The West Coast

Days 14, 15, and 16: February 16-18, 2020

Two weeks in and all sunshine and smiles so far for these two plucky travelers. But the west coast of New Zealand is famously the wettest part of the country and it lives up to its soggy reputation. We spent much of this three day stretch driving and imagining what the views would look like on a clearer day. We made frequent stops, either for coffee to warm us up or to stretch our legs on short hikes to impressive landmarks, like the Pancake Rocks or the Hokitika Gorge

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Cape Foulwind
The “mountain view” cabin at the Eco-Lodge in Charleston – too cloudy for mountains but a very comfortable bed

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Truman Beach
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Pororari River Track


Pancake Rocks
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Spent the night in the town of Franz Josef, where we warmed up with a trip to the hot pools followed by an extra large bottle of Speights
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You can almost make out the glacier if you really try

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Bust at Matheson Lake… on a nice day you can see a perfect reflection of Mt Cook (no worries – lots of views of the other side later in the trip)
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Salmon farm – delicious smoked salmon for lunch
Thunder Creek Falls
Fantail Falls

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Blue Pools Walk
Ditched our original plan to camp at Boundary Creek due to high winds – snagged the very last campsite at Wanaka Kiwi Holiday Park instead
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Carla Garces-Redd

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