We were lucky to stumble onto the @pinkglidercafe in #omarama - delicious baked goods and hot lunches - I had a lovely salmon spinach frittata. Good #glutenfree options for my celiac husband. A broad selection of gin (including some local ones) and other drinks. And the most hospitable ladies making us feel right at home. #food #realfood #nzfoodie (at The Pink Glider Cafe) https://www.instagram.com/p/ClDyyW0hTcU/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[landscape-lunacy]

Ahuriri Bridge Campsite, New Zealand - by Kyle Barden

[roadsconnoisseur]

New Zealand South Island Adventure day 5: Queenstown -> Lake Tekapo - It has been a big day: Roaring Meg Lookout, 45th Parallel South Marker, Quadruple Fruit Sculpture in Cromwell, Cromwell Heritage Precinct, E Junction Lookout in Cromwell, Merino Sheep Sculpture in Omarama, Aoraki/Mt Cook Glacier, Lake Pukaki Lookout, and finally arrived in Lake Tekapo with minimal light pollution to appreciate night sky. It’s a pity that I didn’t get enough time for stargazing and night sky photography. #roaringmeglookout #45thparallel #cromwellnz #heritageprecinct #omarama #aoraki #mtcook #lakepukaki #punatahuvisitorcentre #laketekapo #nightsky #newzealand #roadtrip (at Lake Tekapo, New Zealand) https://www.instagram.com/p/CpkQ0bgvnI3/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[th3thrilld3m0n]

To celebrate 4 years from arriving on the stunning south island of New Zealand, here are 3 wallpaper photos that cycled onto my phone today!! Hope you're doing well, @mikaylavegar !! #newzealand #verizon #samsung #samsunggalaxy #galaxy #southisland #southislandnz #nz #nzmustdo #cliff #laketekapo #omarama #tekapo #wallpaper #wallpapers #background #backgrounds (at South Island) https://www.instagram.com/p/CLF2z4iFsgx/?igshid=vkvs4o8ug3kp