Alexandra and Haast

Everyone headed off in different directions on Sunday, with David and family opting for Oamaru, and Dean and Nodoka going towards Milford Sound. We decided to take the middle course to Alexandra. It was a typical sunny, crisp winter’s day there, and we even managed lunch outside.

We planned to stay three nights, and move slowly around Central Otago for a while, but left after two nights. This was because we decided to meet up with Chris and Ellison in Motueka later in the week to explore the Golden Bay Area. 

We met Dean and Nodoka for a coffee in Cromwell, on their way to Mount Cook, before stopping in Lake Hawea for lunch.

The scenery on the drive around first Lake Hawea, and then Lake Wanaka, was awesome.

And it was pretty good through the Haast Pass too.

Lots of one lane bridges, and a couple of places where half of the road had fallen down the cliff, but overall an easy and pleasant journey. We parked up, for the cost of a donation to St. John, beside a gift shop in Haast township. We knew we had reached the Coast when we visited the local, the Hard Antler cafe and bar. 

South to Invercargill

David and Emma set off for Tekapo and Mount Cook while we went back to Rolleston for a couple of days before picking Dean and Nodoka up from the airport. They stayed a night with us and then we dropped them off to pick up their rental camper van.

They stopped in Oamaru to see the blue penguins, and then joined us in the car park at the Maheno tavern. We had a great feed of fish and chips at the pub.The pic was taken in their van after we came back from the pub.

Next day it was on to Invercargill, with a stopover for us in Gore to drop off some bits and pieces. We parked the two camper vans in the retirement village car park. The other “van people” (as Mum named us) parked at the Invercargill Top 10.

Saturday was an awesome one, with most of the whānau there for Dad’s 90th birthday celebration. Sadly, Jane and Keith, and the Australian rellies weren’t able to be there, but all the kiwi grandchildren, and all the great grandchildren were there.

Most people gathered at Mum and Dad’s in the evening for pizza, and some of us watched the Canes beat the Crusaders. But I don’t think that was what these guys were watching.

A couple of days in Kaikōura

After a few days in Rolleston, we headed up to Kaikōura to meet up with David and Emma and the boys. We had intended to stay at Parnassus, but the conditions were good with not much traffic on the road, we ended up in Kaikōura.

We stayed the first night at the NZMCA park, then moved into the Top 10 park, to a site right beside the one they had booked.

The weather was not very kind, but we managed to go for a walk and had a great time in the camp games room and at the playground.

Hurunui and Amberley Beach

It was just a short trip down to Hurunui. We were surprised that the pub there is open again as it was badly damaged during the Kaikōura earthquake.

The camping ground is part of CampSaver but also provides a $10 voucher per person per night for the restaurant, so basically you stay, on power, for free.

We were the only people in the camping area when we arrived, but were soon joined by two motor homes with three dogs. This was followed some time later by four other vans, a group travelling together.

We hadn’t booked for the restaurant and were surprised to find tables either full or reserved when we arrived, about half campers and half locals. Luckily we got the last free table and had a very enjoyable meal with an excellent bottle of their own wine.

The owners had big smiles on their faces!

Next day we travelled on to one of our favourite spots, Amberley beach.

The area by the playground was full of caravans and buses, but it wasn’t as crowded nearer the street. There was a lot of water lying in the paddocks as we drove to the beach, so we weren’t sure how far we would get around the board walk, but it was fine.

Back over the big hill

The road from Westport to Reefton follows the Buller river for some time. Great scenery, and lots of kiwi families in rental motor homes making the most of it.

Some parts of the road are a little scary!

We stayed in the car park at the Reefton pub for the night.

We had thought the park over property (POP) was attached to the fancy hotel across the road, but found it was the older one. It was full of locals who were friendly and welcoming when we went in for a drink.

Next day we went over the Lewis Pass.

There had been a little bit of snow overnight, but the grit truck had been through and the road was mostly dry, so no problems. The beech forest either side of this road is beautiful to drive through.

We spent a night at the Hanmer Springs NZMCA park, and drove into town next morning for a coffee. It was full of families and camper vans, being the middle of the school holidays. The new slides at the hot pools seemed very popular - from what we could see of the queues from the street!

Parked up in Hanmer Springs

Punakaiki and Westport

We travelled up the coast towards Westport with some showers along the way. 

Although we’ve been there before, we decided to stop at Punakaiki and go for the short walk to see the pancake rocks and blowhole.

After seeing very few vehicles on the road we were surprised to find the camper van park almost full of rentals, kiwi families on holiday.

The walk was wider than we remembered, but the scenery was just as spectacular.

The tide must have been well in, as the noise of the waves, the spray and the height of the spout from the blowhole were all impressive - hard to capture in a photo though!

The misty spray was evident for a lot of the journey up the coast.

There was only a caravan at the NZMCA park when we arrived, though several others joined us during the afternoon. Including the young couple with a huge bus we met at the dump station. They were living on the road with 2 children (about 8 and 6), 2 dogs, and 2 cats!

We parked up looking directly out to the beach, but the rain and dark clouds didn’t make for much of a sunset.

Next day we walked, in pouring rain, into the town for a coffee. The extra umbrella we bought at Franz Josef came in very handy! It’s a good walk, just under 12,000 steps, 9.4km.

Lake Brunner

With bad weather forecast for the weekend, we decided to head to the camp saver at Lake Brunner, via a night of freedom camping at Iveagh Bay. It turned out to be an amazing spot, right by the lake.

At this time of year there were very few sandflies, and it was so still there were some great reflections.

There is quite a large houseboat on the lake, though we saw no sign of life near it.

We are always a little hesitant to stay at free spots, but there are quite a lot of flash houses nearby, wealthy Cantabrians’ baches probably. And good phone and wifi signals. There’s a big walk up the nearby mountain. We did the first half hour, not the 8 hour return trip.

It was only 10 minutes up the road to Moana where we checked in to the motorcamp for 3 nights. School holidays now, so a few families in hired camper vans on the road and beside us at the camp.

Our neighbour told us Friday night was half price drinks and free nibbles at the pub, so we went along. It had a great atmosphere, lots of locals and weekenders.

View from the pub

We realised that the next night the Highlanders were playing the Crusaders, so we went back and secured ourselves a good seat to watch the game with the locals. A few were cheering for the Highlanders, but the majority were Crusaders.

Saturday was the first trip for the Tranz Alpine train since lockdown, and we watched it pull into the station from the cafe. The weather wasn’t that great, so we didn’t do the bush walks around the town. Another time, I’m sure we’ll be back.