I’ve always loved the etymology of names, place names in particular. Some you have to dip deep to figure out and they still remain a mystery but some are much more obvious. Cape Foulwind certainly lived up to its name as we walked along the headland, at least it was mostly dry. We made two small stops in the area, one to see the lighthouse and another to the seal colony viewpoint, where the seals chill out on the rocks far below. The walks were fine, but haven’t rocketed onto my recommendations list, it was just something to do along the way to another obviously named place, Westport
We hadn’t planned anything for Westport, it was just a convenient stopping place that had a decently reviewed free camping spot near to the beach. There, we splashed in the strong currents of the sea, built a driftwood house and … left the front lights on in the van causing the battery to go flat. Okay, as I’m the driver the last action was definitely a me thing, in my defence I did notice before the battery was entirely flat but annoyingly, there still wasn’t enough juice to get it going. I was feeling very sheepish but as the sun was setting there wasn’t anything that could be done till the next day. One benefit from having a second house battery along with an inverter is that we can (and did) charge one battery using the other. It wasn’t a quick process, and because of our batteries strange location under the bed, we didn’t really have anywhere to sit while it was happening but it did charge up eventually. Many hours later, we was off again heading our way up the west coast.
Gentle Annies Seaside accommodation was far better than the free camping spot at Westport; it close to a beach littered with driftwood but with the benefit of hot showers, a kitchen, a chill out area and a laundry area… to be fair it cost a lot more too. At $15 per person per night it wasn’t exactly expensive but it sure felt luxurious after all the nights spent with little to no facilities. With the weather still being overcast and drizzly we didn't do much but at least we had somewhere comfortable to do it in.
The Denniston Coal mining historic area came as a bit of a shock. I was confused when our route started to climb, higher and higher we wound until we’d reached the summit of the hill. When I think of coal mining I don’t think of mountain tops; I think of caves and mineshafts, all neatly at ground level. It seemed like an awkward place to get to and I can understand why the coalminers would choose to ride the dangerous and possibly deadly mine carts up the mountainside rather than walk, after all, the road we came up on was a much later addition. The historic area was dotted with information signs, really bringing the place to life and showing insight into the lives of the workers. It was an intriguing story of mans obsession with dominating nature despite nature providing steep and dangerous obstacles, it was also a testament to what people are willing to do for money. When we stood on the edge of the hillside, looking down at the insanely steep path the mine carts would travel, it was easy to see why so many people met their end here, every job seemed a small mistake away from tragedy… and that’s not including the mineshafts. We couldn’t find the entrance to the mine itself, but it’s probably hidden for good reason to stop people exploring down in it’s dangerous depths.
When traveling from the west coast to Nelson there didn’t seem to be that many places to stop, so we decided on Murchison. I don’t want to sound negative, but I’ve traveled through Murchison a few times now and my opinion has stayed the same. It’s fine, but I can’t see anyone choosing it as their final destination, it seems more like a place you stop at to break up a long journey and that’s what we did.
Next along the way was Lake Rotoiti, one of the many lakes in the Nelson Lakes National Park. Looking at photos from others, I regret not going on one of the Hikes here, it looks truly stunning. However, it is sunny in those photos and it was a horribly drizzly day when we visited, besides we needed a break. I know it doesn’t seem that we’ve actually been doing that much, but we were mentally exhausted from being on the move and needed an excuse to lock ourselves in the van all day and to just chill out. So we didn’t make the most of Nelson Lakes but we felt refreshed because of it. Ben did venture out to have an early morning swim before we left, as we’d spotted eels in the water the day previously I didn’t join him.
Despite having a few days left until our first day of work began, we headed over to Nelson early to meet up with some friends from England, before they headed south on their own travels. It was a long overdue catch up, it’d been years since the last; living in different parts of the country and conflicting work schedules can really get in the way. They still had work commitments however, so after a few hours, meeting up just the once more we headed off in our separate ways.
As a last ditch attempt to revel in our freedom before the drudgery of work began, we traveled to the Able Tasman to explore. We decided to head as far as we could up the dead end road that is highway 60 to Collingwood. We could have continued on but as we were limited for time and the road gets progressively harder to drive we thought this was a good stopping point. Collingwood is a quirky small town which seems to have more tourist shops and motels that houses, it is also one of the few places along this stretch that had a reasonably priced campground. After a brief explore of the town we hit the beach, where, if we really squinted we could make out the outline of the farewell spit, curving round over the top of the island. There was also what seemed like hundreds of variegated oystercatchers here, sulking around, looking like tiny villains.
Our only real foray into the Able Tasman National park itself was a small hike along it’s edge up to Rawhiti cave. This one was tough, it wasn’t very long in distance, it was just very uphill and slippery. Some parts of the track seemed so precarious to me that I had a few mini panics about whether I could manage to get up there… let alone coming back down. Ben, whose confidence never wavered on the ascent, was a bit shakier on the way back down when it turns out his shoes didn’t have enough grip. There was a time or two when he slipped, his feet dangerously close to the edge, his fingertips digging into the earth the only thing between him and a nasty fall. I’m really not sure who was more shaken, and despite my feet staying firmly on the ground there was a brief moment when I wondered if I was going to have to live there on the track, frozen in fear. The cave at the tracks conclusion was impressive, the large entrance is filled with twilight-zone flora which grow on the stalactites causing them to slowly grow and bend towards the light. As the formations on the cave floor are delicate there was a handy viewing platform built to allow us to see it all without damaging it for others.
We had a few more stops on our way to Brightwater for work. First was a crowded free camping spot on the outskirts of Mouteka where the locals played loud bad music at a very murky saltwater swimming pool. Suffice to say, we didn’t stick around. Second was a quirky little spot along ruby bay, that might have been okay if the weather hadn’t decided to once again turn rubbish. Stuck in the van, with the wind battering into us just about able to see the stormy sea through the rain lashing down - not ideal. Last was Wai-iti domain, a large open field just ten minutes from where we would be working, where we spent the evening looking at the bright stars before getting an early night.
Trip date: Feb 2023
Interesting chapter. It would be fascinating to hear more about the long term effects of constant travel - you mentioned getting exhausted at one point there.