It was rather sad to leave the 'chilled out' area of Nelson and Golden Bay but we did have some kind of time scale to keep to, be it quite relaxed. We headed up to the Nelson Lakes country (the only route to the west coast). The hilly going on mountainous region was quite beautiful. As we drove to look for the DOC (Department of conservation) campsite that was on Lake Rotoiti, we were suddenly stunned by the vista as we arrived (despite the camp having 'No Vacancies').
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Lake Rotoiti
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It was quite late for us to find 'No Vacancies' (about 6.30pm)at Saint Arnaud, and it wasn't for another 2 hours of driving and searching that we found a campsite by the side of Highway 6 just short of Murchison. A quick pasta supper for all and we settled down for the night joined by approximately 300,000,000 midges and 100,00 sandflies. The site was also next to the Buller River (well known for salmon fishing).
The journey to Westport next morning/lunchtime was another scenic adventure. Lots of twisting, winding roads, through gorges, over narrow bridges, with jungle-like vegetation left and right. Just before our destination we pulled over to a 'lay-by' to honour the victims of the Christchurch earthquake with a 2 minute silence of our own at 12.51pm.
The weather seemed to close in as we arrived and that night saw the worst winds and rains that we had ever experienced. The camper swayed and rocked with the gusts and the rain pelted on our roof.
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Buller Gorge
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| Cape Foulwind |
As always, it seems, in NZ , the next day was much better and we set off to look at another seal colony at Cape Foulwind (aptly named by Captain Cook).
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