8 - 16 April

Our next stop was Kohaihai further up the West Coast (in fact as far north as we could drive). This is the start of the Heaphy Track and we did the first half hour of it. It was through a Nikau Palm forest and was very pretty. Afterwards the kids had fabulous fun being buried in the sand and doing “123 run, jump” into the nearby lagoon. We were lucky it was such a beautiful day as the water was, as Jack described it, “refreshing”.

Morning tea on route to Karamea



The start of the Heaphy Track



Kohaihai









On the way back down the West Coast we stopped at Ngakawau to do the Charming Creek walk. It was a goodie for Jack as the walk followed an old coal railway and there were numerous train relics on the way. Both Jack and Lucy were very excited whenever we came across a section of tracks that had fallen off the hillside or were bent out of shape and there were lots of conversations about train accidents.






This day really was a train day as after the walk we headed to Charleston and headed up the Nile River valley on Dorothy. Jack and Lucy both got to operate the switch tracks, very exciting stuff….

Jack took his "switch track" job very seriously...





We had a beautiful morning at Punakaiki, lovely for walking in but the blow-holes were not much of a spectacle.





Greymouth was our next stop and we don’t have much to write about that! Shantytown filled our next morning – Lucy’s favourite spot was the playground while Jack, surprise surprise, enjoyed the train ride best.







Enough of the fast life we thought so we then headed to Lake Brunner. A pretty lake but the weather was the pits – and Jack throwing up in the garden of the one café didn’t add to the enjoyment. The poor wee thing had a terrible night and, unfortunately is still "poorly". We headed to the south side of the lake and found a lovely wee camp spot for the night but as the weather didn’t improve the next day we headed onwards.



The rain continued so we headed to Hokitika library for the morning. The Thomas collection was very impressive…to Jack at least. The rain abated for a little walk around Hokitika but, as there didn’t seem much to see, we hit the road again. We ended up at a lovely DOC camp spot at Lake Mahinapua and spent a couple of days here. Despite the on-off drizzly weather, the boat had a couple of outings, we went for some walks and even had perch for breakfast one morning!





Walking with Lucy is very slow as she loves playing in the puddles and playing with the leaves...




packing up "B" in the rain...


After a week of drizzles, we woke to a beautiful day and headed to Lake Ianthe to spend a few hours soaking up the sun. It was divine. Mike did some fishing and Jack and Lucy made a stink bomb pie and then had fun with the trains...








Lucy found my chocolate stash...



Mike gets a little sick of the kids music...

31 March - 7 April

Our next stop was Anatoki Salmon Farm and Bencarri Farm Park. We had to get up early to watch the farm animals wander down from their night home to the farm park at 8.30. Jack and Lucy loved the Farm Park and we spent a couple of hours petting and feeding the animals – alpacas, donkeys, a deer, a disgustingly goobey Texan Bullhorn cow, a scary pig that we threw the feed to as its mouth looked too scary and all the usual farm animals.





Then we headed down the river to feed the eels raw mince kebabs…




Our salmon fishing was short-lived as the kids were kind of past it by then. Given that the lake had only been stocked with littlies a week before, I don’t think we missed out on too much and the smoked salmon we purchased from the shop was pretty good anyhow!



Time for us to head further south, and after a few stops to meet some rellies, remove a rock from between 2 rear tyres and to pick up wheels for the boat, we arrived at Lake Rotoiti in the Nelson Lakes. This is a stunning place - a glacial lake surrounded by mountains with plentiful birdlife. We spent a few days there and had fun fishing on the lake, walking through the forest and doing everything possible to avoid the sandflies!





The ducks seemed peaceful enough but were aggresive once we started feeding them. Jack had the right idea...





And the easter bunny found us too!





On our way to the next lake, we stopped at Kawatiri Junction for a short walk starting from an old railway station. The highlights were an old bridge (“old Knapford bridge”), a tunnel to nowhere and a hidden cave – of course Jack was very excited about it all! Lucy was more taken by the little robin that followed us partway and the yellow flowers (that she has taken to collecting).






The next lake was Lake Rotoroa. Again a beautiful setting but here the sandflies were even worse. The weather has cooled down a bit though so clothing took care of any bites. Once again we spent the time walking and boating/fishing – yeah it is a pretty good life! Oh I should probably mention here that no fish were caught – the locals told Mike that fishing was “hard” at the moment but I am not sure how “fishing’ and “hard” go together!






The sandflies become too much to bear so we headed off to Westport, via a night in Murchison. Poor Lucy has caught a tummy bug and has been very subdued over the last 3 days so we have kept things pretty quiet lately.

Buller Swingbridge




Cape Foulwind




Timeout takes on a different meaning...