We left Wellington at 8pm on Friday and arrived at 11.00pm in Picton we drove to the motor camp in Blenheim under the SH1 Bridge After a good first sleep in the comfortable beds we drove down to Ward Beach (see picture below) for our second nights stay. Motorhome was going really well.
This is at a POP [Park over Property --- exclusive for Motor caravan club members] site at Ward Beach it costs a donation to park in the site which is high above the beach and very sheltered from the wind. A small river comes out down by the rocks in the background. There were white baiters netting in the river and a number of divers out off the beach gathering crayfish, paua and kina. We walked down to the river mouth which is only about half a metre wide.
On day three we left about 11.30 and stopped off at one of the crayfish shops on the roadside before Kaikoura. Lunch was fresh crayfish and buns. Yummy.
Night Three was spent in Boat Harbour Camp just south of Kaikoura before the road turns inland. Nice camp and despite being just off the main road very quiet, sheltered and with good hot showers and excellent clothes washing facilities which we used as we weren’t sure when we would be able to do this further down the line.
There were a lot of seals right close to us as well the one in the photo has a badly gashed flipper!
On Day Four we drove further south into a howling gale which made driving very interesting. We visited a great site at Gore Bay – just look at the Cathedral Pipe Cliffs. They are absolutely magnificent and a scary drop from where we were standing.
Our bus is the first in the line. Other than Friday night when it blew so hard we were worried about the trees falling on the buses we were very cosy.
That was our first adventure in our motor home. A most enjoyable trip and one we want to repeat again very soon.
