No matter who you speak to they may disagree on where is best to travel and must sees but when it comes to the west coast of the South Island eveyone knows that's a must do!
This was the journey
Famous for its rugged beauty you drive the route down the west coast with the Southern Alps on your left and a furious coast line on the right. One mountain meets the next as you snake your way down the highway. The roads are straighter and flatter than I expected, to be fair the roads in the North Island are steeper not what I expected at all.
We had heard that the South was more remote and the West Coast was some of the remotest parts. So we made sure we had supplies and we were set to go. (in most cases you are never more than an hour drive from a town but it feels remote)
We stayed parked in the back of a pub the next night. The owner has some land out the back where they have built showers. There is a pool table in the bar and a lovely owner, next to us one of the sheep is loose so everyone in the pub gets together to make a sheep wall and get him back in his area.
Its just us in the field apart from one other campervan so its really peacefull apart from the bees. A wasp got stuck in my jumper and stung me. There is a big thing right now about saving the bees and I am all for it but has anyone tried to save a bee? I have, its hard they are not the brightest and its a bit like saving a toddler from a hot cooker they are just attracted to danger!
The next morning magic happened mother nature saw us and gave us a surprise. When we woke up what had been a green field had transformed. All the wild flowers had opened at once thousands of them everywhere so colourful. The bees were right! Maybe not so thick after all?
First up on our route was buller. Buller Gorge is home to New Zealand's longest swing bridge (110m). You arrive park up pay your $10 dollars and there's no turning back. Its high and long did I mention high!. Being the scardy cat that I am when it comes to heights it tooks me a bit of courage but I made it across. Well ...after making a family coming the other way turn back because I wouldnt let go of the sides to let them past.
Then we set off into the gorge, we walked round the forest tracks, got covered in gold from the water, you get covered in lots of little specks when you put your hands in the water from all the mining, and saw the jet boat take off.
Its that season again here where we had a familiar choice to make do we take our chances that the weather man has it wrong or get out of the way of an approaching cyclone. We went to Westport and it answered our question. Speaking to locals the storm last week was cyclone Fehi (our 24hrs rain in Able Tasmin that I mentioned) the place is wrecked people have lost their homes and the thought of another one just around the corner scares everyone here. So we made the smart choice to get away from the cyclone.
The good news about cyclones is you get loads of warning so even thought we knew it was coming we still had a solid week before it technically hit land the weather man at this stage is not sure exactly where but roughly upper South West of the Island. So were in good shape for a bit. This storm is a bit of a bruiser and has already crashed its way through Tonga, Samoa and Fiji giving it the title worst storm in a generation so this one ill give a little bit of respect and step aside to let it pass me by.
Westport is a small town with a road to the moria caves and operara arches they are pretty cool to crawl around and explore. We stayed again at a pub with a bit of land at the back the lady was really friendly and there is hot showers and good laughs its a proper locals bar though and everyone brings their dogs
Then with the cyclone clock ticking we hit the road to see more of the coast, this took us to Punakaiki the home of the pancake rocks where the sea is forced through gaps in lime stone rocks to make jets of water and cool noises.
Ticked off the list and off to our next point of interest we headed to find a beach in Barry Town that Chris swears exists with a starfish colony. We are still looking to this day for the beach and the starfish at Barry Town.
We were going to make knifes in Barry Town but when we saw the road already getting repaired from the last cyclone we were pretty sure it was going to be closed after the storm tomorrow.
So officially on cyclone watch we made our escape to Hokitika. I should mention at this point it is clear blue skies, the sun is shining and it really doesnt feel like we are due a storm. Maybe the weather man is talking nonsense after all.
We arrive in Hokitika its a cool little beach town layed back vibe and famous for whitebait pizza, sunset point and glow worms. Its still a nice night if anything getting a bit sticky and humid so we head off to the glow worms. You walk for about 5mins into a forest and they are just there, hanging out, thousands of tiny lights in the bushes all around you. There are people trying to take videos of nothing in the darkness and everyone talks in whispers so we dont frigthen our little lit up buddies.
We head back to the camp. We plan to spend a few days here to let the storm pass and its due in about 24 hrs. The guy behind the desk has a live feed hooked up for updates and its quite funny how everyone talks about it for so long.
The next day we head for town its so small Norman gets the weekend off to rest up and we use our own two feet to walk along the beach and collect pieces of jade we plan to make jewellery on our looming rainy day.
We explored shops, the kiwi sancturary, petted some more eels and then checked out the wood art along the beach before trying one of the famous pizzas. Then only one thing left on the list sunset point. We head down and you can see the clouds start to roll in dark and heavy against the purple sky. Mount cook is behind us disapearing into the dark.
We start to feel the first spots of rain and we head back. Next day its here the news is nothing but cyclone stories of where is has hit land we were right to move out the way Able Tasmin is hit square on the picutres of where we just camped in Takaka are everywhere.
We just got a bit of rain not even any wind but we did make jade jewellery mine didnt go so well and just kind of fell apart but Chris's looked really good in the end. We went to get a hole put in it so he could make a necklace for it but it snapped as it was too thin oh well kept us entertained for a few hours for free.
Next up was glacier country Frans Joseph was up first 90min walk from the car park takes you to the bottom of the glacier its been shrinking over the years but is still pretty impressive. The walk there is filled with waterfalls and rocky river beds.
We camped up on the beach that night Chris woke up early and saw dolphins swimming past the beach at sun rise.
Then just as the sun rose we were off to Lake McKenzie a mirror lake that is seen at its best in the early morning .
Fox Glacier was next less impressive than Franz but only because the walking track was closed so we didnt get that close.
Making good time we headed to Haast the brochures say that its "a lost world that is so spectacular and remote UNESCO awarded it the status of being a "World Heritage" area."
Well naturally we had to check it out. It is beautiful clear glacier lakes, white sandy beaches and old untouched forests with the back drop of the southern alps its definately scenic.After driving around and checking out different beaches we were hungry. Haast as a town is tiny though so we decided to grab some lunch and keep going.
We spent the night in a DOC campsite it was nice but pretty busy we were now officially about to leave the west coast and head in land to the mountains of Wanaka. The West Coast has been everything I had hoped and so much more.
This was the journey
Famous for its rugged beauty you drive the route down the west coast with the Southern Alps on your left and a furious coast line on the right. One mountain meets the next as you snake your way down the highway. The roads are straighter and flatter than I expected, to be fair the roads in the North Island are steeper not what I expected at all.
We had heard that the South was more remote and the West Coast was some of the remotest parts. So we made sure we had supplies and we were set to go. (in most cases you are never more than an hour drive from a town but it feels remote)
We stayed parked in the back of a pub the next night. The owner has some land out the back where they have built showers. There is a pool table in the bar and a lovely owner, next to us one of the sheep is loose so everyone in the pub gets together to make a sheep wall and get him back in his area.
Its just us in the field apart from one other campervan so its really peacefull apart from the bees. A wasp got stuck in my jumper and stung me. There is a big thing right now about saving the bees and I am all for it but has anyone tried to save a bee? I have, its hard they are not the brightest and its a bit like saving a toddler from a hot cooker they are just attracted to danger!
The next morning magic happened mother nature saw us and gave us a surprise. When we woke up what had been a green field had transformed. All the wild flowers had opened at once thousands of them everywhere so colourful. The bees were right! Maybe not so thick after all?
First up on our route was buller. Buller Gorge is home to New Zealand's longest swing bridge (110m). You arrive park up pay your $10 dollars and there's no turning back. Its high and long did I mention high!. Being the scardy cat that I am when it comes to heights it tooks me a bit of courage but I made it across. Well ...after making a family coming the other way turn back because I wouldnt let go of the sides to let them past.
Then we set off into the gorge, we walked round the forest tracks, got covered in gold from the water, you get covered in lots of little specks when you put your hands in the water from all the mining, and saw the jet boat take off.
Its that season again here where we had a familiar choice to make do we take our chances that the weather man has it wrong or get out of the way of an approaching cyclone. We went to Westport and it answered our question. Speaking to locals the storm last week was cyclone Fehi (our 24hrs rain in Able Tasmin that I mentioned) the place is wrecked people have lost their homes and the thought of another one just around the corner scares everyone here. So we made the smart choice to get away from the cyclone.
The good news about cyclones is you get loads of warning so even thought we knew it was coming we still had a solid week before it technically hit land the weather man at this stage is not sure exactly where but roughly upper South West of the Island. So were in good shape for a bit. This storm is a bit of a bruiser and has already crashed its way through Tonga, Samoa and Fiji giving it the title worst storm in a generation so this one ill give a little bit of respect and step aside to let it pass me by.
Westport is a small town with a road to the moria caves and operara arches they are pretty cool to crawl around and explore. We stayed again at a pub with a bit of land at the back the lady was really friendly and there is hot showers and good laughs its a proper locals bar though and everyone brings their dogs
Then with the cyclone clock ticking we hit the road to see more of the coast, this took us to Punakaiki the home of the pancake rocks where the sea is forced through gaps in lime stone rocks to make jets of water and cool noises.
Ticked off the list and off to our next point of interest we headed to find a beach in Barry Town that Chris swears exists with a starfish colony. We are still looking to this day for the beach and the starfish at Barry Town.
We were going to make knifes in Barry Town but when we saw the road already getting repaired from the last cyclone we were pretty sure it was going to be closed after the storm tomorrow.
So officially on cyclone watch we made our escape to Hokitika. I should mention at this point it is clear blue skies, the sun is shining and it really doesnt feel like we are due a storm. Maybe the weather man is talking nonsense after all.
We arrive in Hokitika its a cool little beach town layed back vibe and famous for whitebait pizza, sunset point and glow worms. Its still a nice night if anything getting a bit sticky and humid so we head off to the glow worms. You walk for about 5mins into a forest and they are just there, hanging out, thousands of tiny lights in the bushes all around you. There are people trying to take videos of nothing in the darkness and everyone talks in whispers so we dont frigthen our little lit up buddies.
We head back to the camp. We plan to spend a few days here to let the storm pass and its due in about 24 hrs. The guy behind the desk has a live feed hooked up for updates and its quite funny how everyone talks about it for so long.
The next day we head for town its so small Norman gets the weekend off to rest up and we use our own two feet to walk along the beach and collect pieces of jade we plan to make jewellery on our looming rainy day.
We explored shops, the kiwi sancturary, petted some more eels and then checked out the wood art along the beach before trying one of the famous pizzas. Then only one thing left on the list sunset point. We head down and you can see the clouds start to roll in dark and heavy against the purple sky. Mount cook is behind us disapearing into the dark.
We start to feel the first spots of rain and we head back. Next day its here the news is nothing but cyclone stories of where is has hit land we were right to move out the way Able Tasmin is hit square on the picutres of where we just camped in Takaka are everywhere.
We just got a bit of rain not even any wind but we did make jade jewellery mine didnt go so well and just kind of fell apart but Chris's looked really good in the end. We went to get a hole put in it so he could make a necklace for it but it snapped as it was too thin oh well kept us entertained for a few hours for free.
Next up was glacier country Frans Joseph was up first 90min walk from the car park takes you to the bottom of the glacier its been shrinking over the years but is still pretty impressive. The walk there is filled with waterfalls and rocky river beds.
We camped up on the beach that night Chris woke up early and saw dolphins swimming past the beach at sun rise.
Then just as the sun rose we were off to Lake McKenzie a mirror lake that is seen at its best in the early morning .
Fox Glacier was next less impressive than Franz but only because the walking track was closed so we didnt get that close.
Making good time we headed to Haast the brochures say that its "a lost world that is so spectacular and remote UNESCO awarded it the status of being a "World Heritage" area."
Well naturally we had to check it out. It is beautiful clear glacier lakes, white sandy beaches and old untouched forests with the back drop of the southern alps its definately scenic.After driving around and checking out different beaches we were hungry. Haast as a town is tiny though so we decided to grab some lunch and keep going.
We spent the night in a DOC campsite it was nice but pretty busy we were now officially about to leave the west coast and head in land to the mountains of Wanaka. The West Coast has been everything I had hoped and so much more.
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