It was a beautiful calm, sunny day in Kaikoura, we set off along the Kaikoura Peninsula Road for no better reason than to see where it went, a good decision as it turned out, the views over the blue waters of the bay to the mountains beyond presented New Zealand’s Pacific coast at its best. We retraced our route back to Kaikoura to join State Highway 1 and headed south past Kaikoura South Bay where we turned inland on Highway 70, sometimes referred to as the Inland Route. We climbed into the Seaward Kaikoura Range, as we gained height the scenery became dramatic, yet gentle, even pretty, our route runs at right angles to the rivers carrying the clear mountain waters down to the Pacific Ocean via of a series of deep gorges, of which that carved by the Conway River is the most scenic. Shortly after Waiau we crossed the Waiau River on a long single track bridge, the route on to Waikari passes through gentle rolling farmland. Waikari is the terminus of the Weka Pass heritage railway that shares the narrow Weka Pass with our road, the Pass is noted for its statue like rock formations. The Weka Pass railway meets NZR’s South Island Main Trunk at Waipara Junction, shortly after Glenmark the normal limit for heritage passenger trains. Sadly on this occasion Weka Pass trains were not running, I’ll have to time my next trip to allow me to capture one of the lovingly restored steam or diesel locomotives in action along the scenic Pass railroad.
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