Pancakes & venison

New Zealand, South Island…

After our helicopter extravaganza on Fox Glacier, we enjoy a picnic by a river and another cold swim before stocking up at the small (and expensive) supermarket and resuming our journey northwards along this stunning coast. We cross several rivers, all of which are a different shade of blue but all so deliciously clear and tempting. We end up in Pukekara, another tiny place, which our 10-year old Lonely Planet says is owned by one family. Opposite a quirky looking place that sells lots of leather and fur products, we spot a campsite with cabins. We investigate and find that the owner, Katie, has a house right next to theirs that we can rent for a couple of nights (but she’ll have to quickly clean it, first – she abandons hanging her washing on the line and scuttles off). She has a young daughter, Amelia, who is three, who seems quite shy but our children are not taking no for an answer and persevere in befriending her. The house is pretty run down but has character – the carpets look about 30+ years old – but it is spacious, has a garden and pretty soon, all the children our running around between the two houses. Katie and her husband / partner Roydon are incredibly friendly and we soon discover that it’s their family that owns the town and that they’ve recently taken over running the campsite from her parents. They’re real hippie types who live largely from the land – it’s clear from all the posters they’ve erected by the roadside outside their property that they’re vehemently opposed to the government poisoning programme for possums, stoats etc (which are having a really negative impact on the indigenous bird population). They used to have the only restaurant in NZ that served possum (they advertised it on their menu as road kill, but it wasn’t), but despite them taking great care in where they trapped them and how they were slaughtered & butchered, they were stopped from doing so by the local authorities.

One morning, Roydon asks if we mind if he butchers a deer that he’s shot on their front porch – not only don’t we mind, we go to watch!  With so much meat presented in polystyrene trays and polythene wrapping in supermarkets, we reckon it’s good for our children to see where their meat actually comes from (unfortunately he’s already skinned it, so we miss that bit). Their dog is really well behaved, waiting patiently for the odd scraps to be thrown down!  It’s a small deer – Roydon tells us that the deer he was stalking disappeared behind a tree and he shot what he thought was the same deer reappearing – it turned out to be a younger one that I think he was slightly embarrassed about. They keep their own goats and eat quite a bit of goat too – but not the goats that they keep, since the quality of food they’re fed isn’t good enough. They only eat wild goats that get to graze in the bush rather than eating their waste food!

They in invite us to join them for a swim in a nearby river, which is glorious. Then we all go to the beach where another river estuary joins the sea – we try some fishing (Roydon lends me a rod) with spinners but sadly neither of us get a nibble. On the way back, our car engine starts to overheat and when we arrive back I realise there’s steam billowing from under the bonnet. Roydon and his friend, who has come over for a barbecue (fresh venison steak, which we get to taste and is absolutely delicious) kindly take a look at the problem – unfortunately they can’t fix it and tell me that the nearest garage is in Hokitika, about 30 minutes drive away.

The next day, we say our farewells and limp northwards to Hokitika – I’d topped up the radiator this morning, only to find that water is POURING out, from somewhere deep in the engine. The news from the garage is not good… the water pump has gone and it’s buried deep within the cam belt, so it’s a lot of work to get to. What’s more, it doesn’t look like the cam belt has been replaced when scheduled, so apparently that should be replaced as well (if that goes, it’s the end of the engine). It’s 6 hours work and parts have to be ordered, so even though we’ve only travelled about 25km, we’re forced to spend the night here. Despite the problems we’ve had with the car, this is the only time we’ve been inconvenienced and even then it’s not a problem – we’ve got plenty of time before we have to get the ferry back to Wellington and by NZ standards, Hokitika is a historic town, so we look forward to exploring.

We find a holiday park with a smarter cabin than we’re used to and walk back into town along the beach. Once again, the waves are crashing in and the children love playing chasing in and out, daring the waves to catch them.  We walk up and down that beach a couple of times while we’re here – one of the things the town is famous for is greenstone (jade), so it’s great fun hunting for it as we walk along the beach. We buy some wet&dry sandpaper and Gabriel spends hours polishing the stone he’s found – it’s a beautiful dark green colour when he’s finished.

The car is ready shortly after lunch the next day: new water pump + cam belt + tensioner + labour = $1,100…. ouch! Still, hopefully it can still work out cheaper than hiring a car.

We continue our journey northwards, over tempting turquoise rivers and up and down the cliffs between incredible beaches. We stop off to see the ‘pancake rocks’ at Punakaki. Not only are the rock formations unusual and beautiful, with their thin horizontal layers (hence the name), but the power of the sea coming in and exploding out of blowholes is awesome (again, I don’t use that word lightly!). It’s another cabin on a campsite, smaller this time but right next to a beach. There is an incredible sunset, so we (and many others) go out onto the beach to witness is in its full glory. We’ve been so lucky with the weather on this part of the trip – it’s amazing. The next morning we go and explore the nearby river – it’s a gorgeous walk up a gorge, through dense forest with the ubiquitous tree ferns and (of course) a sparkling fresh, clear river running through it. It’s shallow, so this time it’s just a paddle rather than a swim!

On the way back up to Picton, we stop at a seal colony, have a delicious fish lunch cooked in a trailer and served virtually on the beach, and eventually turn inland to leave this incredible coastline behind. The scenery changes but is still beautiful; the cliffs and waves give way to rolling golden hills with sheep and cattle and later, enormous expanses of regimentally straight and impeccably turned out vineyards.

The views of the Marlborough Sound from the ferry, on yet another warm sunny day are beautiful but to be honest, we’ve seen so many incredible views over the last few weeks the hurdle is set very high and I’m taking ‘beautiful’ for granted! Goodbye South Island – we’ll be back shortly….