Time: River walk 1 hour and 40 minutes; Boneline Winery walk 30 - 50 minutes; Quarry walk 30 minutes approx
Distance: River walk 3.5 km; Winery walk not sure! Quarry walk not sure!
Start: Car park at the end of Laidmore Road, Waipara
Finish: At the Boneline Winery, 376 Ram Paddock Road
Date: Friday 11th December 2020
Today's walk was the quintessential Waipara experience: a triple pronged end-of-year Xmas outing encompassing the Waipara river; Iron Ridge Quarry and The BoneLine winery.
Mention the word 'wine' and we are all in. So, eight of us squeezed into two cars with spare shoes (well most of us), raincoats (well most of us), sunhats and snacks (well most of us) and headed North on State Highway 1. The forecast was for gale force nor' westers followed by a rapid southerly change with possible heavy downpours. There was an ambiguous element to the forecast though so I didn't bother mentioning the finer details to the others.
From State Highway 1 opposite the Mud House winery, we turned left at the "Fiddlers Green Winery" sign onto Georges Road which eventually becomes Ram Paddock Road. We sped past vineyard after vineyard and then began winding through the hills in interesting ways with the river terraces below. It's a beautiful part of the country. The road became gravel and we took a right turn at Laidmore Road and then up and over the hill to the Waipara river where there is a grassy car park and some information signage.
This river is home to all kinds of fossils (plesiosaurs and penguins for example) and is one of the few places in New Zealand where you can see the K-T boundary. The Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary (now called the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary for unknown reasons) is a layer of rock, found in a number of places on earth, high in iridium and thought to be the remnants of the asteroid that hit 65 million years ago and lead to the extinction of the dinosaurs. I kid you not. If you are still not convinced then read here.
We hopped in the river heading west and the wind whipped up, a few drops of rain fell and everyone looked slightly uneasy. From the office to the riverbed feels like a quantum leap sometimes. Especially when wet feet are involved. And mud. But the sun persisted and soon we were sloshing along having a marvelous time. First stop was 10 minutes in to check out the K-T boundary. Doesn't look like much but very impressive to know what it actually is.
After another 20 minutes of wading we arrived at the high cliffs and the concretions in the river. These are big spherical boulders that apparently contain some kind of formerly living thing -perhaps now fragments of bone or shells. One or two were protruding from the cliff face looking like a babies head crowning from a vagina. Like a gaggle of geese we all let out squawks of laughter at this analogy and a kingfisher responded in alarm.
We sploshed around searching unsuccessfully for the bone fossil in the rock which I was shown once on a geology field trip. The water was warm and the sun was beating down and there were even discussions of swimming but yeah nah.
We headed back to the car, discarded wet shoes and then piled in for the five minute drive down the road to Iron Ridge Quarry. This old limestone quarry has been turned into the most awesome sculpture park and is open to the public (for a $10 entrance fee) on Sunday's from 10 am - 4 pm or by appointment. You can wander around and look at the sculptures and/or bring a picnic. There is free tea and coffee. The views out to the Waipara Hills are spectacular. In short, if you live in Christchurch or surrounds check this place out asap.
The limestone driveway took us to a car park halfway up the hill and, armed with our snacks, we headed up and around the corner to the hidden quarry, with green gardens and sculptures all around. There we were greeted by the sculptor himself, Raymond Herber, who has converted the old quarry buildings into living quarters and a barn with a workshop to one side. We set out all our snacks on an old rustic table with a bronze Bon Suter sculpture in the middle and gathered around for Camembert cheeses, crackers, salmon, berries and a divine chocolate slice. Raymond chatted about the state of the quarry when he bought it 20 years ago (dilapidated and no greenery to be seen) and the ongoing renovation.
After lunch we checked out the sculptures and we especially loved the kinetic ones, for example a bike which almost cuts your hair as you pedal and a chair that does some serious rocking. There is a loop track around the property. It is possible (with permission) to walk off piste and up the steep hill to the top of the quarry but the majority of us were not keen on this for some reason (??).
Next stop was The BoneLine winery 5 minutes down the road. We had booked ahead and Vicki welcomed us with open arms. The wine tasting is free but the owners like tasters to buy wine to support their local business. We admired Vicki's jewellery and then got straight into enthusiastically tasting the whites. Definitely pine trees with a hint of peaches. We were outside in the blazing sun (the southerly never touched us) with a laborador and a shih tzu at our feet. After the whites, we took the 30-50 minute walkway around the vineyard (I'm glad Vicki gave us a map) with lovely views down to the river and interesting information signs about the grapes, soils and fossils. Back at the barn we checked out the fossil collection - a megalodon tooth (extinct species of shark) and the vertebra of a plesiosaur. Impressive. Vicki plied us with the reds, starting at light pinots and progressing to the heavier iridium (cab franc - merlot - cab sav). The non-drivers were starting to get a bit tiddly.
We headed back to Christchurch and somehow on the way, all the wine bottles got mixed up: those who had bought rieslings got reds and those who bought reds got sav blancs. I ended up with three bottles though (two chardonnays and rose) as a gift. Thank you all! What a wonderful day!
