We left Wanaka with the plan to follow Highway 6 all the way to the top of the South Island stopping off at the Glacier's and combining some nights in campsites with some rural free camping.
Our first stop for the night was in the beautiful Haast mountains where we had amazing views from our 'campsite'.
Upon arrival at Fox Glacier ( named after a Prime Minister not a mint!) we donned walking shoes and set off on a hike to the terminal face. William and Oliver enjoyed learning (well as much as Sam and I could remember from geography!) about glaciers and land slides.
We then checked in to a fantastic campsite with excellent facilities and a brilliant children's play area. Oliver and William befriended a boy and had a couple of hours of fun. Rather appropriately, as it was Chinese New Year's Eve, the family were Chinese and Sam and I practised a bit of mandarin.
In the morning we went for a walk round Lake Matherson, the reflection lake.
We then headed up the coast stopping for a swim (wash!) in a lake and supper before heading to another remote camping spot. William and Oliver were asleep when we arrived and we heard them make derogatory remarks about being parked in a bush and not on a beach as they had hoped!
However, we were not too far from the coast and we had breakfast over looking the beach at Hokitika before the boys all played wave catching. Hokitika is an arty town and has many driftwood sculptures on the beach and a glass blowing showroom which the boys enjoyed.
Still on Highway 6 we continued up the West Coast, a section of which is in the Lonley Planets Top Ten Drives in the World. It wasn't hard to see why.
A section of limestone rock on this coastline have formed in to an unusual layer formation which no one can explain why. The have been named Pancake Rocks and as they are eroded blow holes and surge caverns have been formed making it interesting to watch as the waves hit them. The rocky coastline makes an ideal place for seal colonys to form and Oliver and William were delighted to spot seals, including babies learning to swim. We decided to stay by the beautiful beach and have a swim and supper.
William and Oliver went to bed and Sam and I decided to head for the beaches at the top of the South Island so we could have a couple of days without driving to wait for our ferry.
The drive took about four and a half hours and we arrived within the vicinity of an area we could free camp in good time. Unfortunately, we struggled to find the right place in the dark and drove on to a very random camping area at about midnight with a very creepy man wandering about! We quickly reversed out and after realising a new road had been built, located where we were meant to be.
The following morning showed our camp choice to be a good one.
We had breakfast and headed to Kaiteriteri on Tasman bay for a few days of beach chilling! On the way in to the village we saw a shop, the name of which inspired this blog title!
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