New Zealand
Flaxbourne River

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    • Day 27

      Ward - Hanmer Springs

      December 27, 2019 in New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C

      After breakfast, I went to Ward Beach. Nice place with some smaller boulders and some nice small rockpools here and there.
      I took a short walk on the beach and then I went down State Highway 1 to Kaikoura!
      I stopped a few time to enjoy the view and I also saw a lot of seals 😊

      In Kaikoura, I bought some fish and Chips! Really cheap actually and really good as well! I took them with and drove a few more kilometers until I found a beach where I had my lunch break, surrounded by a lot of birds 🙈😂

      Guess they were hungry as well, but I don't like to share my food so they were waiting for nothing 😂

      After lunch, I started to drive to Hanmer Springs. I to the scenic road through the inland.
      It was a really nice road, ok not nice to drive but the view was amazing!!
      I don't know how many times I stopped but it must have been a lot!
      The nicest one was the Waiau River with its ice-blue water! 😍

      And then suddenly all the cars stopped. The police were there and making an alcohol test from every diver! That was very unexpected but no problem for me! They have really good machines. I should just could out loud to ten while they hold it in front of my mouth and that's all. Not blowing in there for like a minute or so!

      My plan was to check out the city before I go to the campground, but it was so full in the city, to find a parking place there was impossible, so I went straight to the campground.
      I found a cheap one again, luckily a little bit outside the city closed to the forest.

      The weather started to change shortly after that and I got really windy, later in the evening, it was almost like a storm. 😳
      I am soo glad I can sleep in my car now and not in a tent anymore!!
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    • Day 10

      DAY SEVEN

      February 19 in New Zealand ⋅ 🌬 26 °C

      Woke this morning to a bit of a 'oh no' moment. No water, no gas and all because no power of course. Seemed charging 2 bike batteries which were almost flat and spending that same night under a tree wasn't a good idea. Luckily plenty of sun this morning so once The Driver roused himself we moved into a sunny spot and all sorted really quickly. Phewwww. Driver doesn't like frights like that. Super windy today so decided not to ride the river trail but did a 4km return walk to the supermarket instead. Returned via the beautiful Pollard gardens. On the way to Ward Beach where we are now, we did a detour past the Grassmere salt salt works. Fascinating to think those mountains of salt may soon be on my dinner table. We've done the beach walk to see the round bolders and I'm now sitting in the cab on 🐬 watch.Read more

    • Day 7

      Up to Ward Beach

      October 14, 2021 in New Zealand ⋅ ⛅ 10 °C

      The worst of the storm seemed to have blown itself northwards this morning and we set off in (mostly) blue skies and sunshine to explore the shops in Kaikoura. Didn’t take long! After coffee and a scone and a brisk walk along part of the beach we headed north again, this time bound for Ward Beach.
      A couple of funny things have happened… before we left home, we decided to lighten the load in the motorhome by decanting some of our spirits (not that we’ve taken a lot!) out of glass and into plastic bottles. Unfortunately, we also travel with a couple of (the same) plastic bottles full of water, which we use for making cups of tea, etc. So you can imagine how easy it was to get them mixed up! We did manage to work out that it was vodka we were pouring into the kettle BEFORE we turned it on, but sadly Charlie didn’t realise he was taking a big swig of neat vodka to wash down his pills last night until he was choking on it!
      The Kaikoura coast is a beautiful drive, and although we’ve traveled it several times before, we have never done it at such a relaxed pace. We stopped several times today to take in the dramatic coastal vista, pick up a crayfish from the iconic Nin’s Bin, and watch the young seal pups at play on the rocks around Ohau Point. The cliffs above the Point are the only place in the world where a particular species of rock daisy grows. The species was almost wiped out when 95% of the known plants were obliterated when the cliffs collapsed in the Kaikoura earthquake. Seeds from the remaining plants have been cultivated and replanted around the Point.
      Karen and John have been frequent visitors to Ward Beach, but this is the first time we have been here. It’s a stunning spot – we are overnighting at a ‘park-over property’ (or POP) which is privately owned land made available to NZMCA members in return for a donation. We are parked on a slightly elevated section overlooking the sea and have been for a walk up the beach to the Ward Beach Boulders – similar to those at Moeraki only a little smaller – which were raised out of the sea during the earthquake.
      Tonight for dinner we will enjoy our crayfish with garlic bread and salad – and a bottle of bubbly… Bliss!
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    • Day 303–312

      Thomson- Chancet pop

      October 10, 2023 in New Zealand ⋅ ☁️ 13 °C

      WARD BEACH POP, parked up had lunch and headed towards a small river we seen as we drove in, it was shellow and 4x4shad driven across, our first river with a handfull whitebaiting. So after the big quake all the rocks came up from under the ground changed the river big time we were told. Its so stunning thats for sure. Ward boulders are to our left, we will check them out another day. As this is a park over property (pop) there is no water here, also pack in pack out. Just inside the gate are a few spaces to park or drive up the track some more for more spaces.Read more

    • Day 136–138

      Ward Beach

      September 4 in New Zealand ⋅ 🌬 11 °C

      We spent the morning at our friends house, where we'd left Jake overnight, busy unpacking both vehicles and trying to sort out belongings out a bit. We then took the Camry (my dad's old car) to Richard who was buying it from us - quite a few emotions as it was a strong link to my dad).

      We put some fuel in Elsie, bought some rolls from the bakery, headed back to Jake and got on the road soon afterwards.

      When we arrived at Ward Beach there was only one other van there so we managed to score a great spot and wasted no time in setting up.

      We spent 2 lovely nights here, very peaceful and a lovely setting. Andrew tried fishing with no luck, I worked a few hours and we walked on the beach.

      We left the blind open at night so we could see the sunrise first thing before we got up.

      We will be back ....
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    You might also know this place by the following names:

    Flaxbourne River

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