Heading south to the glaciers

After three nights at the NZMCA park, and stocking up on a few groceries in Hokitika, we drove just a couple of kms down the road to a $20 camping ground, Links View. We were surprised to find more people there than there had been up the road, but even with sunshine, solar doesn’t always keep up in the middle of winter. The owners were very friendly and the facilities new and clean. The sun was so hot and low in the sky that the awning was useless and we had to retreat inside to cool down! We made use of the power to cook some lamb chops in our new multi cooker. They were delicious. Next day we headed for Ross.

We stopped off at the Treetops walkway for a coffee. We had intended to do the walk, $26 with 20% NZMCA discount, but after talking with two couples in the past week who had been rather underwhelmed with the experience, we settled for just coffee. The owners have made a great job of setting the place up. It was obviously designed to cater for bus tours, but only us and a few other kiwis there. Oh and weka, pukekos and paradise ducks.

From there we travelled on to Pete’s Pop in Ross. A wee gem of a place for $5 per night.

We walked around the town and did a few of the tourist things.

Although we’d intended to stay a couple of nights, the park is now next to an open pit gold mine, with trucks and 3 large diggers working from dawn to dusk, rather noisy!