Hokitika Gorge, Lake Kaniere & New Years

New Year's Eve and it's the first bad day of weather in a while. We drove away from the coast to explore the river flowing through the Hokitika Gorge. On nice days, the water is turqoise coloured from all the glacial silt. But that day it was so gray that the water was a milky white. It rained hard and we got soaked, despite our rain jackets. Every hundred meters or so, another waterfall was adding to the flow of the river. It was very dramatic.

We didn't hang around long but instead decided to head toward our campsite for the night. On the way, on a small backroad in the middle of nowhere, a pair of hikers along the road looked like drowned rats. We stopped to see if they needed a lift. They had hiked for four days through the bush along a poorly marked trail. No one we picked up had been so happy about getting a ride! With no cell reception, it would've meant another 15km walk for them through heavy rain.

In the afternoon, we got a bit of a dry break. We went to check out a large waterfall. The base was only 100m from the carpark. But NZ Frenzy (our off the beaten path guide book) recommended scrambling up the steep hillside, over rocks and roots, to get a view from the top. From there, a second stage of the waterfall was even more impressive. In the picture, you can see the second stage in the distance.

We hid in the van in the evening and had to cook our dinner inside. We prepared a special treat, spaghetti and shrimp. We normally went to bed with the setting sun, but we made an effort to stay up for the start of 2018. We changed into dry clothes and played some Fjord under our Christmas lighting. Fitting, since we were on our way to Fjordland.

New Year's eve isn't celebrated much by locals, especially outside the big cities. Kiwis come to the West coast to relax. They much prefer a quiet evening with a glass of whiskey over a large social event. And private fireworks are technically not legal. So we hadn't expected much. But to our surprise, at midnight, despite the rain, two groups of partiers lit fireworks at the campsite anyway. And our van was perfectly aligned to watch the show through our windshield and backwindow. Awesome! Happy New Years!!!

The campground was by Lake Kaniere, a popular lake for water activities. The weather cleared up the following morning and we went for a new year's dip. Refreshing, but of course, nowhere near as cold as Jan 1st Polar dips in the Northern hemisphere ;)Read more