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Top 10 Holiday Park, Hanmer Springs, South Island, New Zealand 4230km

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Shabbat Shalom!

The last few days we have covered quite a lot of km in the north western part of the south island. We started on Tuesday morning when we left Golden Bay and headed back to Motueka area. It had rained all night, but by the morning patches of sun became more and more evident. Close to Takaka Point we stopped for a short stroll to Hawkes Lookout, which Shir and Orr did all by themselves.

We continued driving for a few more hours until we reached Lake Rotoiti, on of the 2 Nelson Lakes. It is a beautiful body of water, fed encircled from all sides by the mountains nearby. We spent several hours on the shoreline, eating lunch, throwing rocks in the water, feeding ducks and relaxing. There were many families there, with some kids swimming in the really cold water, others kayaking or water skiing.

We continued another hour of driving and reached Murchison and a nice small campground were the kids immediately ran to the playground. We met a nice Israeli couple who are close to our parents’ age, that quit their jobs and took a year off to travel. At night it started raining and we wondered what tomorrow would be like.

When we got up on Wednesday morning, rather early at 7:30am, the sun was shining, and it seemed like a beautiful day. Not a half hour later it started to rain so hard that I got soaked running 20 meters to the restrooms. We didn’t realize yet, but it was going to be one of the wackiest weather days we have experienced in NZ, or anywhere for that matter.

We drove to nearby Buller Gorge, no more than half an hour, and lo and behold, the rain stopped. We walked over NZ’s longest swing bridge (110m) and enjoyed the views of the Buller River below. It was fun to see Orr and Ron walking slowly and carefully. Shir was in a backpack on Paola’s back, a bit too scared to do it on her own (On the return, she walked by herself). We then did a nice loop trail that was a bit wet and muddy from the rain, but the sun above was shining to a beautiful blue sky.

We got back to the car and headed west when once again it started to rain. We reached Westport and ran into the local supermarket for supplies. We churn a lot of food as of late. If a few months ago we would buy for three and, we now buy for five, as Shir and Orr are eating big kid portions. Many times they eat more and finish faster than their big brother Ron.

When we left the supermarket it stopped raining and we drove to a nearby attraction Cape Foulwind, aptly named for the stench of a local seal colony. Just as we parked and got ready to debark, the rain commenced. Not too worried, we chilled in the car for 45 minutes and then when the weather improved we set out to see the seals. Unfortunately, a slight drizzle drove some of our party back to the RV, but Shir and I continued on to the viewing platform and enjoyed the views. The seals just had their babies last month, and we saw several cute pups.

We continued south along the coast, with some beautiful scenery along the way. We reached Punanaiki around 4pm and headed to the Pancake Rocks, a famous tourist attraction. The rock formations butting from the sea are layered perfectly and to some one they reminded a stack of pancakes. Nice.

We drove on just a bit more and reached Greymouth. It was past 6pm and we were very hungry. We found a nice Indian restaurant and enjoyed a tasty meal. From there a quick 5 minutes to the local Top 10 campground where a jumping pillow and fun play structures awaited the children. It’s hard to believe the energy they still had after all the day’s activities, but they were still going strong at 8pm. Since it doesn’t get dark now till almost 10pm, it was like afternoon when we pulled them into the RV for shower and sleep.

Yesterday we headed east through Lewis Pass and reached Hanmer Springs. The drive was very scenic with the west part upto the pass very green and mostly forest. The eastern part seems much more open and at some places even barren.

The springs have been a big draw to this place for over 100 years and it is a nice little tourist town. The mountains surrounding us are just gorgeous and in the winter they have a ski area not too far.

This morning we spent a few hours at the springs, which is really just a complex of 9 different pools, each with different temperature and minerals. The kids had fun, and so did we, although getting out of the 37C water into the chilly cloudy day was tough.

In the afternoon we walked a bit around town, and for the first time left the stroller in the RV. Shir and Orr walked just fine.

Tomorrow we head to Kaikura.

Good Night,

-Hemi

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 1st, 2008 at 4:21 am and is filed under Big Trip, New Zealand. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.