Walking - but a week early

Spurred on by emails about the next Bradwell walk we decided to go on our own walk but a week earlier. 

We set off by car to Brighton. No, not Brighton England, Brighton New Zealand! That's one of the problems over here, many of the place names are English. 

Still overcast but not raining all the time. 

We drove to Kaka Point where there's a bush walk. It's not a long walk, about 45 minutes in total. 

All through the forest trees were identified with little plaques. The first we came to was a fuchsia. 

However it was a bit larger than back home. 

The fuchsia is the tree on the left!

Further along the trail. 

These trees had long creepers hanging down similar to those in the Tarzan films. 

Another interesting tree is the Matai with its hammer market bark. 

On our walk we saw a fantail and were followed along by a bell bird. We may have a video of the fantail but we never did catch sight of the bell bird - well, Brigid might have seen one but she's not sure. There are also sparrows, blackbirds and thrushes around. I'm sure there are more but we couldn't afford to invite Brian or John to come along and identify them for us. 

After the walk, a well earned cup of tea. 

Then back in the car for a drive to see Purakaunui Falls. 

The falls were really flowing fast with all the rain we've been having. 

PS for Brian about beers. I have discovered two beers that I prefer. 

The Black beer is one I discovered in Christchurch (5.2%) the other is the preferred bloke's beer recommended by Bill (only 4% though)