Fall 2010 - Photos

On Sunday we drove north to Parry Sounds to look at the autumn leaves.  It was beautiful.  We have become particularly fond of this part of the country in any weather but autumn is just amazing.  I took lots of photos, so you can quickly flick through them in you prefer.  I took so many photos that I had to split them into two albums, one called Fall 2010 and one called Big Chute Marine Railway.

The drive north was fairly uneventful.  Jenna had been to Nuit Blanche (city wide art event) on Saturday night and didn't arrive home until 4.30am.   We dragged her out of bed at 7am so she wasn't really in a good state.  She slept most of the way there although Jesse kept waking her to tell her stuff.  She wasn't particularly impressed by this.

The trees were so amazing, the colours are indescribable - everything from brown to orange and bright pink to dark red and even aubergine.  I have never seen such a wide array of colours in nature in my life.  Autumn in NZ is nothing compared to this.

Once we arrived in Parry Sounds we stopped at the gift shop (where I started my Christmas shopping - well done me!) and then made a plan.  This included driving up to the Fire Lookout Tower.  We could have walked, it wasn't that far but with Jenna in the state she was in and the fact that it was only about 5 degrees, we decided to take the car.

The tower itself if quite tall and Jesse, being a little fearful of heights decided he would only go half way up.  He did make it to the top after a little coaxing and squeezing of my hand.  It was well worth the climb, as the photos will show you.  This part of the World is truly amazing!

It was our intention to visit the Parry Sounds Museum but at this time of the year, it was not open on a Sunday so we hung around outside while Jesse climbed on the huge buoy (see the photos).  I didn't realise how large they are.

We headed down to the waterfront.  It was indeed a lovely day, the sun was shining and when the chilly breeze stopped I actually took off my coat and hat and gloves.  Jenna and I chilled out (or should I say warmed ourselves) on a park bench while the boys played around at the park and on the rocks.

We had a picnic at the beach and then headed for home, intending to stop along the way to show Jenna where we had stayed on our little summer holiday.  

We ended up visiting the Big Chute Marine Railway.  We were lucky enough to see it in action.  This is a large platform which brings the boats from one (lower) lake up the hill to another (higher) lake or vice versa.  The platform comes down the hill and into the water.  The boats drive on in between the sides of the platform and a sling is raised to hold the hull of the boat off the deck of the platform.  Then the platform slowly rises and moves up to the top of the hill.  At the top there is a railway crossing where it crosses the road and then goes back into the water where the boats are discharged.  It was really fascinating to watch.  It can take up to 9 boats at a time.

Only in Canada could you see a ride on mower stopped at a railway crossing waiting for a boat to go across!

After this adventure Jesse made friends with a tiny chipmunk which allowed Andy to get some great shots.  I haven't been able to manage a good photo of a chipmunk until now.  They are so cute and we saw so many of them scooting across the road with their tails in the air.  

We did stop briefly at White Falls where we had been swimming just six weeks earlier.  No swimming today, way too cold and they had the flood gates open so the water was raging down.

We headed home tired, but contented after a beautiful day of adventure.

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