Down the Long West Coast - 278 km of it at least

On the road again

After waking after a refreshing sleep and enjoying a long shower, Jane and I woke Jonty and then the three of us walked into town and he saw the Hokitika township for the first time. We had coffee and hot chocolate and talked through our plans for the rest of the day. Yesterday's effort to pre-purchase GF slices for the journey was so successful that we did the same again - we didn't know what options would be available as we became more remote.

The Christmas Tree in Hokitika

When walking back to the motel, we bought some groceries to ensure that we had breakfast items for the family. The departure process didn't take too long after getting the other two up. Showers, breakfast and packing all happened well before 10am, so we drove into Hokitika before the i-Site had opened, and an argument ensued with the kids about whether we should hang around or drive straight to Franz Josef. Of course the parents won, and we filled our time in a craft market store before the obligatory i-Site visit. 

The drive south was so beautiful, and largely uneventful until we were stopped for an excessively long time at road works just north of Hari Hari. I had been making great time until we caught up to the line of traffic at the lights there. Having been warned that this may take a while, I turned the car off and we continued to listen to the music, turning the volume up and singing loudly. The kids even got out to take photos of themselves on the road in the rainforest. 

Singing away to the song on the excellent playlist
It was a long wait


Green Light!

When you have to go, you have to

When there are stones, you have to

As a consequence of this delay, there was an awkward situation with toilets and the nearest ones being 'Out of Order' - enough said! We came up with a solution, and a short while later we arrived in Franz Josef for lunch. There was lots of yummy food on offer at the 'Other Side of the Road' cafe. All ate well, and then were on our way to Lake Matheson. While this was a stunning walk, the overcast cloud cover meant that we couldn't get the 'money shot' - with little reflection, and many ripples from the wind  coming off the lake. 

A gluten free pie!
And the obligatory toastie on offer. YUM
Swing bridges and boy determined to make it swing. Sigh


Plenty of available seats to see the sight, if it could be seen

The mountains are there, behind the couds

You can get some reflections




There's even a frame with hashtags a plenty.
Plenty of options to lark around and get a different shot

The drive from Fox Glacier township to Haast was also incredibly beautiful, passing from forest glades to roads through the marshland and farmland. When we saw a perfectly positioned real fruit ice cream van at Bruce Bay - halfway down - it seemed the right time for a toilet stop. With only sandflies to ruin the experience for us, we enjoyed our delicious desserts looking out at the rugged ocean. 

There are many corners

With helpful signs like 35 for 5km. They sure make the Brynderwyns look tame.

Not much of a reason for photos - but are they selling ice cream????!

They were


Pretty scenery

LOTS of long one lane bridges, with incredibly blue water beneath


There are a wide variety of drivers that tend to tackle the tourist highways and usually I'm very tolerant of drivers who may not be super confident on our narrow, winding roads, but occasionally, there is a driver that I feel is just a bit erratic. In our case, they braked suddenly to take photos out the window and were swerving all over the road; fortunately, they didn't hang around for too long, before turning off to do real tourist things. 

We found our accommodation - a comfortable, well-appointed house - in Haast at about 6pm, and Eliza and Logan set about making dinner. It was a teriyaki poke bowl style meal, which was very nice. In the meantime, Jane and I got the washing going and planned our evening post-dinner walk at Ship Creek. 

There are so many incredible things to see in Westland, and Ship Creek is one of them. Including both easy walking forest and marsh tracks, and a beach trail celebrating Haast's rare freshwater dune lakes, this attraction gives a great insight into the flora and fauna of the West Coast. It made sense to stay until sunset, so we braved the sandflies and scanned for interesting beach pebbles until the golden orb descended to the horizon. West Coast sunsets are amazing!

So incredible

Sky so pretty

Waves so big

Sun so cool

Shadows are amazing


The sky on the way home

An actual mirror lake. So incredible.






Kea count today: zero

Dead possum count: well, we didn't count, but it must have been 50.








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