Hi there! Here is week three of our family adventure around New Zealand. Enjoy! :)
Day One
We arrived off the ferry yesterday and went straight to the Parklands Marina campground in Picton. We had a wonderful informative chat with the campground owners, Helen and Bill. We told her our plans and she wrote on the map places we should visit and why.
We knew you could see seals, penguins and whales but she wrote down the best places to see them and for free ideally. We were very thankful for her input and went to park our campervan even more excited about the South Island adventures that were on their way.
We explained that we were worried about using the campervan toilet due to not really knowing how to empty it and she explained it was easy!!
We settled down for the night. We soon got into the routine. Unplug the GPS, turn headlights off (Rachael!), turn on the gas and figure out what was for dinner!
Day Two
We woke up and saw Bill. He talked us though how to empty the toilet cassette and the waste water. We didn't even know we had to!! We were very thankful in being told almost everything we needed to know. We commented that he should work for Britz seen as we learnt more from him than we did when we hired it!!
We then sorted ourselves out and Dad emptied the waste water.
We then topped up the drinking water, said thank you very much and were on our way!!
Not before Rach enjoyed a jump on the trampoline!
We needed a petrol stop so did this and did some shopping at Countdown. Rach and Dad have been assigned that job. They always hop out together to fill us up! Rach fills up and Dad pays, with Rach covering his PIN number.
Whilst shopping Rach came across this prickly character!
We searched for a York street and we weren't too far from one! We decided to go that way and here's the evidence!
On our way down we stopped off at Ohau Point Seal Colony. We got out at the view point and couldn't believe our eyes!
Seals galore!!
We just didn't know where to look, they were all over! It was such a wonderful sight! We saw fully grown seals and little pups which was fabulous due to seeing growing pups only at this point in the year.
We decided to make our lunch here and watch the seals!
We noticed a train going by and Rach got him to blow his horn. She was very happy about this!! We also saw this funny looking lorry go by on the train track which was interesting!
We decided we better move on and give the seals some space. We had the rest of the South Island to discover!
Our next stop was Kaikoura. We got there just before sunset and decided to go to the Peninsula in the hope to see a gorgeous view.
We weren't wrong!
We got a shock whilst looking at the view, seals were so close! They were just hanging around the car park edge resting.
We noticed this chap laid across the pathway. Let's hope no one walks that way, it could have been a nasty shock!
We took in the gorgeous view and decided we would go back tomorrow due to there been a walk way along the cliffs with hopefully a chance to see whales.
We made our way to the campsite which wasn't too far away and did the same routine.
Dinner consisted of noodles plus beans on toast. Who need luxury 5-star courses!
We played cheat which was very fun and after we discussed our plan for tomorrow! Oh and Dad got a beard trim! Lol
Something special happened today...we conquered our fear and finally used the campervan facilities! This was because we now felt confident we could change the 'cassette'. Well I think we all came to the conclusion that would be Dads job!
After that bombshell we were ready for sleep!
Day Three
We woke up, had breakfast and set off back to the seal car park to complete the walk we read about yesterday. We noticed that the tide was right in this time and some of the seals were in the same position as yesterday.
We set off hiking up the hill and we had started taking pictures of the views already!
We pressed on walking the cliff edge. We were unlucky though and didn't see any whales!
We came to a stairway leading down to the beach to even more seals and Mum and I decided to give it a go. Whilst we did this Dad and Rach decided to stay at the top and lookout for whales.
Whilst down there enjoying the peace and quiet, the wind picked up so we made our way back.
With time moving on and with the plan being to visit Christchurch today we thought we better move on!
Dad did the first leg and we did plan to swap but he was fine and drove us all the way! We went straight to the i-site centre, it's like routine practise now! We go straight there to find out if and where we can freedom camp, local points of interests etc.
We couldn't find a car parking space so dropped Mum and Rach off and we circled round. Whilst Dad and I were circling around we could see signs of the devastating effects still left by the devastating earthquake back in 2011. It was very sad to see!
We picked Rach and Mum up and we decided we wouldn't stay here. We would just drive around and see the city. It was just too sad to be honest. With the city needing still a lot of repairs the evidence of what happened is still there. Buildings evacuated, streets closed, the cathedral ruined. It was heartbreaking driving round.
I drove us out and towards our campsite but even that was a huge task! With ongoing repairs to the cities roads, there were a lot of closed roads and one way systems. Our sat nav needed updating, it just couldn't keep up....Directing us to roads that were closed. My Nat Nav skills had to come into play! Nat Nav to the rescue!!
It was a shame we couldn't get out to explore the city but we couldn't find a parking space big enough for this big beast!
We made our way out and on to Rakaia River Holiday Park! We needed a new tin opener and some beans so we went to the closest shop four square and brought our supplies. Mum and Rach were sneaky and had some biscuits whilst ad and I got us to our next destination!
Rach made us all pasta which was very nice!
The tin opener broke so we have to go back to four square tomorrow before we leave!! Its a sore subject for Dad!
They cracked open some wine to try to forget about the incident! The glass was definitely full - no question about that!
We played dominoes after dinner and decided that whoever won got a biscuit!!
We were laughing the night away and went to bed!
Day Four
We had breakfast and were told when we checked in about a river walk. We decided before checking out to give it a go!
Once we checked out we were straight back at the four square!! Tin opener swapped easy peasy!
We got topped up with fuel and I drove us towards Oamara. hilst there Rach found a new toy and decided to wash the windows!
We went straight to the Oamaru I-site to enquire about penguin spotting.
On a morning before sunrise the penguins enter the sea to do their thing, do a bit of fishing and swimming etc then they come back to land and shelter in the bushes on the beach during the night.
We were informed we could go to two places to see them. One is a lookout onto the beach where you can see them for free but you're NOT guaranteed to see them! These penguins would be yellow eyed.
The other option was to pay to see them come to land and rest at a man made habitat. You could either watch from a stand and see them swim to land or pay extra to walk around the sleeping enclosure too. The downside was that you couldn't take any photos so we soon made our mind up as to which one you could visit! These were blue eyed penguins.
Time was getting on so we made our way to the beach to get a parking spot. Especially as it may get busy and we have a massive campervan!
We enjoyed some lunch before checking out the area.
We then made our way towards the lookout in hope to see some lil penguins!
We stood there patiently and then we saw one! We couldn't believe our eyes!
Once one had made the first move they all started coming. We couldn't believe what we were seeing. It was wonderful seeing them in the wild and so close!
We noticed a seal come onto the beach and joked that it would be thinking 'where are all my friends, I'm on the wrong beach!' Lol!
The seal didn't do anything even when a cheeky penguin was making noises to scare it off.
We were so lucky to see the penguins in the wild and not even pay a penny plus we could take pictures too!
On the way back to the campervan someone informed us of a place we can see blue eyed penguins.
We drove there and saw them at the end of a closed off pier. They were a lot smaller and sadly it was too dark to get a good picture plus I didn't want to put my flash on which could startle them!
We loved the road sign though!
We drove on to find a freedom campsite we were told about previously. When we got there, it looked really scary! It was really woody, we would have been the first ones there and that's never a good idea! If we are going to freedom camp, our rule is to at least have someone else there!
We decided to move on and find a campsite. The weather had stared to turn and it had started to rain. On our way to the campsite we saw another camper on the side of the road. We decided to pull over and see if we could freedom camp here.
It was pitch black now - the sun says goodbye early!! Rach said she would knock on the door and enquire as to if they were sleeping here tonight.
Dad, Mum and Rach piled out in the rain and knocked on the door. I stayed in the drivers seat ready to make a quick get away if they were dodgy people!
They were alright though and they couldn't understand why we would be scared to freedom camp!! They were staying the night and so we were too!
We got settled and enjoyed dinner of soup. We had to be careful not to use too much battery due to freedom camping!
We enjoyed eating some kiwis later on for desert! Yum yum!
We then decided to settle down as we didn't want to use up all the power! It was an early night!
As soon as we got our heads down. We had about 2 hours sleep and the wind woke us up. The weather had turned into a terrible storm which was all over the news reporting 130ph gale! The campervan was rocking. I was scared to move incase the campervan rolled over! We had insurance protection incase it happened but still you don't want it too!!!
When I woke up so did everyone else. I asked Rach the time expecting it to be about 2am and she said 10pm!! I couldn't believe it! We really hoped we'd be alright! We tried to go back to sleep but we struggled! It was howling and very scary!! We kept saying 'will be blow over?! Shall we move?!'
We decided to stick it out and hope and pray for the best!!
Day Five
We woke up and were glad to see daylight!! We couldn't wait to get up and actually see where we were.
Mum looked out the window and said 'We are on a cliff top, I can see the sea!'. I mean yeah it was a lovely view but a bit deadly with the weather we had experienced! Luckily we were alright!
Here is where we were positioned...
That's a cliff edge by the way!
Rach was relieved we were alright and could drive on!
We couldn't wait to get on the road. We put a hold to breakfast and headed off to Moeraki Boulders.
We got to the boulders and decided to have breakfast in the car park before our walk.
We then were the only ones there which was lovely but it had started raining. We went prepared in our coats, gloves and hats!
We reached the beach and had our first hurdle! A stream was depositing water in different lil streams towards the sea. We had to time it right and try to get to the other side! It was like being on a game show and reaching the boulders was your prize!!
I made the first move and dashed across. Dad, Mum and Rach were in amazement! I was myself really, I'd made it over without getting my feet too wet!! They soon were over and we walked along the beach in the rain to see the boulders.
Seeing the boulders was crazy! What a beautiful site and crazy phenomenon! There were so many! I was glad it had stopped hail stoning too so I could take some pictures!
We thought we could drive on and keep to our schedule but in the gift shop we were informed the road from here to Dunedin was closed due to the snow fall. They were updating the situation at lunchtime so we could wait in the cafe by the fire until then and fingers crossed by on our way today still.
We relaxed in the cafe and enjoyed some lunch that we hadn't actually made!
The news came that the road was open so unfortunately we had to leave the fire and set off.
On the way back to the campervan this fella eyed us up!
Rach drove us down there. The conditions weren't too bad for quite a while but then you could see where the snow had fallen and you had to be careful of the roads. Some parts were still slush so we were sticking behind the lorries going slow and careful in our lil camper!
We made it to Dunedin and were very happy we could still stick to our plan and not have to miss any days out. Fingers crossed the weather stays on our side!
We spotted an Ellis street and once we had finished at the.... You guessed it.... The i-site! We headed back and took some pictures!
We went to Baldwin street which is the steepest street in the world.
It was hard work getting up there but worth it in the end! The views were lovely!
We then decided on what we were going to do - where Rach wanted to spend her birthday. Dunedin it was!
The man at the i-site told us about a place we could freedom camp so off we went in search of this place. It's first come, first served so we wanted to get there before dark.
As it happens we were the first ones there and got the best parking space.
We were opposite a big lake which looked stunning. Paying for a campsite is fine and needed sometimes but when you can freedom camp, it's fab! Some of the locations are beautiful!
We had dinner and settled down. A funny story happened on that night actually. We were just about to play cards - Rach and I went to do our teeth so we didn't have to go out again late at night. We went to the public toilets and came back to complete darkness. Mum was sat there and said 'I don't know what I've done'. It was so funny! We were low on power and she had turned the toilet light on causing the other lights to turn off and when she turned the toilet light off - no other lights came back on!! So she didn't know what to do, dad was asleep so she waited for us to come back. We still giggle about it now!! She should have used the public one!
So needless to say we couldn't play cards and went to sleep!
Day Six
Today was Rachael's birthday!!!
She opened her presents and cards which Mum and Dad had brought with them over a Birthday Breakfast of jam and toast!
Rach thought it would be nice to visit an Albatross colony on her birthday so we drove up to the peninsula to see if we could see an albatross!
We didn't have time to do the tour due to Rach wanting to do Cadbury World too! So we hung about a walk way near the car park in hope to see one flying about but we had no luck. We moved on back towards Dunedin centre. On the way back we saw a kingfisher plus stunning views.
We made it to Cadbury World and started the tour. We were given a hairnet to wear and a video to watch. We couldn't help but drool at the video.
We really enjoyed the tour and were given some free chocolate whilst exploring the workings of the factory. It was really interesting and we also got to eat some warm melted chocolate which was delicious!!
No photos were allowed during the tour so none to share I'm afraid!
Once we made it back we could throw away our hair nets etc but this photo had to be taken first!
Visiting the shop, Rach was in chocolate heaven!
I think with that visit it felt like it wasn't just Rachael's birthday but all of our birthdays today!!
We parked over at countdown and did some shopping. When we came out we thought 'thats a massive seagull!'. It was an ALBATROSS!
We couldn't believe it!! It was eating a chicken leg and all the seagulls were scared of it. I'm not surprised seeing the size of it compared to them!
We had some lunch and Rach found this massive....crisp!
Dusk was on its way so we headed to a campsite in Gore. Once there and after dinner we celebrated Rachael's birthday with these muffins.
What a FAB day!
Day Seven
Today we filled up with fresh drinking water and emptied our water waste again.
Last night we made use of the hot shower - especially after freedom camping. We steamed the bathroom up good and proper! I went last and when I thought 'I better get out, I've been ages' a guy asked if I was nearly finished so he could have some hot water. We saw this sign the next morning and it really made us laugh!!
We moved on to Te Anau but not after a stop at Gore Library to use their free wifi!! Even mum got in on the act and sent some messages!
We then made our way to Te Anau. Along the way it was full of gorgeous views but very windy!!
It was a slower drive than expected but we made it! First stop - i-site!
We decided visiting Milford sound was off limits due to the bad weather. The tunnel to get there was blocked with snow and more snow was expected that way! We had a structure so couldn't afford to get stuck in places - we had flights to catch!! On the other hand we needed snow chains to travel that way. We were entitled to these but at the pick up back in Auckland they hadn't been given! This was another story and quite annoying! We decided to go ahead and visit Doubtful Sound on a tour tomorrow!
We also went to a place called 'Black dog'. It was a cinema which showed a film called 'Ata Whenua - Shadowland'. We enjoyed a hot drink by the fire before it started.
The film is created by a team of award winning videographers spanning over 4 years, covering every season and weather condition and highlighting every beautiful aspect of the fiordlands. Taken and filmed from a helicopter, it literally gave us goosebumps! Absolutely amazing filming and spectacular and effective editing. Definitely worth the watch, was truly beautiful!
There was a scene where it all went black and we thought it was part of the film until a lady came in and said 'sorry guys! We have had a power cut and it's cut off!'. It was half way through and we had the option to watch it again at the next hour screening so we did!
So we enjoyed a break in the bar area. Mum and Dad treated themselves to a gin and tonic each and we were called in to the movie again. We ordered some hot drinks and the kind lady brought them in for us to enjoy whilst watching the rest of the film.
The cinema and service was fabulous and plus we sat in some cozy seats! We were nearly asking to sleep there that night!
Day Eight
Today we awoke to the sound of rain which was a shame. We had our trip to Doubtful Sound booked today!
The great news is with wet weather though you get to see hundreds more waterfalls which are unnamed due to them just appearing when wet.
We walked from the campsite to the pier and were wet already! Rach had wet socks and that was before the trip had even begun!
We caught the boat which took us to the visitor centre to get a coach. The journey over was pleasant with lots of lovely natural views.
We hopped on the coach and enjoyed looking at all the waterfalls and really enjoyed the sights and photo opportunities. We saw a waterfall that was 365metres tall!
We then caught the boat that will cruise us around Doubtful Sound for 3 hours.
The scenery was immensely stunning! Waterfalls, blue sky and green trees. It was so peaceful and such a joy!
On the way around we stopped at one point and the captain turned off the engine. This allowed us to just be at one with nature and listen to natures sounds that surrounded us!
We made use of the free hot drinks on board and enjoyed our own picnic.
Once the boat tour was over we headed back on the coach to drive to the Manapouri Power Station. It was deep underground and the tunnel didn't look wide enough for the coach.
We drove down about 200metres and we came to an end. Our driver had to reverse the coach and turn it around. I was sat on the back row and I thought 'wow, this is going to be tight!!' He did very well though and we parked up and went deeper.
Seeing the workings all underground, it felt like we were in the movie - James Bond! It was crazy but really interesting!
We then headed off back towards the boat to be dropped off at the pier.
The beauty of it all was that we had left our campervan at the campsite due to staying there for two nights. All we had to do was walk there and not worry about where we would be sleeping.
We headed back after a tiring day and knew we wouldn't be too long before we got back to the campsite.
On our way though we took in the beautiful surroundings and this sign!! Oh and Rach, once again she found somewhere to shove her head!
It was entering dusk when we were making our way back to camp and in a field we saw some deer. They looked lovely!!!
We finally made it back and settled down for the night!
What a day!!
Hope you've enjoyed this! The fourth and final week of New Zealand is coming soon...extremely soon!
Nat xxx
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