Beach time

We stayed in Kaiteriteri close to Abel Tasman right next to a gorgeous beach. The sand was golden and it had stunning views. We loved playing on the beach and me and Olive went kayaking. Boo even joined me for a few minutes. We look like we are floating in air as the water is so clear, like something out of Puzzling World!

We also did a 7km trek to Coquille Bay inside Abel Tasman - again beautiful. You cannot drive through the national park so you have to get walking. Olive did great walking it all. Boo insisted on being carried the whole way!

Riuwaka Ressurgence was a pretty crystal clear icy cold spring coming out of a cave. 

Nelson gave us a fun free tour of Pic’s peanut butter factory. We learnt all sorts about peanuts! They are a veg not a nut as they are grown underground. Who knew! We could see the veg being roasted and packaged. Then we got to taste some still warm from having been roasted half an hour earlier. We then got carried away buying stuff afterwards! We saw Pic a bit later with his dog Fido. Cheers Pic for a fun morning.

Unfortunately we received a message from our ferry company that our departure two days later to Wellington had been cancelled due to engine problems. We then found out 4 of the 6 ships that do the crossing are out of commission at the mo and there is a massive backlog of people trying to make the crossing. We were looking at a two week delay to make the crossing which would leave us one week to get back to Auckland and sell the van. We thought it best just to get across to Picton asap and try our luck. Fortunately our luck was in and we managed to get on a different ferry with some patience and British politeness. Landing into Wellington in the wee hours. Phew!

Fire!

We stayed in Westport. Before dinner we went to see a seal colony with the sea making some impressive crashes on the rocks. 

That night was quite an adventure. We stayed on a freedom camping spot right on the beach. There were 30 campers there which is a lot compared to most free spots. At 4am the camper behind us started honking their horn frantically. We thought it was a kid playing a trick for a moment but then we could hear them shouting fire. We looked out and there was a bush fire roaring right in front of us. So everyone started scrambling to get ready to drive off. We heard the wail of the siren that goes off here for a fire to alert the volunteer firemen. As I pulled off I gave lots of honks as well just in case anyone hadn’t heard the commotion but you could see everyone scrambling around to get away. We then parked up for the few hours till light with a line of us on the first bit of road going into town. Scary. 

We treated ourselves to cooked breakfast in the morning and then went on a little train in Charlestown that took us through the rainforest. 

We free camped by Maruia Falls as we travelled across towards Abel Tasman. A cute little falls but waaay too many bees in the car park. We were begging for sand flies!

In the morning the bees won and we left early! However the bees were still bad in Murchison where we stopped for brekkie. 

We stopped by Lake Rotoroa for a quick dip but the sandflies rushed us out of there!

We could finally relax in an awesome adventure campsite called Quinney’s not far from Nelson. It had loads of fun stuff for the kids and much fewer flying things to bother us. There were lots of play things like flying foxes, water slide and assault courses. Although feeding the ducks and chickens took a turn for the worse when two sheep and two pigs came bounding towards us ushering Olive and Selina out leaving me and Boo to entertain them!

Gorge with pancakes on side

We continued north to Hokitika and saw the impressive turquoise Gorge. Selina took another glacial dip!

We stayed by Lake Kaniere which was beautiful. It was warm enough for me to take a dip there!

Driving on towards Westport gave us some lovely views down to the sea. They say this stretch is the most beautiful drive in New Zealand. 

Pancake rocks are one of the key tourist attractions on the west coast. They are very pancakey looking rocks formed millions of years ago out of limestone. The sea has gradually chipped away at them creating some stunning formations.

Glaciers rock

Wet weather greeted us into the west coast. It was so bad there were landslips and flooding along the highway causing it to be closed for a day. 

The main reason we have come into the South Island is for the west coast, so we hung fire in Haast until the weather improved then we set off towards Fox glacier.

On the way there we got some great views of the rugged sea. It was ferocious at times - all frothy and angry. 

We went on two walks round a forest and swamp at Ship Creek, although part of the walkway had slipped away in the wet weather. 

The weather was very changeable in Fox Glacier but we did manage to get some clear views of the glacier.

And Mount Cook. 

Our campsite had a really short glowworm walk which we did in the pitch black. It felt far in the dark but the next day we could see it was sooo short! Haha. 

We then moved on to the Franz Josef Glacier where we could walk much closer to the glacier. 

I like the reflection of the mountains in my namesake - Peter’s Pool. 

Then the final piece in the glacier experience was for Selina and Olive to take a helicopter ride up to walk on the glacier!

Icy cold water!

We passed through Wanaka, enjoying a glimpse of the, apparently, insta famous That Wanaka Tree and took in some tasty crepes from Charlie Brown. Great pit stop.

Olive and Boo loved having their minds bent by The illusions in Puzzling World. There were holograms and lots of funny illusions. The tilt room was my favourite.

We really loved Lake Hawea with its super clear water and stunning natural surroundings. The best view was our first view from the campsite. 

We stayed a little further up the next night at Makarora which is the gateway to the west coast and all the glacier fun that awaits us. We spent the night in a hut for a change which Olive loved. The pre-bedtime nature walk from the site was beautiful, but alas too early for glowworms!

We visited the translucent Blue Lakes where Selina bravely took a dip in the icy arctic waters. We then had a happy time watching young folk jump off the bridge into the iciness. 

That night we stayed in the neighbouring Cameron Flats government campsite, again with stunning surroundings. We are being really spoilt by these views!

Next stop glaciers…