Go West

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We felt the urge to venture further up the coast to Golden Bay, and stayed at Pohara Top 10 campsite for a night. Lovely location, right on the beach, and perfect for accessing the Abel Tasman National Park, not that we did on this occasion, but you can...

The journey to Golden Bay looks deceptively short on the map, but the winding road up the Takaka Hill and down the other side adds quite a bit to the journey time and is a good test of whether you've secured all the drawers and junk in the van. Great views from the top of Takaka Hill though, from Hawkes Lookout, all across the valley towards Tasman Bay and Nelson.

Golden Bay stretches right up to the top of the South Island, ending in the Fairwell Spit, a vast sand bank stretching 25 km east, and a preserved home to over a hundred bird species (but no helicopters, so...).

The following day, we broke up the journey over to the West Coast with a stopover in Richmond, a small town just outside of Nelson. Then yesterday we made our way west, over to Westport, staying at the Seal Colony Top 10 campsite.

We had a drive out to Westport airport yesterday evening, to have a look at the helicopters >:-+ and we saw an Royal NZ Air Force HU1 being checked and cleaned. An NZ helicopter nut, sorry - enthusiast, drove up beside us and got chatting about the helicopter, and informed us that the RNZ Air Force use it for recovering the millions of dollars worth of cannabis that's grown around the South Island. Well I never!

There's a slight sniff of Autumn in the air here. Perhaps it's because we're heading south that the change in weather is more noticeable, but the fallen leaves on the campground are a sure sign of seasonal change.

Today we're in Greymouth at the well organised Top 10 campsite. The trip down to Greymouth from Westport was a bit grey due to heavy rain. It's a bit wild and rugged along this coast, and the little traffic there is seems to be mainly rental campers.

We ticked the box, stopping off at the Pancake Rocks for photos, along with hoards of other tourists. Fascinating geological thingy-mi-jig though, these layers of rock.

We seem to be doing the tourist trail here, as we keep seeing the same people in their rental vans at each campsite we go to. By the end of the evening, these campsites look like a car park full of Maui, Britz and Apollo vans.

Steve's theory is that the older you are the bigger van you think you need to hire, believing size equates to luxury & comfort. But there's no comfort in driving a lumbering top-heavy van with a weedy engine around these winding, hilly roads...

'Race you to the next campsite...'

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Photos

Relocation Relocation, Kiwi-Style
This puts a whole new perspective on moving house!

View from Hawkes Lookout
'Look at me! Look at me! I'm shy...'

Chopper
'... just 5 more minutes and they might take off...'

Pancake Rocks
... with maple syrup, bacon and banana...mmm'

More of Pancake Rocks
... with berry compote and clotted vanilla cream...

Pancake Rock Blurb
'And now for the science bit...'

Yes, Big Twig
'Look at me! Look at me! I'm shy...'

Lo and Behold
'Just walk to the end of the beach and see what's there... Guess what, an airport!'