Punakaiki freedom

We’ve just spent seven lovely nights at Punakaiki, Macmillan Road. ⛺ This freedom camping spot is usually a two-night limit, but with the storm rolling in we decided it was best to stay put.

We had it all – heavy rain, thunder, hail, and strong winds 🌩️💨 – so hunkering down was definitely the safest option. Thankfully, the area wasn’t busy while we were there, otherwise we’d have moved on.

One thing you have to watch out for here are the crafty wekas – they’ll take anything that’s not tied down! They even tried to make off with our steps (as some of you may have seen in our video a few days ago). Maggie enjoyed her time outside when the weather cleared, sitting in the grass, watching the wekas squabble over the tiniest crumbs. 🐦🐾

We even managed a wee bit of fishing on the two fine days we had 🎣. Caught some good fish too – a couple made it onto our dinner plates, and the rest went back to live another day. 🐟🍴

No facilities on site, so it’s strictly pack in, pack out 🚮 – but our NetSpeed 4G internet worked perfectly the whole time. It hummed along without missing a beat, unlike our previous provider. 📶✨

And luckily, the wekas didn’t manage to run off with our dinner… or the modem. Bloody crafty little bastards! 😅Read more