A Coastal Kiwi Drive

A very cold shower experience to start off the day.  At least the water was hot and the cold air woke me up.  Oh, and our breakfast food wasn't frozen this morning so that was a perk as well!  Our first stop of the day was Lake Rotoiti in the Nelson Lakes National Park (I believe there's another Lake Rotoiti on the North Island somewhere, which could be a bit confusing).  It's a kettle lake, which means its origins have something to do with a glacier.  According to this explanation from MSU, "Kettles are depressions left behind after partially-buried ice blocks melt. Many are filled with water, and are then called 'kettle lakes'."  To be honest, what I remember most was lots of ducks, a disturbing amount of eels, and the lovely snow-capped mountains as a backdrop to the whole scene.

A quick coffee stop in the town of Murchison and we then drove along the Buller River and through the Buller Gorge.  The river is extremely deep and swift.  Will all of the recent rain and the snow melt coming off the mountains it wasn't hard to believe that it is the most likely to flood river in the entire country.

After leaving the river behind we headed for the coast, towards Punakaki and Paparoa National Park.  The area is New Zealand's version of Australia's Great Ocean Road.  The Great Coast Road was named by Lonely Planet as "one of the top ten coastal drives in the world" and I can see why.  It had some amazing views and the surf was just pounding the beach - tons of wind.  We stopped at Cape Foulwind for a visit to the beach and to view their seal colony.

Our accommodation in Punakaiki for the night was interesting, but required us to carry our bags quite a ways through the forest and up a hill.  That wouldn't have been so bad, but we'd had an accident with the van trying to turn around (long story) in the parking lot.... We were getting a bit tired of having the bathrooms be outside the main buildings (meaning they're pretty much outhouses with running water and toilets, very cold!), and had high hopes for this place.  No such luck on that front, but we had the whole bungalow to ourselves with the beds upstairs and a kitchen and lounge area downstairs.  For dinner we headed to the local tavern, the only restaurant in town open. It was cozy and warm, the owners were lovely, and the food was good as well. 

This comical poster at the tavern had some sage advice, such as, "Animals
the Southern Man won't tolerate: Any animal you can't ride, throw a rope
on or muster sheep with."  To read them all click here.

We had barely made it up the steep, gravel driveway when trying to leave the hostel so we decided to leave the bus at the carpark and walk down.  It was pouring down rain at this point and the walk was a lot further than any of us remembered.  To finish out the night we played a game of scrabble; oddly enough I think I have only ever played once in my life.  I don't think I'll start either, I much prefer Bananagrams; no math involved 😊.