Hokitika

We decided to spend a second night in the same place so that my husband could do some work. One of the problems with taking a long vacation is that sometimes work needs to be done.

My husband wanted to go on a walk on the beach before he started work. Our daughter joined us. The beach has no shells, but lots of rocks, flat ones, all different sizes. They started a stone skipping contest. Tricky, with the waves.

After lunch, the kids and I walked into Hokitika to look at the Jade shops and get some groceries for dinner.

We were marveling at some of the higher-priced pieces of Jade, like this one.

Unfortunately, my son was in a bad mood, and not interested in doing shopping. We still manage to look at Jade and the glass shops and stop at a café to have a snack before going to the grocery store. Then we walked home on the beach. The sand is almost black, and there are large pieces of driftwood. Not like the beaches I’m used to at home.

The tide was high which made walking difficult.

We saw this carcass washed up on shore. It was kind of disgusting, I’ve never seen anything like it. I think it was maybe a dolphin.

We grilled for dinner again, pork chops this time. I thought lamb two nights in a row would be too much, but I was regretting it as I was eating my dinner, because the lamb was really good the night before.

We made it out to the beach in time for the sunset, which was pretty spectacular.

Tomorrow we head down to Franz Joseph for a trip on the glacier.

Arthur’s Pass to the west coast

This morning we got up to bright sunny skies. We could see the tops of the mountains that had been obscured by clouds the day before. The tallest one had big blocks of snow in the valleys.

After digging out my suitcase and putting on a few more layers I took my cup of tea and a granola bar and went outside to have breakfast.

After we had all eaten we walked down to the river together where the kids tried to find appropriate skipping stones. Patrick resorted to just picking up big rocks and plunking them into the middle of the river. I’m not sure he wasn’t trying to splash us.

Camper packed up, beds away, we headed up the road back to the visitor center to use the toilets, brush our teeth, and get some advice on the best hikes for today, given the visibility was very good. We also checked what kind of bird we’d seen. It was a Tomtit, like this:

We drove to Devil’s Punchbowl where we set off towards the waterfall. It wasn’t long before it came into view. The first part of the hike was rocky but flat, then we crossed the bridge, with a great view of the waterfall and the steep part began, with intermittent sets of steps. Before long, I was huffing and puffing. My husband was breathing normally. This frustrated me to no end. I work out on a regular basis. He never does, yet I’m the one that is tired. I hate it when my body doesn’t cooperate with what my mind wants it to do!

I made it to the viewing platform just below the base of the waterfall. It was gorgeous!

We stayed and took a few pictures and then the rest of the them decided to climb up the rocks to the base of the falls. I set off walking down the track by myself. It was nice to be able to set my own pace and to stop and look at anything that caught my fancy.

I found a spot dappled in sunshine where I could see the waterfall through the trees. I stopped and absorbed everything I could see and smell and hear.

It feels so decadent to indulge my sensuality like that, something I rarely do, but love. Why should it feel decadent to immerse myself in that moment, that experience, to put my whole self into what I am doing, feeling, touching, tasting? Isn’t that what it means to live life?

I took myself out of the moment to try and write about what was happening. While I did that, they caught up to me and we walked down the hill together.

We ate lunch at the Bottle Store Café sitting out on the patio in the sunshine. We had pies again. Something you don’t get in the US – savory pies, I had chicken and Brie, my daughter had vegetarian. While we were eating a Kia (rare native NZ bird) came and walked along the railing right next to us.

We drove over’s Arthur’s Pass through Otira valley. At the overlook we saw another Kia!

We came through the mountains and suddenly we could see the sea, the sunlight glinting off the surface of the water. It was gorgeous.

We had read in the guidebook that there was a holiday park right on the beach, but we didn’t want to say anything to the kids until we knew they had space. It was called Shining Star Holiday Park.

It was a little pricey, but we went ahead. We were not sorry when we walked from our campsite on to the beach. Gorgeous!

We went to the store to get supplies for dinner, given that we had access to a full kitchen and barbecue. We went with grilled lamb again, given that it was something we couldn’t get as easily or as cheaply in the states. Just salad, bread and grilled mushrooms to go with, and of course, a good bottle of New Zealand wine. The wine went straight to my head. The food was delicious. It was a pleasure to sit outside and prepare and cook our meal. When my son was checking the weather forecast for tomorrow and reading out the temperature at home (about 20F) we were reminded once again of how lucky we were. Where else in the world could you do a beautiful waterfall hike in the morning and walk along the beach in the afternoon, with only a couple hour drive?

After dinner we went for a walk on the beach, marveling at the brightness of the stars.

It was a bit of a struggle to find the path back because the beach was so dark, no houses!

Afterward we went to the glowworm dell. The walls were full of tiny specks of light.