Blog 71 After a well rested sleep in the warmth of a van with a fan heater we had a grandma's morning in Hokitika which involved a visit to the jade stone factory and a glass blowing workshop. We manned up and fixed a fuse in the van and found ourselves glacier bound. On route we popped into a wee village called Okarito, which was the setting of a book which Bryn read on his travels, The Bone People, which was nothing like he imagined and in all honesty a bit ...

Blog 70 This morning we woke up with frosty noses and pulled our camper curtains back to an icy winter wonderland. That was a cold nights kip. A long long drive and we found the Pancake Rocks in Punakaki. This place is a rock fanatics wet dream and even for the less geologically mined its still pretty bloody interesting to look at. Photos taken and back into the camper and down to a campsite just south of Greymouth to pull up the handbreak for the night. Th...

Blog 69 The taxi boat we sat aboard drifted slowly out over blue Abel Tasman water. Once deep enough the engine was powered up and we whipped our way along the coast, 22km north to be precise. The boat dropped us of at Bark Bay and waved cheerio. Now it was our job to get back to base, on foot. This beast of a walk brought us past perfect coves, through wonderful woodland, over muddy estuaries, creeks, gullies, gorges and culverts. Today we walked barefoot t...

Blog 68 Still buzzing from our whale encounter we searched for our perfect free camp spot. It was an illusive little bleeder but once we'd arrived it was sure worth it. Bryn set to work creating an artistic driftwood fire whilst I started dinner preparation in the van like the good girlfriend I am! The evening was spent with tinned daal and rice, backgammon and beers on the beach next to the fire (no wafting necessary with the sea breeze). Rested up and sunr...

Blog 67 After finding our free camp in the dark we woke up to the view of snowy mountains and crashing waves. With Porridge in our bellies we headed into Kaikora town to find an excursion to find some whales. Those crashing waves happened to have stopped the boats that day so our only option was a 7 man plane, not a bad second best and it was the same price as the boat! Half an hour later we were on the runway, strapped in, and off. The little plane, bounced...