Although we had made some exciting plans for the Christmas / Summer break involving two more of the Great Walks and some sightseeing on the West Coast, things turned out a little differently.
We were fortunate enough to get bookings to be one of the first groups of people to walk the newest Great Walk, the Paparoa Track on the West Coast, however just before the track opened, a large land slip took out the central portion of the trail. Weeks of incredibly heavy rain before Christmas meant that the Department of Conservation were unable to open the track in time and ended up cancelling our booking. This would still have left us with some options, but when I found out that I would need surgery on my broken ankle and that the doctor didn’t advise completing the other track, we decided to cancel all of our plans and spend the holiday at home instead.
With plenty of work to do on the house, we had lots to keep us occupied and with views like this from our deck, it was a pretty relaxing place to be. In addition to working on the house, we also made time for a couple of adventures closer to home, although it was challenging to find something that wouldn’t further damage my ankle.