Christmas day was unusual. Waking up in a camper van, with no Buck's Fizz, didn't seem quite right! We had some distance to cover, so we set off for the Nelson Lakes.
On the way we drove through countless Marlborough vineyards and along some extremely straight roads. We arrived at Lake Rotoiti for a late lunch and our first experience of sandflies. It was impossible to stay still for more than a few minutes without attracting a swarm.
We set off for what we expected to be a 1-2 hour lunchtime stroll to a waterfall. It turned out to be 3 hours marching through a downpour. Lesson learnt: always take your waterproof trousers.
Now rather damp, we paid a quick visit to Lake Rotoroa before continuing west. We had a trip booked on Franz Josef glacier on 27th and a fair distance to cover by then. We spent the night at a random DOC campsite at Slab Hut Creek, which turned out to be our first sight of a gold-panning area. We were entertained by watching a group of fishermen build a bonfire out of wet wood. They didn't quite have to resort to petrol to get it going.
Having had a blow-out the night before, we had a simple dinner cooked out of the back of the van, then spent a pleasant evening drinking wine and committing mass sandfly murder to ensure a good night's sleep. (Flip flops make excellent murder weapons.)
The next day we headed down the west coast, stopping first at Greymouth. We had a look at the flood barrier and Sophie explored a pretty art gallery and managed not to buy anything.
Next stop was Shantytown for a spot of gold-panning. This was surprisingly good fun - we were each presented with a pan of rubble from a local river and came away with about $2 worth of 22ct gold. Our wedding rings are made from West Coast alluvial gold so we were particuarly pleased to have done this ourselves. We also met some nice weka on the steam train ride.
From there, we checked out the famous but unremarkable Hokitika and carried on to Franz Josef Township to stay in the Rainforest Retreat campground. Another welcome return to civilisation, with good drinking water, bathrooms, and a hot tub on site. Lucy and Rich joined us later for dinner.
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