thisNZlife

EDITOR’S LETTER

Greetings from the desk of Kate Coughlan

exploding from a shaken bottle of bubbly, I’ve been whizzing about the country. Last year’s long periods of being housebound left me fretful and itching to get on the road again.

First stop was Central Otago, where I house- and dog-sat for friends in Cambrians. From there, Frank the dog and I hurtled all over Central Otago in my old Land Cruiser (Mabel the Able), finding fascinating folk everywhere, including Naseby, Waipiata, Patearoa, Mount Creighton, Glenorchy, and Queenstown. The Blue Lake at St Bathans enticed me in for a bracing swim on two occasions, though Frank, being an excellent heading dog, thought I needed rescuing and doggy-paddled me back to shore.

In Wānaka, a high-speed trip down the lake, in a beautiful classic cigarette boat with the owner of Boating New Zealand magazine Tim Porter, delivered me to join my nephew Duncan at his birthday picnic at Mōu Wahou. This island in Lake Wānaka has another tiny lake cradled high in its peaks. Such deep lungsful of clear air, so many kilometres of traffic-free roads, and so many mountains. Central Otago is my fail-proof recipe for feeling fully alive.

Next was Marlborough, where I met the Neylon family of Rapaura (see page 86). There’s a book and a half in everyone, and the Neylon story is an epic saga. Margaret and I decided to claim each other as cousins on the grounds of a distant marriage (her great- great-aunt to my great- great-uncle).

The magnificent Hurunui district north of Christchurch came next where, once more, I flew along traffic-free (though not sheep-free) roads to Waikari, Rotherham, Waiau, Cheviot, Hawarden, Waipara, Mount Lyford, Greta Valley, Culverden and Hanmer Springs. Those rivers sparkling through the plains on braided paths winking in the sunlight are sensational. It was a dreadful drought when I was there, with farmers praying for rain. Then came the catastrophic deluge of late May, and the same rivers became raging torrents that tore trees and chunks out of the land.

But nature’s unpredictable ways won’t deter the clever and hardworking people I found creating art and gardens, gathering collections, and restoring grand homesteads and staging events (see page 110).

Hawke’s Bay was the most recent destination for my twice-yearly half-marathon walk and annual catch-up with NZ Life & Leisure writer Ann Warnock, a highlight of the year. The half-marathon route is glorious, running from Havelock North to Haumoana along the stopbanks of the Tukituki River, ending at Elephant Hill Winery.

New Zealand isn’t the world’s only beautiful country with great food and wonderful experiences. But this is OUR country; it fills our souls in a way no other can, and we relate to the people uniquely.

This is My Year of Getting Out and About.

What a tonic.

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2021-07-01T07:00:00.0000000Z

2021-07-01T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://thisnzlife.pressreader.com/article/281732682436566

NZ Lifestyle Magazine Group