Dad and Brandon's Visit: The Recovery

After we came in from the Bush, we had one day to check out a little more of what NZ has to offer. It was a little dreary weather-wise, but that didn't stop us from getting out and about to check out the Southern Coast to spend a little more quality time before they guys headed back to the States.

First Stop was Riverton. We played around on the rocks, took a little walk to Back Beach, and got to breathe in a little ice-cold ocean air.

Brandon and Dad at Back Beach, Riverton.

Howells Point, Riverton.

Next stop: my musseling Beach! It wasn't low tide, so we weren't able to really gather up any, but we scrambled around on the rocks for a while.

Dad investigating the cliffs.

Brandon's camo was surprisingly effective, don't you think?

But even with his camouflage, he couldn't hide from the waves:

Wait for it.

SPLASH! but keep watching. It gets worse:

Oh no!

Just kidding, he was gone by the time this happened. But that first wave did get him pretty good.

Keeping a little distance from the icy waters....for now...

Cold and Windy Day at the Beach!

Just hanging out on the sea cliffs.

We headed down the coast towards Tuatapere, stopping again at Gemstone Beach, hoping to find some precious stones.

After close inspection, Brandon discovered that was just a plain rock. no gemstones here.

And this is where Dad couldn't escape the cruel waves any longer, and a rogue wave came up waaaay farther on the beach than any other wave had, and just soaked his feet. Brandon and I were quite a ways farther up on the beach and it almost got us too.

To round out our tour of the South Coast region, we popped over to Lake Hauroko to see some of the terrain that we had almost gone to hunt in instead of Pleasant Valley. When we got to the lake, it was a bustling port for hunters as it turned out. There were people getting choppered in after their hunt, and three jetboats were docked, just getting in from some hunts.  

It was pretty cool to see all the buzz around this place. Any other time I'd been there, it was completely deserted.

And that was about the end of the tour! The guys had to leave back to The States the next day, so we had a quiet night at home to rest up for their long journey home (and to dry out their shoes!!!), which luckily went more seamlessly than their prolonged trip down.