Lakes & beaches

A rubbish campsite last night at Murchison (Riverview Holiday Park) which adjoins the cemetery, but we hadn't seen that when we rolled in late last night. We were surprised to find that the indoor cooking facilities had been shut for the winter, leaving us only the outdoor facilities, which in the cold & dark was not our preferred option, but marginally better than cooking in the motorhome and getting it all steamed up. And it was expensive – not recommended!

Enough grumbling; we'll get known as 'whingeing poms' at this rate! We set off soon after 9am for St. Arnaud and somehow managed to arrive spot on 10am as arranged, where Margaret & Ashley were waiting to meet us.

They took us back to their lovely rented lakeside chalet where we properly introduced ourselves, only having met previously by email. Then a pleasant walk down to the shores of Lake Rotoiti:

It looks relatively small on the map, especially compared to the nearby Lake Rotoroa, but it looked fairly sizeable to us with some wonderful views:

Along the beach a little way, some hardy youngsters were actually swimming, as were some other foreign visitors (from Australia):

Time to move on as we'd be seeing Margaret & Ashley again in Wellington in a few days time.

A lovely drive north through some tiny places like Woodstock and into Motueka – bit busy for our liking so we pushed on over a dramatic high pass through the Abel Tasman National Park. For miles and miles, I never got out of second gear because the hairpin bends were so tight, and then we found parking for a viewing spot:

It was a very dramatic view out over the whole of the Tasman Bay, but marred somewhat by a pylon. Then Barbara discovered a path to the proper viewing area, and after a pleasant ten minute walk, we arrived at an absolutely stunning platform, clinging to the hillside above a frightening drop, with a really good view of the bay, with absolutely nothing in the way:

And some nice little rocks all around that had been rain-sculpted to look like miniature mountains:

On down the other side of the pass, hoping that the brakes wouldn't overheat as there were some terrifying drops off the frequently unprotected hairpin bends. Through Takaka for a last coffee stop and into Pohara to find our campsite for the night (www.poharabeach.com). It's literally on the beach; I expect we'll hear the breakers rolling in when we turn off the electrics for the night.

written by  Saros on May 14, 2009 from Takaka, New Zealand
from the travel blog: The Hairy Animal 2009 World Road Trip
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