nelsonian

Over the years I have loved reading Mel's trip reports of the South Island. I have lived in various parts of the South Island all my life but hadn't been to some of the places that Mel and her husband had been too. One notable one was the Abel Tasman National Park. We live an hour away and although we had been to Kaiteriteri beach many times had never ventured out into any of the other beaches,or done any of the walking tracks. Glad to report we did this a couple of years ago, still a lot more to explore there though.

Mel had also done a great report on the Catlins down the bottom of the South Island, another area we had never gone too. We fulfilled this wish in March last year when we did a three week caravan trip and visited a lot of the wonderful places along the Catlins, between Invercargill and Balclutha.

Our latest trip which we have just finished was going through the Haast Pass, again I made use of Mel's trip reports. This was our third attempt at trying to do this one, as the previous times there was heavy rain and the bridges would get washed up. We timed it right this time, and had a fantastic trip down the West Coast, staying the first night at Reefton. The next two nights just out of Hokitika and visited the Holitika Gorge and Lake Kaniere, also did the tree top walk. With the lack of overseas tourists at the moment there are big discounts available on tourist attractions. Hardly any traffic on the road either.

We spent three nights at Fox Glacier camping ground as we thought a heavy rainstorm was going to happen but didn't really eventuate. We did the walk around Lake Matheson, walked to Franz Josef glacier viewpoint, and the Fox glacier viewpoint. We wanted to go to the thermal pools at Franz but they were closed due to Covid.

We spent an overnight at Haast village, and did several trips from here. One to Jackson bay, and to Okarito. The next day on our way to Wanaka, we stopped at most of the tourist sites, such as Roaring Billy waterfall, Thunder Falls, Fantail Falls, and the Blue Pools. It took us a few hours to do this two hour stretch of road. The scenery all along this road was just beautiful.

We spent the next few days at Wanaka, staying at a campground at Albertown called Lake Outlet campground. Such a beautiful view, had to go and photograph the Wanaka tree which I had read about but my DH had no idea what I was talking about.

From Wanaka we drove to Lake Te Anau where we did the cruise on Doubtful Sound. This was a great trip, the boat left from Manapouri, went across Lake Manapouri, then took a coach over Wilmott Pass into Deep Cove and then did the three hour cruise in Doubtful Sound. It was such a gorgeous day, hardly a ripple on the water and so picturesque. An incredible day over all. We also drove half way down the Milford Sound road but didn't go to the Sound as this is one we had done before (42 years ago on our honeymoon!!).

On our way home we spent three nights at Moeraki village campground about five minutes away from the Moeraki boulders. Finished our trip by spending a couple of nights at my bothers catching up with family, and a night at Hanmer where we did make use of the thernal pools.

All in all a wonderful three weeks away thanks to Mel's trip reports, suggestions and ideas.


Lake Matheson

Fox Glacier

Fantail Falls

Blue Pools

Lake Hawea

Doubtful Sound

Wanaka tree

KayF

Thanks for posting, great info and loved your photos. The first one, especially, is stunning. I'm sure Mel will see your thread. I'm using her trip reports to help with a trip around the south west of WA. We are in Brisbane and don't know the west very well at all. Not sure when we can go...state borders are still shut...but it's nice to have something to think about.

martharap

I’m another big fan of Mel’s trip reports! We lived in NZ for a year and planned many of our trips using info from her reports as well as feedback from my queries to her.

Bokhara2

Great TR, Nelsonian & your photos really capture those beautiful places.

Melnq8 & her husband certainly made the most of their time in Australia & Mel’s Trip reports have inspired & helped a lot of us in our exploring, as well as being a great read.

Melnq8

nelsonian - thank you so much for your kind words, you made my day!

I'm so happy that my reports helped and chuffed that you've been able to further explore that wonderful country you live in! Having your country to yourselves without international visitors is a rare treat.

It sounds (and looks) like you had a fabulous trip.

I very much look forward to when we can travel internationally again. At the moment, we're mid-way through a 10 night Colorado road trip (and unfortunately, most of Texas seems to be following us). It's certainly not New Zealand, but I'll take what I can get for now.

nelsonian

Hope your trip is going well Melnq, will you be doing a trip report? We want to hire an RV and spend three months or so touring the US when travelling is back to normal.

Melnq8

Yes, I plan to write a trip report, although it'll probably be a sleeper.

Melnq8

A few photos to whet your appetite if you come to Colorado in the autumn nelsonian:

nelsonian

Beautiful fall foliage

northie

beautiful photos of New Zealand and Colorado.
You are definitely wetting my appetite for New Zealand.

yestravel

Wonderful photos of NZ! I loved reliving our trip from this past winter through your photos. Indeed NZ is a gorgeous country esp the SI. I loved it! We have friend who lived there half her life and is now back living in NZ and she has barely seen much of her country. Or she did one 3 week trip thru the SI. I find that incredible. I know I tend to downplay what the US has and some of it is beautiful as evidenced by Melnq8 pictures.

margo_oz

Great trip report, Nelsonian, and it's always good to see Mel.

With any luck, they'll let us i to NZ soon. I have friends in Tasman, but aiming to see more of the SI as well.