01/04/2022
Travelling on the West Coast of New Zealand means long distances with no fuel stations or grocery stores. Consequently we visited Wanaka to restock our supplies of food and diesel before moving on to Lake Hawea for the night. We stayed at ‘The Camp’ which provides travel accommodation right on the shoreline of Lake Hawea with a wide range of options from premium domed cottages and glamping to cottages and tent sites with other options between, including obviously, powered motorhome and caravan sites.
While we were in Wanaka we sampled pies from The Doughbin Bakery. Displaying many awards in their shop window, they obviously please the competition judges. Good honest pies they are, but for us they fell short of Miles Better Pies offerings in Te Anau. Still number one.
02/04/2022
Leaving ‘The Camp’ with full water tanks and no waste on board we skirted round the shores of Lake Hawea then Lake Wanaka and the Makarora River to a campsite we have many times agreed we should stay at sometime. Sometime had arrived so we settled in at Cameron Flat DOC campsite with magnificent views up the Makarora River valley towards the top of Haast Pass and beyond to snow capped Mount Brewster.
Conveniently, this campsite is across the Haast Pass road from the Blue Pools access track.
03/04/2022
Shortly after leaving Cameron Flat we stopped at Davis Flat to walk the Bridle Track to the top of Haast Pass. This 7 kilometre return track follows part of the first link between Otago and Westland provinces. After following the Makarora river for the first part then crossing the Fish River by swing bridge the track traverses the mountain side high above the Haast Pass Highway opposite, before meeting back with the road at the top of the pass.
Over the pass and onward to Haast township and the sea coast where the road turns us north again. Shortly we reached Ship Creek DOC reserve right on the beach with it’s ancient Kahikatea swamp forest and dune lake all connected by bush walking tracks and information boards.
Our destination for the night was Lake Paringa DOC Campsite right at the lakeside with great views from our window. After our visit here in 2019, we had to come back.
04/04/2022
We became aware overnight that we had a stowaway on board our motorhome, in the form of a mouse. It will remain a mystery to us as to how a mouse managed to be travelling with us, but we knew it couldn’t continue. A mouse trap was needed, fast. Fox Glacier was the nearest town which might possibly have what we needed. So we set off for Fox Glacier with little expectation of being able to obtain a mouse trap in such a small town. Even with our priority of obtaining a mouse trap, we couldn’t drive past Bruce Bay without a walk along this beautiful, rugged West Coast beach.
To our surprise, the ‘On The Spot’ convenience store in Fox Glacier had mouse traps. I guess this is an example of remote small town self sufficiency in New Zealand. Now with mouse traps in hand and feeling a little more relaxed we took the time to view the glacier from a distance - the glacier access road is still closed indefinitely due to flood damage caused in 2019 – before driving on to our planned stop at Lake Mapourika. This is another typical West Coast lake with tannin stained water, surrounded by native forest and picturesque.
Also visible above Fox Glacier township are snow capped Mount Tasman and Mount Cook we believe (to the left and the right respectively).
Now with cheese and peanut butter we could set our deceit and rid ourselves off our rodent plague. Next job to attend to was the air ventilation fan which had started making a terrible noise this morning while running at full speed to demist the windscreen. Upon removing the fan unit from it’s ducting, we discovered a rather battered, deceased mouse. Both problems solved.
05 - 06/04/2022
A day or two of wind and rain was predicted so we moved to another of our favourite campsites to wait for the weather to clear. Lake Mahinapua is a shallow coastal lake surrounded by native bush and forest about ten kilomtres drive south of Hokitika. At one time it was a lagoon at the mouth of the Hokitika River until the river changed it’s course. Before there was a road to Ross it was part of an inland waterway network carrying freight and passengers up and down the coast. Paddle steamers travelled from Hokitika up the Mahinapua Creek and across the lake to Ruatapu. The remains of one of the old paddle steamers is on display at this DOC campsite. Nowadays Lake Mahinapua is a popular camping and picnicking area offering water sports and short bush walks.
07/04/2022
The Hokitika Gorge is a major tourist attraction in the Hokitika area and an extension to the existing walking track opened recently, provides more access to the gorge and viewing points. This extension has obviously cost a substantial amount of money and provides further spectacular views of the turquoise, glacial fed river as it squeezes through the narrow rocky gorge. However, it appeared to us being the only ones at this time, to continue along this new loop track back to the car park, that it is being under utilised. We certainly recommend completing the extension loop track if only for the massive new suspension bridge, although there is much more to see.
We have been noticing quite a lot of Southern Rata in flower which seems rather late in the summer to be happening, but it is lovely to see the bright red flowers contrasting with the green of the forest.
Lake Kaniere DOC campsite was our destination for the night, yet another of our most enjoyable locations to stay.
08/04/2022
Leaving Hokitika area behind, we stopped to look at Goldsborough with its gold mining history and relics, and Dillmans Dam / Kapitea Lake, created for hydro power generation. At Goldsborough we completed a bush walk loop involving Goffs Track (a steep and slippery ascent of over 200 metres) and returning along German Gully track.
Our adventure for this year was nearing the end and would be a fairly routine return home over spectacular Arthur’s Pass. Overnight stops at Kumara Power Station with views up the Taramakau River and Lake Grasmere for fishing, made for a slow relaxing journey.
This was topped off with a pleasant evening and a delicious roast meal with friends in Kirwee before packing away our motorhome and arriving home in Christchurch on Monday April 11th 2022.
Sixty three days on the road covering 3285 kilometres, and after nine weeks of travel our mobile mixed salad garden is still happily providing us with lettuce.
We are looking forward to our next adventure and hope you will join us again.
This blog is best explored in conjunction with our 2019 adventure.
