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Published: April 26th 2011
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On the drive to the DOC site we encountered one of the other forms of traffic jams that you find on South Island road - cows crossing! We had to wait for the farmer to move them across for milking. Ironically the van in front of us that you can see in the photos has steamed passed us only moments ago so I was really pleased to see them stuck!!
We arrived at the DOC site just South of Hokitika in early afternoon and it had turned into a beautiful day after all the rain we had in Wanaka and across Haast pass. So we just sunbathed outside the van for the afternoon and spent the evening talking to the couple in the van next door. It was really nice to not be sitting in the van for the evening and we didn’t get around to cooking until after it got dark - which is always a little more challenging with torches!!
The next morning we went into Hokitika. The beach is a really long beach but totally windswept and strewn with driftwood. The town itself is relatively small and revolves around the Jade trade. It can be found
locally in the rivers and is big business here. Nearly every other store is a Jade outlet with a factory attached. We stayed for quite a while watching the craftsman carve it and handle it so Mark can get an idea on how to work with it for when we get home. We didn’t stay too long as it is only a small town and other than creating your own Jade pendant there isn’t a lot to do. So we headed on up the coast back to Greymouth. So far Greymouth is definitely living up to its name - it was grey and overcast and before long was raining again! We stopped for supplies and headed back to the little place we had stayed before. Deciding to stay just for one night which we were quite glad about as it was soon overrun with a girl guides weekend trip so lots of pre teen girls around and activities happening in the main lounge, as well as not being able to get into the kitchen!. We were heading back to the Pancake rocks at Punakiki to see if they were blowing this time around and plan on doing some of the
walks we saw last time but weren’t able to do due to the lack of fuel!
When we arrived at the rocks it was quite busy and we had timed it well to coincide with high tide to give us the best chance to see the blow holes. We headed straight for the main viewing platform, but could hear the blowholes and the crashing well before we got there! It was fantastic - all of the blowholes were in full action and the spray was fantastic. At one point you could feel the vibration of the rocks as the waves hit them!! We got back to the van to head off to do some of the walks but found that I had left the lights on and it wouldn’t start!! We borrowed jump leads from the I-site centre and accosted a car to help jump start us but the leads weren’t thick enough to get the power through and were just overheating, so we tried bump starting it but to no avail. So we resorted to calling out the AA!! An hour later the guy arrived and jump started us within 2 minutes!! He told us not to turn
the engine off for the next 20 minutes at least - which meant we weren’t able to do the walks yet again!!
So we headed inland towards Nelson Lakes with a plan to stay in a DOC site next to one of the Lakes. Upon arrival we were attacked by a mass of black flies and realised that there was no way we were going to be able to stay there as we wouldn’t be able to cook in the open without being eaten alive!! So we decided to go to the next DOC site which was really basic and on the corner of two roads - but was free. It actually wasn’t too bad and although we still need repellent for the black flies we weren’t being totally overrun. Due to the events of the day Mark decided that I needed a little reminder to turn off the lights in the van each time we stopped so he graffitied the van!!
Next day we drove up to Motueka which is the gateway through to Abel Tasman as it is the biggest town before you get to the National park. We walked around the market in town and
the main blowhole 2
This only happens about 3 times a year so we were really lucky!! then went out to the wharf to see the fishing platform but unfortunately the tide was going out so no fishing to be done today. We stayed at a little place just outside the town which was really weird! It was a small holiday park that seemed to be populated by people working at the local orchards. Most of them sounded like they were from Porto Rico - or similar - and it was like they had their own little community there. We couldn’t get into the kitchen to cook as they had just overtaken the place. So we decided just to stay one night and tomorrow we head up to the Northern most point of South Island at Farewell Spit.
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