25.3.-30.3.2023
On Saturday we continued from Hokitika to Hanmer Springs. We decided to spend a couple of nights there to visit the Hanmer Springs Thermal Pools.
We had driven only a few kilometres when we spotted a sign for a local motocross event on the side of the road. We decided to go and see what it was all about. It turned out to be a children’s race, but we decided to stay and watch for a while anyway. We just happened to catch the start of the oldest group in the race, the 11-12 year olds. These kids were already riding their bikes really fast and making high jumps. This race was really interesting to watch. Next up was the group of the youngest children, which was also fun to watch in its own way. Some of these 4-5 year olds were also going so fast that a less experienced motorcyclist would have had trouble keeping up with them. Some of the kids were slightly slower.
After a while, we continued onwards in rainy weather. Fortunately the rain stopped by the time we arrived to Hanmer Springs. We stayed at a campsite run by the local village community. I think we were about the only ones travelling in a small campervan. Some of the other visitors there had even bigger extension tents than our campervan was. But then again, we’re not spending much time in the campervan. We use it basically only for sleeping and moving from one place to another.
The spa was only a kilometre from the campsite, so we walked there both days. All the pools and water slides at the spa were outside, so we were lucky to have sunny and warm weather. The water in the pools was really warm. Even the coolest pools were +35C. In the hottest pool the water was +42C. You couldn’t sit there for long before you started to sweat. All the water in the hot pools was thermal water, so there was sulphur and potassium in it, among other things. Because of sulphur the hottest pools smelled quite strongly of rotten eggs.
Us adults liked the pool with the water temperature +37C. We could have stayed there for the whole day. We didn’t, though. Because occasionally we went with the kids to the water slides too. The kids enjoyed the warm pools too, but most of the time they spent on the water slides and floating in the Lazy River. On the first day, we spent seven hours at the spa. On the second day, we were there for a good five hours before we had to continue our journey to Kaikoura.
In Kaikoura we stayed in a campsite right on the seafront. When going to bed you could hear the waves into the van. The starry sky was also incredible. You could see the Milky Way very clearly. Jaana even managed to spot a shooting star, but she didn’t have time to make a wish before it was all gone.
The next morning it started to rain in Kaikoura and it continued to rain the whole day. To make matters worse, the electricity at the campsite was out until the late afternoon, so we all went to the Kaikoura library. The library was very well equipped. At first we did some school work with the children, but they also had time to do other things in the library too. Ronja especially enjoyed the library visit.
The next morning it was still raining, so we went back to the library for a few hours. After that we continued towards Nelson. Because of the rainy weather we didn’t go to the dolphin or whale watching tours as we had originally planned. However, we did see some dolphins from the beach of our own campsite on both mornings. On the first morning there were only a few swimming around, but on the second morning the pod was much larger. Unfortunately, they were swimming so far away from the beach that you couldn’t get any good pictures of them.
We didn’t arrive in Nelson until after 8pm, as Highway One, which we were driving along, had a big name, but a slow speed limit. In fact, during our entire stay on the South Island, we have only driven one stretch of real motorway for about twenty kilometres. Otherwise all the roads have been very narrow with only two lanes. Sometimes with only one, when crossing a bridge. The route to Nelson was partly right on the seafront, but the road also had mountain sections. So again we were driving 40km/h uphill. We were also slowed down by a sheep that had escaped the fencing, and instead of moving to the side of the road, it decided to keep running in front of our car. I guess it thought it was here first, so it was our responsibility to move over.
The weather in Nelson was much better than in Kaikoura, so we decided to go for a walk to the centre of New Zealand. Of course, being in New Zealand, it was only natural that the place was on top of a hill. So we got a pretty good uphill workout with the kids when we climbed on top of the 147m high hill. The route ended up being about eight kilometres long, so the kids had a proper sports lesson again.
In the evening at the campsite we met a cyclist in his eighties and had a long chat with him. This man, Paul Davenport, has cycled solo around the world and has written several books about his journeys. Three months of cycling in New Zealand at his age sounds amazing. Especially as there is virtually no flat land here. But Paul told us about even more incredible cycling trips he had done in places like East Africa and the Silk Road. What an adventurer this guy is!
The next day we went to visit the Abel Tasman Nature Reserve. To get there, we first had to drive to a village called Kaiteriteri. From there we took a ferry. The total ferry route is long, but we got off at Anchorage Bay at the very beginning of the route. This is the first place in the nature reserve, which also has a large campground with tent and cabin sites. You could only stay overnight at marked campsites, and the rule seemed to be that you couldn’t stay there for more than two nights. This is to ensure that as many people as possible have the opportunity to stay overnight in the park.
We were not staying overnight as we had come for a day trip. We set off on a hike (uphill again) towards the viewpoint at Pitt Peak, from where we continued to Te Pukatea Bay. The scenery was beautiful as always. Risto didn’t really appreciate this uphill walk, and grumbled for a long time about how we adults always make up these boring walks and how we always have to go uphill. Well, it’s true, in a way. There aren’t many flat places in New Zealand.
When we got back to Anchorage Bay, we ate lunch on the beach, and the kids had some time to play there. Just before the boat came to pick us up, we visited the small caves at the end of the beach. It was low tide, so it was easy to get there on foot. The caves were exciting, but especially for Ronja it was the creepy crawlies on the roof of one of the caves that added to the excitement. We never did find out what those crab and spider looking bugs were, but the biggest one was huge. When Ronja saw it, she ran screaming out of the cave. She almost made a new national record on hundred meters!
Abel Tasman Nature Park was a new experience for Jaana and Marko too. For some reason we hadn’t been there on our previous trip. We were glad we went there this time. Especially as the weather was nice and warm. In the summer it would be nice to spend a few nights in Abel Tasman either camping or staying in huts, but in autumn the nights are getting a bit too cool and damp for that.
