Westland

We encountered another of those famous New Zealand storms while in Westland - this time a cyclone. We had planned to spend a night up in Karamea, but were a little put off by the warnings posted around the caves we visited advising everyone to get to safety from a large cyclone was coming in the next day or two. We arrived in Karamea and the campsite owner advised us to either make use of her bunkhouse and prepare to stay a few days, or race down the coast to the nearest town! We called our Airbnb host, Gill and asked if she might be able to take us a night early, and fortunately she said yeeessss. We raced down the coast to make it her house before dark - Andy channelled Colin McRae and Madeleine and Eleanor tried not to be sick.. Cyclone avoided, we headed on to the Franz Josef and Fox glaciers which provided some incredible walks and a Kea!Read more