Some top camping tips for West Coast, NZ: ‘No Insects’ repellent worked a treat for us, I try to avoid DEET and as many chemicals as possible. If you’re into essential oils, I use YOUNG LIVING brand of oils, a blend is: Combine 5 drops lavender, 5 drops lemongrass, 3 drops peppermint and 1 drop…
At the Four Rivers Cafe on the way to Te Anau, we picked up our first ever hitchhikers, Matthew and Leah from France (seen in picture below on boat with Mitre Peak behind us). They too were heading to Milford Sound and camping overnight, so we took them to the DOC camp we were staying…
At Franz Joseph Glacier we did a one hour hike to the viewing point and it was an indescribable moment. She is almost something you want to kneel down to she is so almighty. All flights were cancelled that day, but we saw some sun shining through the cloud and we zoomed up to…
Lake Mapourika – McDonalds Creek, a DOC camp with a lake view. This camp was full by nightfall. Here we decided it was paddle board time. Andy started to blow them up with the pump. One didn’t work and frustration and sweat was appearing. This was not a good start. Off we set to launch…
Pancake Rocks, Punakaiki here we come! The road down to here was magical, breathtaking and so scenic. We stayed at the camping ground at Punakaiki which had views out to the sea – a 9/10. Visiting the Pancake Rocks had all of our senses on high alert. The heavy sweet salt air hit our noses, our…
Seddonville is home to The Old Ghost Road mountain bike track which riders tackle over two days. Luckily, the start of this track is for all grades and we are grade 1-2! Unfortunately, we’re not in the right gear, so we had to walk up the first hill with our heads down puffing like billy-o….
From Oparara Basin we zoomed as far up the West Coast road as it would take us to another beautiful DOC camp which we rated a 10/10 for location, amenities and cleanliness. Here we took our first steps on the Heaphy Track, a Great Walk of NZ. It was an OMG moment. We only did…
Backpacks packed with food and drink for the day and our destination was Karamea. This was the windiest drive I have had in a long time. The i-Site advised us to shoot up to the Oparara Basin where we were about to become Feilding’s latest cave people. Not one cave, but four caves later, after…
We packed up from Westport and headed north to the best location yet, the Gentle Annie camping ground. We parked on the edge of the river and looked out to sea. The amount of whitebaiters here is phenomenal lining both sides of the river to the beach. We biked further downriver to see all the…
Just so you know, our life isn’t always smooth sailing. We got back from two days away from the caravan, stepping over sheep poo in the paddock we left it in, to find the fridge/freezer hadn’t been working. Oh no… goodbye, frozen 1/2 pound of whitebait and other frozen goodies. Goodbye fridge of veges and…
