Exploring Godley Head

This morning was cool and dark. Summer is over and Fall is here. It was in the low 50's (10-13C) with only a little wind and Maggie and I needed something to do. The beach was out so we went the other direction and drove up the steep hills behind Sumner to explore a place called Godley Head.

On the way up, we saw lots of these Pig's Ear plants. They are native to S. Africa and are on the invasive species list for NZ but I really like them. They remind me of some of the plants in Arizona.

The road to Lyttleton and the harbor, the next village over, is closed due to rock slides following the earthquakes. Erik says he knows of no plans to fix it. Too bad. It looks like a pretty drive.

Looking toward Lyttleton Harbor.

But the road to Godley Head is open and so Maggie and I turned back to go there. Her favorite part of the drive was certainly the sheep. Lately Maggie has been impersonating a dinosaur so she roared at the sheep out the window until they turned tail and ran off. Then she would giggle and tell me how afraid the sheep were.

Fearful sheep

From up high there was a great view of Sumner.

Sumner. 

Our house is just to the left of the tall tree in the center of the shoreline.

Taylor's Mistake

 There were great views all around. Taylor's Mistake is the place where the better surfers go - I'm told. Anyway, the waves there (on left) are usually much bigger and meaner looking than the ones in Sumner.

Maggie refuses to dress for the cool weather. 

 Maggie is in denial over the end of Summer. No amount of cold wind was getting her into a pair of pants or socks. I was lucky she would wear shoes! (Of course, I may have mentioned "sheep poopies" as something bare feet might not like to step on.) She is becoming Kiwi faster than the rest of us! But since this was a fact-finding and keeping busy kind of trip vs. a fully planned hike, I figured it wasn't worth picking the fight.

Cool steps to the overlook. 

 Godley Head was used as a WWII look-out and there are lots of old buildings that housed troops and weapons. We could see the buildings below from the overlook so Maggie and I decided to see if she could walk that far. She made it that far and even further!

Dilapidated WWII buildings.

The Germans made it to the mouth of the harbor but never attacked. 

Maggie is anti-photography lately and wouldn't smile. 

WWII buildings

Maggie said the buildings were "sclary" (her word for scary) and wouldn't go in at first. 

Each building had a plaque inside telling what it was used for.

Foundation

Inside there were grooves in the floor and rusty iron rails.

Inside the Engine Room.

Heavy steel doors and thick concrete walls on the Engine Room.

If you click on the pic, you can read the text. 

Maggie was finally convinced to go inside.

She was still going strong so we hiked for a while more before turning back.

I love ferns. They have all kinds here.

Headed back to the car.

Navigating the stairs. 

"Fuzzy ball" that Maggie found. 

 Maggie wanted to keep the seed pod she found so I put it in my hoodie pocket for safe keeping. When I got home, it had come apart into individual seeds and each had stabbed itself into the fabric of my hoodie. I had to pick them out painstakingly. I bet those poor sheep are covered in them!

Maggie bushwhacked a trail down the center of these two tracks. 

Reading the sign.

View from the top part 1...

 Use the pole in the foreground to line up the two pics.

View from the top part 2.

 We're a long way up. It's hard to tell from the pics. In the "part 1" pic above, you can see a tiny ship (bottom left). Below is a close up. You can see how big it really is.

Close up of ship. It's a long way down!

Then it was a nice drive home. This is another view of Taylor's Mistake. 

Maggie wants to come back soon. I think 00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
Maggie just added those zeroes. :)
Anyway, I think we'll bring the rest of the family for a walk here. It's a fun place. 00000000