“You’re not in Auckland now, Dr Ropata!”

 “You’re not in Auckland now, Dr Ropata!”

When you are travelling you can’t help comparing what you know at home to what you are seeing and, even though we are in the same country, there are differences - some are obvious and some are unexpected. One that we have been noticing for a while, but I haven’t commented on yet, is the beach structures. 

The beaches in the Tasman Bay area, and even the top of the West Coast have a lot of driftwood - I mean, like a LOT! So it is not surprising, I guess, that people tend to make the driftwood into little huts. We saw these at the first beach we went to back at Rabbit Island and assumed it was just something peculiar to that beach but we have continued to see them the whole time we have been in the South Island. Some of these structures are works of art and I can imagine Vincey and Millie enjoying helping to make one!

I know we are seeing this part of the South Island scenery for the first time but it is different to what we are used to. With so much granite around the cliffs and mountains seem more dramatic - and you constantly feel like parts of them could fall down on you. There are a lot more Nikau Palms down here too and they seem stockier and in better condition.

You certainly can’t complain about the traffic in the South Island as it is non-existent. On some of the Bluffs that we have had to cross Dave has been constantly checking to see if there is anything behind us that we need to let pass and we have done the entire traverse with no cars in front of us or behind us and only meeting a handful of vehicles coming the other way. Having said that, though, the roads are in very good condition, although you can see the effects that nature has taken on them over the last couple of years there are plenty of Stop/Go men putting that to right.

I think the big one though is attitude. The locals we have met are friendly, helpful, chatty and trusting. I mentioned in my last post about the locals at Westport but this Kiwi hospitality is what we have found everywhere…and especially at our next stop.

FRIDAY 21 MARCH 2025 - SUNDAY 23 MARCH 2025

Heading South from Karamea we called into Westport to restock the pantry and continued past Carters Beach to Cape Foulwind. Our NZMCA App had talked about a Park Over Property (POP) at Star Tavern. POPs are private people or businesses who are happy for self contained vehicles to spend some time on their properties. Most charge a very nominal fee and the facilities they can offer varies - but usually it is just a place to park. In the members comments for Star Tavern quite a few people mentioned a place called Kay’s Place that was right on the clifftop, 2 seconds from the Star Tavern. It sounded idyllic and we thought we would check it out. As it didn’t have its own listing in the NZMCA App we were relying on the sketchy information that was provided in the members’ comments. When we got to Clifftop Lane there was a HUGE, flat expanse of lawn but there was not another motorhome in sight so I went and knocked on the door of the beautifully restored home and as luck would have it, this WAS Kay’s Place. She said park anywhere on the lawn and instead of payment asked us to make a donation to the Kawatiri Coastal Track fund - a request we were more than happy to comply with given this was the view from our back window AND we were going to be biking on the Kawatiri Coastal Trail the next day.

One thing about being on a clifftop on the West Coast is you can guarantee a decent sunset…

The next day we decided to cycle to Tauranga Bay and visit the Seal colony there. It was only 3 kms return so definitely worth a look. The trail had a few switchbacks (will I EVER get better at these???) but was mostly pretty gentle and the Seal colony was the best seal experience we have ever had. There was a ‘Nursery pool’ where all the baby seals were learning how to be seals and there was a poor adolescent seal whose turn it was to baby sit overseeing this frolicking. There were Mum seals who were calling for their babies, who were ignoring the call - until they realised they were going to be in BIG trouble if they didn’t check in!! We saw two juveniles who were having trouble getting back onto the rocks because of the swells - and eventually they made the decision to go for a swim for a while until the tide sorted itself out. We stood there watching for ages.

On our cycle back to The Beast we detoured slightly to the bluff that has the Cape Foulwind lighthouse. We could see Kay’s Place on the next cliff around and Dave tried to point out our motorhome. (He so loves me taking these kind of photos - LOL)

One brilliant thing about Kay’s Place was that it was literally right on the Kawatiri Coastal Trail so on our final day here we headed back to Carters Beach for a 14 kms return cycle. An easy cycle to an extremely long West Coast beach!!

We could not thank Kay enough for generously sharing this beautiful part of New Zealand with us and not gaining anything from being so generous - so we left her a sneaky bottle of wine!

It was time to say goodbye to Westport. We had both really liked Westport, the town, the people, the beaches but it was time to continue our trip down the West Coast.

Before we leave this part of New Zealand there was something I forgot to mention from when we were in Karamea and this is ANOTHER shout out to Adele! When we visited the little local museum I spotted a Nelson College Boater with the name Tunnicliff on it so thought it MUST be another one of Adele’s relatives. This hat belonged to Bob Tunnicliff who had also been an All Black. What I hadn’t noticed was that in the All Black information his name was spelled with an e at the end. Adele checked with her Dad and yes he was a relative who gave up on correcting people who spelled his name with an e. He REALLY needed an Adele in his life who always makes sure her surname is spelled correctly - LOL.

AND finally for this post we heard a new word today - “Sliders” Apparently this is a term used to describe young, tourist, freedom campers who are in wee vans with sliding doors - it is NOT a compliment. So far we have not come across any of these tourists who are demonstrating any of the traits that earn them this title but I will keep you posted!