South Island - Part 3

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Suzanne here...

As we've established, we do like to selflessly support independent breweries. With this in mind we stopped off in Westport to visit West Coast Brewing. There we picked up a couple of litres each of Green Fern Organic Lager and a wheat beer. Having done our bit, we moved east. The plan had been to go to Hanmer Springs, but passing a free DOC campsite, Deer Valley, on the way we decided to pitch there for the night. We found a nice pitch by a small creek and got the tent up. After a bit of a stroll we were ready for tea, but it started raining a bit so we sat in the car to wait it out....

Two hours later, we were still sitting in the car, eating peanut-butter sandwiches. All plans to cook were abandoned as it was hammering it down. We decided on an early night.

The next morning, it was still raining. Our tent was in a puddle and the small creek was now a raging torrent. We sat in the car, read a bit, and did some Spanish. There was finally a slight lull and we ran to take the tent down. The car was sinking by this time, but luckily we managed to get away without getting stuck. The road behind us was closed due to a fallen tree and land slide. However was clear the way we wanted to go.

About 10 minutes down the road it was a different story - glorious sunshine. We stopped off for some breakfast and laid the tent out to dry. Then we continued to the campsite at Hanmer Springs, where they had not had any rain at all. Apparently Deer Valley gets the bulk of the rain around here. Would have been nice to know! Still, we found a nice spot and started to pitch the tent. Then the wind started up. The tent was collapsing in an alarming way. We looked around, two other tents nearby looked like an elephant had squished them. Sod this. We decided to abandon it as a bad job and head into town. We'd sleep in the car if we had too. We went to the kitchen for a coffee and told the guy cleaning it what had happened. Bless him, he said he lived nearby and offered us a spot on his, more sheltered, lawn or even his spare room if it got too bad. Very sweet.

After a look around the town, a game of crazy golf, some beautiful Chilli Nachos and beers at the Alpine Village Inn, we did what practically everyone does in Hamner, visited the hot springs. We even paid a bit extra for a private pool. We had a lovely afternoon pottering around the different hot pools. We eventually left, feeling very relaxed (and clean!). Back at the campsite the wind had died down, and we finally got the tent up with no problems and had a nice relaxing evening.

The next day we continued east, to Kaikoura. It's a pretty town, but there is one main reason to visit - whale watching. This was one of the things it was worth blowing the budget for. I'm so glad we did. We saw four sperm whales, and my favourite, a pod of around 300 Dusky Dolphins frolicking around us. It was an amazing experience and a real highlight of the trip.

The next day we headed north as far as we could be bothered to drive. We ended up at another free DOC site by the coast at Okiwi Bay. Nothing much to do but relax and read. It's such a hard life...

David here...

We set off from Okiwi Bay and went straight to Blenheim which we spent all of 2 hours looking round, buying a new book, some supplies and checking out the local brewers, without actually buying anything. We then set off and headed West across the country, towards Golden Bay, with no specific place in mind. We just wanted to get as far across as we could that day. Late in the afternoon we stumbled across McLeans Recreation area, just south of Motueka. It was a lovely grassy area, with a fast flowing river nearby and no signs about not camping and was free, so we pitched the tent there for the night. The next day we carried on towards Takaka, through Motueka where we stopped at the best named brewery we've ever seen - Monkey Wizard. We tasted all of the beers they had to offer and bought a rigger of their Wheat beer...with Kaffier Lime in it and then carried onto Takaka. We stopped at the camping spot right in town, which turned out to be someone's back garden with excellent facilities. We wandered round the town and stopped off in Roots bar and sampled some of the Sprig and Fern beers and ciders.

The next morning we headed on out to Farewell Spit, a jutt of land at the Northern tip of the island where you can walk among the dunes and along the beach. After this we made our way to Wainui Falls, where you have to cross over a suspension bridge, one person at a time. The falls themselves were lovely. We then walked round Grove Senic park before heading back to the campsite. The next day we packed up and headed on to Nelson, on the Eastern side of the island, stopping off to buy some George Best Barley Wine from Monlkey Wizard. We camped at the Maitai Motorcamp in Nelson which is a bit of a drive out, but spacious, with lots of grass and good facilities. Nelson was a nice enough town, lots of shops and a big supermarket which is always good. We've found the best supermarket to be Fresh Choice as they stock lots of local produce in each area where you find them. The next day we went out to Rabbit island and walked along the beach, before reading for a few hours while overlooking the sea.

Our final stop in the South Island was Picton, and this turned out to be a charming little place where there is not actually that much to do, but has a nice local, friendly feel about it. We stayed at the Top 10 caravan park in town, which had excellent facilities, even though their idea of a tent village was more a tent hamlet and we were all squashed together somewhat. We spent our 2 days in Picton walking along the coast line to look at the stunning views of the Malborough Sounds, visiting the local bars, trying the local fish and chips (yummy) and just generally relaxing before catching the ferry and moving onto the North island.

We have thoroughly enjoyed our time in the South, and we have to admit to being a little worried about what we are going to find in the North and we hope that there is enough for us to do to fill in the equal amount of time we are spending there. We've heard so many people tell us that the North is so much more different...well, we shall soon find out.

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