Winter Bites

 Winter Bites!

Some overnight snow at Hanmer Springs

TUESDAY 3 JUNE 2025 - MONDAY 16 JUNE 2025

We are in Week 19 of our epic South Island adventure and I want to start by thanking all the people who are along for the ride with us by reading the blog and commenting. Primarily I am writing these posts so that Dave and I will have a really clear reminder of this year when we reach our dotage but when you are so far away from family and friends it is VERY heartwarming to know that you are with us in spirit. One question we get a lot is how many times have we weakened and booked into a Motel or Hotel? The simple answer is we have spent every single night since we left Auckland in The Beast and we are still loving the whole nomadic experience. Now on with the journey.

After 18 nights in Christchurch we headed north hoping for warmer weather. Our first destination was Hanmer Springs where we reasoned that if the weather wasn’t warmer, the hot pools would be. We hadn’t been in Hanmer for about 36 years and it has definitely grown some since then. We headed out for a walk and to familiarise ourselves with the area.

Although the hot springs were discovered by a stockman called William Jones the town was named after Thomas Hanmer who was the first European to survey the area in 1852 - even though he never settled there.

Our first visit to the hot pools was mid week, so it was not that busy and we were amazed at the size of the complex. With so many pools ranging in temperature from 32℃ to 42℃ to choose from we were spoiled for choice. We had heard a whisper that snow was imminent so we decided to delay our next visit and keep our fingers crossed that there would be snow poolside when we returned. Before heading back to the Beast, we headed into the town passing PJ Pies. We had tried one of his pies when we arrived and while it was very tempting to have another one we were heading to Fudgelato for an ice cream. It seemed a bit wrong after a core warming swim but oh they were worth it. Dave thought his dark chocolate sorbet was the best ice cream he had tasted and my Bailey’s Irish Cream was to die for.

Hanmer has a great network of walking and cycling tracks with many of them leaving from the park that was right beside the Top 10 campground we were staying in. One walk that peaked our interest though required us to walk right through the town and head for the lookout on Conical Hill. This walk reminded us both of the walk we did with Erron in Tekapo up Mt John. A lot of zig-zagging and quite a climb but the views were definitely worth it.

You could see the snow on the tips of the surrounding mountains but it hadn’t reached the town. This, however,was about to change. When we woke the next morning we saw grey shapes on the vent above our bed?? Clouds maybe?? But no, when we looked out the windows Hanmer had become a winter wonderland overnight. It looked so pretty and clean and as Aucklanders we were ‘oooo-ing and ahhh-ing’ until we went for a walk in it. It became wet and slushy and with each step you were a bit afraid of slipping. We decided that snow is definitely better seen on postcards.

With the arrival of the snow we headed back to the pools, this time on a Saturday so it was a lot more crowded. The experience of being in piping hot water with snow right beside you really played havoc with your senses but was so enjoyable. People had even built little tiny snowmen beside the pools. Sorry, there are no pool photos as juggling my phone, the water and the snow was a bit daunting. To keep up the tradition we headed back to Fudgelato for a treat for the walk home and if you can’t eat ice cream in the snow, when can you eat it??

The next day the road reports were more favourable for us to be able to head off to Kaikoura. This trip was a bit of an epic failure for me as the navigator. Mr Google wasn’t his usual helpful self or maybe it was operator error but we definitely took the “pretty" way to Kaikoura. Shortly after we finally made it back to Highway One a passing car sent up a nasty stone which chipped the top of the windscreen in front of Dave and then continued to steadily crack all the way to the bottom of the windscreen. As it was a Sunday we decided to continue on to Kaikaoura and deal with getting it fixed once we arrived there. 

Once we reached the east coast we were surprised to see MASSIVE waves battering the shore. Obviously others were surprised too as there were heaps of people stopping to take photos. I had just commented to Dave that I hadn’t seen any seals when one appeared right beside the road, totally undaunted by the traffic.

The first order of business in Kaikoura was to sort the windscreen. Our insurance company’s windscreen company of choice is Novus but the closest branch was in Rangiora and as it would have been illegal to drive the vehicle with a huge crack in front of the driver that wasn't an option. A mobile operator was not an option either as we knew we would need a replacement windscreen for an Isuzu truck so we started to look at what was available in Kaikoura. Literally a couple of hundred metres down the road from the Top 10 caravan park was a business called E.J Franicevic. No email, no website and the landline listed for them was disconnected so Dave wandered down there to see if the business still even existed. Luckily Ted, the owner, just happened to be there when Dave finally found the place. He had been in the windscreen business for 50 odd years but was winding it up as the technology needed was just getting too much for him. He HATED insurance companies and refused to work with them and as our insurance company would not accept us sending in his hand written quote, our only option was to pay him and then put in a claim. Ted ordered the windscreen and assured us it would be in Kaikoura on Wednesday so we had some time to do some exploring.

Our first choice was to follow the shoreline and we were very surprised to find the beach was pebbles - I guess as it is on the east coast I was just expecting sand. We walked all the way around to the new wharf where we found this exquisite pub called The Pier Hotel. Originally it had been near the old wharf but it shifted to the new wharf on huge rollers. It has been beautifully restored and obviously we had to stop and sample the fare….and the beer. The cool thing about this next photo is the coastal beach in the foreground and the snow capped mountains in the background.

Cheers from the Pier Hotel in Kaikoura.

As Ted predicted the windscreen did arrive on Wednesday and we booked The Beast in for 9:00 am on Thursday. Ted did a brilliant job of fitting the new windscreen which even has some sun tinting at the top - pure luxury. We paid his handwritten invoice and were relieved that he was happy for us to use internet banking to pay him as EFTPOS was not an option. Our Insurance company reimbursed us really quickly which meant we could head off to our next destination on Friday.

With our new windscreen and after topping up the groceries we continued along the coast to Blenheim. Just out of Kaikoura we spotted Nin’s Bin which is a roadside caravan that has been around for 50 years and sells fresh crayfish. We decided to treat ourselves because you can not come to Kaikoura and not eat crayfish!! As we got closer to Blenheim we started to see all the names we know and love from the wine aisles at the supermarkets Yealands, Cloudy Bay, Withers Hill etc etc.

Once we arrived in Blenheim and got set up we walked back into town to look for some more seafood delicacies to go with our crayfish and to be honest we were a little bit underwhelmed. We did find some Cloudy Bay Cockles, some Marlborough Mussels and of course some Bluff Oysters. It was at about this time I realised I had got us to leave Kaikoura one day early - we had actually paid to stay there until Saturday - doh!!

Sampling the local seafood

The weather while we were in Blenheim was not that spectacular but we did get out for a few decent walks. The first was along the Ōpaoa River that flows through Blenheim. Apparently early settlers referred to Blenheim as Beaver Town because of its tendency to flood which explained why we came across these little beauties beside the river.

We also followed the train tracks out of Blenheim toward Spring Creek walking beside acres and acres of grape vines. It was really sad to see dying grapes which had been left on the vines from last vintage due to the oversupply of wine last year.

While we were in Blenheim our gorgeous little Granddaughter, Millie, turned 3.Laura sent us lots of photos of Millie opening her presents and we had a very lively video call with the birthday girl and her family. Missing these family milestones is definitely the hardest part of the adventure we are on.