Renwick

May 16 in New Zealand ⋅ ⛅ 12 °C

As I write this, we’re parked up at the Tasman Holiday Park in Picton , spending the last two real days of our trip feeling a strange mix of semi-depression that the adventure is nearly over, alongside the anticipation of getting home and back to normal life.

But I digress.

The Hanmer Springs WINGS park was actually much nicer than the comments on the app had suggested. It holds the distinction of being the very first NZMCA property in New Zealand. Although getting into the site was incredibly bumpy thanks to countless potholes, the park itself was basic but pleasant. A river ran alongside the campground, and we spent quite a bit of time down there with the dogs.

The real drawcard in Hanmer for us was, of course, the hot springs and the beautiful scenery surrounding the area. We spent a good 2–3 hours soaking in the pools and simply enjoying being warm — especially after waking to ice on the inside of our hatch, frozen water pipes, and a solid block of ice in the dogs’ water bowl!

After a nice stroll around town, finding another couple of four-leaf clovers, and generally soaking up the atmosphere, it was back to camp for dinner. By chance, we parked beside a large house truck which I recognised as belonging to a family I follow on Facebook — Gallichan Truck Life. We also chatted with some fellow campers who happened to own the exact motorhome model I’ve been trying to convince Neil to look at!

Two nights in Hanmer were enough for us, mainly because we still don’t have a working heater, so we headed on to Murchison.
On the way, we spotted a sign on the side of the road pointing to some waterfalls. One thing Neil and I have tried to do throughout this entire trip is stop at all those little roadside places that we would normally drive straight past — and I’m so glad we did. The falls were absolutely beautiful. I’ve really been enjoying experimenting with the camera on my phone lately, so I spent quite a while taking photos, trying to capture at least a little of the beauty we were seeing.
Once again, the WINGS park proved to be a fantastic place to stay — flat gravel sites surrounded by trees and bushes, plus an excellent dump station (very important!). Murchison itself was such a cute little town.

We wanted to be in Blenheim for Friday and Saturday to catch up with some new friends we’d made at the hops farm, so we decided to only spend one night in Murchison.

After leaving Murchison, we stopped beside the Buller River at a little place called Kawatiri. We found a walking track that looped around the old railway line, and it turned out to be a really lovely wander.
As we were walking along, I spotted a very familiar-looking plant tucked in amongst the blackberry bushes. I pointed it out to Neil, picked one of the “flowers”, pulled it apart, and gave it a sniff.
Sure enough — hops! Growing wild!
After spending time on the hops farm earlier in the trip, I recognised them almost immediately. It felt like such a funny little full-circle moment to stumble across them growing naturally in the middle of nowhere.

Feeling rather pleased with ourselves and still riding the high of our little discovery, we decided to try a freedom camping spot somewhere along the Wairau Valley. That turned out to be a huge mistake.
The camp was located beside a hydro lake at the top of a hill, reached by an extremely gravelly road that our motorhome really struggled to climb. By the time we finally made it to the top, we discovered a hairpin bend leading to the next section — and there was simply no way we could make it around. Our options seemed to be either driving forward into the lake or reversing back down the hill.

Absolutely terrifying.

I jumped out to guide Neil while he attempted what felt like a hundred tiny point turns. Between me yelling instructions and Neil inching the motorhome backwards and forwards, we eventually managed to turn around and get the heck outta Dodge. Poor Neil was pretty shaky afterwards.
Needless to say, we suddenly wanted somewhere very safe and very easy to park for the night, so we drove straight to Renwick and parked behind the local Country Club.Read more