WALKING THE RURAL-URBAN DIVIDE
THE road from Christchurch up the east coast to Blenheim and Picton is one of the country’s busiest. Winding through the Hunderlee Hills most drivers wouldn’t notice an innocuous rural road, just over the Conway River, which leads to the coast. Nelson woman Liz Griffiths has been taking this road for years, knowing it leads to a hidden part of the country few people know exists; a pocket of pastoral land where two families have been inviting hikers to walk their farms and see the world through a new lens.
“I remember the first time I did the Kaikoura Coast Track,” says Griffiths. “We stopped at the cattle yards, right beside the sea, and just offshore the water was awash with hundreds of dolphins, jumping and spinning. It was one of the most remarkable things I’ve ever seen.”
The Macfarlane and Handyside families have been running their two-day, 26km private walk for over 25 years. Hikers stay in comfortable cottages with fully equipped kitchens and hot showers. Luggage is transported and the hosts even arrange the catering. And while the scenery and the wildlife encounters are undeniably stunning, equally special is being invited onto someone’s land, and invited into their life.
“Showing people our land and our life is
