12-21 March 2011
After guzzling vino in the Martinborough wine region north of NZ’s capitol, Wellington, we woke up early and drove our campervan onto the Cook Strait Ferry. The Cook Strait is known for its treacherous seas, so we popped seasickness pills and crossed our fingers on this early morning cruise to the South Island. Lucky us! Calm weather allowed us to stow our barf bags and we enjoyed seas nearly as smooth as glass as we marveled at the gorgeous coastal views and watched dolphins playing in our boat’s wake.
The next stop on our exploration of the South Island was Nelson Lakes National Park. Situated in the middle of the island, it is home a pair of gem-like lakes, beautiful alpine peaks, and…billions upon billions of sandflies. Nobody loves (or likes) sandflies. They are vile little creatures. From sun up to sundown these little buggers search out any and every piece of exposed skin and bite, bite, bite.
While the bites themselves don’t hurt too much, their after affects are truly remarkable. The bites ITCH! The bites itch so intensely that they can wake you up from a deep sleep, and the bites I got on our first day on the South Island still itch today, more than a week later. You itch until it hurts. I may have scars by the time I leave NZ. I repeat, nobody loves sandflies.
After enjoying Nelson Lakes we made our way along the impossibly scenic, Buller Gorge on our way to the we(s)t coast awed by the beauty of the Tasman Sea. By any measure, the drive along NZ’s south coast from Westport to Haast is one of the world’s most scenic road journeys.
Along the way the highway passes endless stretches of rock strewn coastline, deserted beaches, glaciers, pristine forest, lakes, rivers, waterfalls…you get the point.
About half the way down the we(s)t coast we entered the Te Wahipounamu World Heritage Area, over four million acres of national parks and conservation areas home to a hoard of mountain peaks, vast expanses primeval forests, and wild coastlines. Can we get a “woot woot” for NZ’s conservation effort. But, I digress, let’s get back to the title of this post.
On this so called we(s)t coast it rains a lot. So much, that some wetter, wet areas receive more than 25 feet of rain each year. Now that is a lot of rain.
With that in mind it probably does not come as a surprise that a couple of rain drops fell on our pretty little heads during the week we spent along the we(s)t coast. That said, we hope you enjoys the photos contained within this post, taken during those rare sunny moments (or the clouds parted for a second or two).
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