Our fluffy moggie Kitkat hasn’t featured in our travel blogs as she had no interest in joining our caravan adventures!
Rowan (Brent’s bro) provided her with a fab home while we’ve been travelling… which is all to say that KitKat’s back with us since we’ve just arrived home!
With temps quickly falling in the lower parts of the South Island we’d decided to head north (see THE ONLY WAY IS UP).
However, we had a few stops in the Marlborough Region before we hit the Cook Strait…
(Recent travels below – we talked about the shaded bits in our earlier blogs)
Our last blog finished in the Ashburton district. We made a bee-line from there to the Marlborough Sounds and French Pass. So why pick this spot?! Well… it’s a good distance north of those cooler temps; it’s lovely and remote; it offers plenty of interesting twist and turns… and the road doesn’t go any further so we had to stop! 🙂
For first time visitors it’s not a drive for the faint hearted, particularly when you’re towing. Kaz mentioned that if for some reason Brent couldn’t drive out then the caravan would just be staying there ???? The views driving in and our were epic!
As the vid and a couple of pics below indicate, a lot of road work is still required to address the August 2022 slips. Despite the “interesting” drive in, Elmslie Bay where we camped is a popular spot to visit with boaties coming and going and the ferry regularly crossing to D’Urville Island.
Well worth staying for a few days…
There’s a lovely life-sized bronze memorial to Pelorus Jack on Collinet point – he escorted ships to and from French Pass for 24 years until 1912. The waters through French Pass (last photo above) are particularly hazardous, so we didn’t get too close with the kayak!
Gotta love the ancient rock formations on the beach. The strata on this block suggests… hmmm… it must be at least 40 years old! ????
From French Pass we headed to the DOC camp at Whites Bay – this is where we started our South Island wander back in November 2022…
Where has that time gone?!?
[The view along the beach / vineyards are at Rarangi, just over the hill from Whites Bay]
We then headed to one of our last camping spots just down the road – Marfells Beach. A number of the folks we follow on Instagram have raved about this location so we had to check it out. The weather wasn’t perfect but we had a lovely campsite right on the beach and with keen fisher folk on both sides we snagged a few fillets ????????
We enjoyed the 7km wander to the lighthouse at low tide; explored the Yealands white road lookout point (that’s one large vineyard operation!) and even did some kayaking and paddleboard surfing! ????
The pāua season had only recently opened so we saw a lot of activity from the fishing inspectors – even a few strobe lights along the beach overnight! ????
With ferry reliability issues over recent months we’d booked an initial crossing with Bluebridge, and a backup booking a little later on the Interislander.
Thankfully the Bluebridge crossing went without a hitch, and it was another smooth crossing (always a bonus!)
We had a couple of appointments in Hamilton so didn’t spend too long heading up the country. We were however keen to scope out a few camping spots along the way in case we use them on our next wander…
[Top left pic – couldn’t complain about the space at this “freedom camp” at Otaki beach, but would you stay here?! The photo on the right is Foxton beach – first we’ve seen for a while with so many people on it, but it was a beautifully calm sunny day after a lot of rain! The very green, lush photo below it is of Dudding Lake. The bottom three pics are at the Three Sisters and Elephant Rock, a short walk from the Tongapōrutu freedom camp, north of New Plymouth]
We enjoyed stopping off at three lovely gardens close to Mount Taranaki, created over decades by impressively visionary folk – Pukeiti (2nd row – huge variety of rhododendrons and rainforest trails); and Tupare (3rd row) and Hollard (bottom row) botanic gardens. The latter two were previously created as private gardens, but are now managed by the Taranaki District Council. We intend to make return visits in other seasons!
The first couple of photos are from the ever popular Pukekura Park, New Plymouth.
[Below – the educational bit in the blog] If you haven’t seen a kiwi in the wild then we’ve given you a rarely seen, sneak preview of how they look when they’re running away… Of course the King Country species are sooooo much easier to see with that spectacular plumage!
We had a great time catching up with family in Hamilton, and appreciating the Hamilton Gardens – they are such a treasure… and free! (that will change in the years ahead but we’d still pay to see them).
New settings are regularly created and it’s amazing to see what they pack into an area that started life as a rubbish tip!
So we’re now back in Auckland – what’s next we hear you say? Now that’s a good question! 🙂 We’ve already drafted a “PIR” (post implementation review) so we have some thoughts on what we liked and what we might do differently next time.
But in the meantime we’re loving having opportunity to hang out with family with friends! Let us know if you’d to catchup and have a chat sometime 🙂
Take care – Brent and Kaz