Take a picture of your current view

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^you live in paradise Clutch.

BUT

there is something special about snow at Christmas. I am not sure I could live in a place without distinct seasons.
 
DanicaFreak said:
^you live in paradise Clutch.

BUT

there is something special about snow at Christmas. I am not sure I could live in a place without distinct seasons.
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I agree, and had the same thoughts when I moved to SOC... but just a drive up the mountain to the cabin during Christmas week and bingo problem solved. :)
 
I just arrived home tonight from our trip down to the South Island where we took the Tranz Alpine train trip from Christchurch to Greymouth. It was only a 5 hour trip but very enjoyable as I haven't been in a train in over 20 years. We rented a car in Greymouth and spent 2 nights in Hokitika then a night in Arthur's Pass before driving back to Christchurch. I was very happy to take the train one way and drove back the other way. Driving you can stop and take pics.
Ill post a few..... Could be a long process.
For reference, I live up in Auckland when I'm not in Alpharetta.
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I'll save pics of the Train trip for the drive back pics and post them together @shark77

When the train arrived at Greymouth we rented a car and drove to Hokitika which is only 30 minutes and even before checking into our accommodation we went to visit a couple of touristy sites although because of Covid there are no foreign tourists as our borders are closed.

Here is one that we visited. It's called the Hokitika Gorge and is water flowing down from the Southern Alps so I guess its glacial except I saw little snow in the middle of summer.



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Quite spectacular. That water is around 20 miles from the sea.
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Clutch said:
I'll save pics of the Train trip for the drive back pics and post them together @shark77

When the train arrived at Greymouth we rented a car and drove to Hokitika which is only 30 minutes and even before checking into our accommodation we went to visit a couple of touristy sites although because of Covid there are no foreign tourists as our borders are closed.

Here is one that we visited. It's called the Hokitika Gorge and is water flowing down from the Southern Alps so I guess its glacial except I saw little snow in the middle of summer.



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Quite spectacular. That water is around 20 miles from the sea.View attachment 53494
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Yeah, was going to say that looks glacial. Amazing to see palm trees with it. Really cool blue color. I don’t think I’ve ever seen water that blue before.
 
So, after a long day the day before I awoke to the alarm at 6am to get ready for a big day..... The wife had us booked in to make knives around an hours drive north. I was like OK.... Should take a few hours.... I can still see the sights. We were there almost 9 hours! with 10 other people..... Making a knife. Oh well that's what the missus wanted and I have to say we all had a pretty good time. The host and teacher was a very funny man and he and his wife did a really good job.


Here are the results. In the last pic my wife's knife is the upper.... Mine below.
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@shark77 You mentioned palms at Hokitika but an hour north at Punakaiki our one and only native palm was in abundance. It was everywhere. Its called the Nikau which means no fruit. I like it. In fact I have a small one in my front yard.

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shark77 said:
Nice. What temp ranges does your area have during a year?
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You might be able to grow it in Seattle. We aren't tropical. Down on the cooler south Island I asked the guy at the knifemaking place whether he gets frost in winter and he said no.

In winter we are around 60F high and summer 80F high on average
 
Clutch said:
@shark77 You mentioned palms at Hokitika but an hour north at Punakaiki our one and only native palm was in abundance. It was everywhere. Its called the Nikau which means no fruit. I like it. In fact I have a small one in my front yard.
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Prolly 1000 frangipani in the backyard 🤭
 
So @shark77 the train ride over may not impress you guys as much as us Aucklanders. We are a city that is 8 miles wide coast to coast.
Driving around the coast my wife mentioned that it reminded her of driving in Abbotsford, BC..... Or could be the Cascades.... Or even San Bernadido mountains head to Vegas from LA. But it was still pretty spectacular.

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