Author Archives: Kiwihobos

An early morning swim at Paines Ford. Known for being able to climbe the rocks around the river. We were there early enough to miss all of the rock climbers.

Off to Kaiteriteri for our next swim. Today is Waitangi Day and I expected it to be busy. But not this busy. Rowan’s face as we are driving says it all. We couldn’t find a carpark and there was a pay for carpark absolutely full too. So we decided to turn around and go back to Marahau and swim there.

Marahau was a lovely swim and we timed it well. We had our swim and then noticed people flocking to the beach haha. We had a Fat Tūī burger for lunch.

I had to stop for photos of Woolf’s Stream. My grandpas family used to be here in the tobacco days.

We only stop in Nelson to fuel up and to buy a very important tub of ice cream. Germie has requested Homey Pokey.

We drive out to Pelorus for the night. We go down to the river for a snorkel and a good swim. But first we sit in the river attempting to eat a full tub of ice cream. We fail.

A fantastic fog over the lake this morning. When we came out of the clouds the view was great.

In Takaka for breakfast. We found the Flying Spaghetti Monster. I also found a book or two at the local op shop.

Germie and I went off on an adventure. We didn’t get to our destination but here at Farewell Spit we found an awesome Pilot Whale skull dug into the sand. We ended up spending an hour getting it out. We really wanted some teeth. A little bit sad about no teeth but it was still like digging for treasure. It still had some flubber attached so it was pretty smelly and we needed to swim it off.

We made our way back to Takaka and went swimming in the river there. Then we had a late lunch at the local chippy. It was so large we couldn’t have dinner.

Te Waikoropupu Springs for the last afternoon adventure. There was a very tame paradise duck which absolutely made my day. The springs are fantastic, the water is absolutely incredible.

We parked up next to the Takaka River for the night.

Woke up on Denniston plateau, Rowan and Germie went for a swim in a tarn. We checked out the old mining part.

Drive South East. Then stopped for breakfast before Murchison. In Murchison we tried to get a real fruit ice cream but it wasn’t open.

It is such a great day we head off to Lake Rotoroa for a swim. Jenna saves a couple of bugs and we tell her the poor fish are losing their food source hehe.

We hit the Motueka op shops and find some real fruit ice cream.

Out at Cobb Dam for the night. It is a long scenic drive that is absolutely stunning.

Dreary but still fantastic morning through the Lewis Pass.

We stop in Reefton for a short time to take a look around before heading out towards Westport.

A detour out to Cape Foulwind, who lived up to its name!

Westport is a quick refuel and of course the op shops. Love this hilarious sign that was in Granity. As you can imagine Rowan posed very appropriately or inappropriately depending on your opinion in front of the sign.

We get up the Denniston Plateau in the early afternoon and end up watching a couple of movies. A very chill afternoon with a great sunset.

Rowan and Germie head off for a swim at Tautuku Beach while I would have probably jumped in but today is Jenna’s 30th Birthday. The cake survived the couple of days in the fridge after ordering it to be made by a baker in Invercargill. She was properly surprised and first question was how haha.

Second stop, The Lost Gypsy of Papatowai. We have been here before but thought it is a must for Jenna who loves steam punk. We all had a great lot of fun and ended up having a coffee with the locals when we were done.

Jenna and I walked out to Nugget Point to check out the views. Heaps of fur seals below us making some adorable noises.

We stopped at Waihola for some lunch. We are on our way to see the Royal Albatross Colony. We make it just in time and pay for a tour. Super amazing, all profits go straight back into the conservation of the colony and anything extra goes to the colony on the Chatham Islands. We spent the whole time observing them while talking and asking questions. A lady came to weigh the one day old chick. Also one came so close even the biologist said he hadn’t seen one come this close before.

Taken with my Nikon bird camera…

After we found a place to park at Pineapple Rock. By the time we went to bed it was past midnight, yawn!

A fantastic sleep with the white noise of the surf at Gemstone Beach. Off to Monkey Island for our morning swim. It was not as pleasant as yesterday with a definite small rip that kept pulling at us. It wasn’t a dangerous one though.

After our swim we took the scenic route to Riverton. Along the way we discovered an awesome spot to freedom camp at Cosy Nook.

In Riverton we could see the weather heading for us. It just started to rain as we jumped out to see the whale and go down the slide. I took a video going down. In my effort to capture Rowan I ended up taking it off video but somehow flipping the camera and capturing this awesome selfie. Lol

A Fat Bastard pie for late breakfast kept us going until dinner. We op shopped around Invercargill and found a few goodies. I claim I was under the influence of Germie and that is why I ended up buying 11 books.

Rowan dropped us off at the warehouse. Jenna wanted to experience again the red shed. While I was distracting her he took off to pick up a cake for her birthday. He packed it into the fridge, let’s hope she doesn’t find it. A trip to the supermarket to restock and we are ready to see the Caitlins.

We stop out at Waipapa Point Lighthouse and fossick the beach before dinner. We come across a large sea lion who we navigate around and give some space. The wind makes it uninviting to get into the water, but Rowan hops in and ends up swimming with a seal.

I got told I woke up choosing violence. I actually woke up pretty happy and alert. The problem was I didn’t change my alarm back to 5.30am after our early start yesterday. I just got up and got moving for the day. We had spoke about getting the camper warmed up and going to the southern Mavora Lake for a swim. So I did that which in turn made the others get up haha.

But hey look at the bright side we have an incredible ice halo/rainbow to play with.

LOTR picture reenactment. Rowan is Gimli, I am Aragorn and Jenna is Legolas. We set up a stick tripod in order to capture the scene. We are all sad because we think we have lost Merry & Pippin.

Lake Manapouri swing by to take some more LOTR photos. It is a fantastic day, we detour up to Lake Monowai too.

When we discovered Clifden Caves a few years ago we said we would be back and prepared. Today is the day. Now it is a lot more claustrophobic than Cave Stream and a lot more dirty. It doesn’t have water running through it so it makes for a very muddy track. It was great to see a few glow worms.

After the filthy cave we really wanted and needed a swim. We tried two locations and ended up on Gemstone Beach where there was a large do not swim sign. We have a quick look on google and see that there is a safe spot down the road called Monkey Island. It is sheltered from the large swells and currents. We have a great swim there before our search Gemstone Beach. I think Germie was overwhelmed and was struggling not to take all the rocks with her. It was very different for us because normally the whole beach is covered in stones but a storm must have put loads of sand up onto the beach.

We stayed the night at Gemstone Beach and were rewarded with a fantastic sunset. hard to see in the photos but we had great views of Fiordland too.

Early start had us out of camp and on the road. We want to get there before the large amount of tourists swarm the place. Do you know one million people a year visit Milford Sound!

Just in time to see the sunrise and what a sunrise it was. Absolutely stunning.

We were heading through the Homer tunnel by 9am. Just as the buses and tourists started shuffling in.

A great breakfast not far down the road. A local tried to join us but we were adamant that this cheeky kea did not need any food.

A little detour to the start or end of the Hollyford track. There was a quick hour walk to a waterfall that we did while there.

Back in Te Anau we visit the DOC site and the bird sanctuary. We got to see Takahe, Kakariki Parots and Whio ducks.

Mavora Lakes for the night where we reenacted scenes from LotR and had a swim in the lake.