Newton Flat

With a fresh battery and a fresh attitude, we departed the campsite for Mitre 10, New Zealand's answer to B&Q. They had a key cutting service which was much needed. The penultimate risky move was sticking the almost-broken key in the ignition, with the ultimate risky move being pulling it back out again. Having successfully completed both of these things, I guarded the unlocked van while Hugo went to get the keys cut. For a bargain £7, he purchased two shiny new keys (better safe than sorry) and the key cutting lady even came out to test that they worked.

To celebrate our successful trip we headed to the Monteith's brewery for a tour, but not before skyping mum and dad at a WiFi hotspot next to a phone booth - who said phone booths were defunct? Having changed in to our hi-vis safety vests, we started with a tour of the brewing vessels (each individually named) and packing equipment. The girl had apparently not given a tour in a while and it showed as she was so nervous. Hugo didn't make it any easier for her by asking 101 questions about the minor details of the brewing process. Next up was the demonstration bar to be shown the difference between the various malts and hops etc. We had a munch on the malts which were a bit like wholegrain cereal. We finished by having a go at pulling our own glass of beer. We each took it in turns to pull our own, and with me not keen to drink all of mine, Hugo happily ‘volunteered’ to drink mine. He handed me back my empty glass and was about to start his own when the guide told us all that we would be examining our drinks. So the group proceeded to smell and taste their beers while discussing what aromas and notes they were getting, while I stood there with my empty glass! Well done Hugo. After the tour we retired to the main bar and Hugo started weighing up his options for redeeming his free beer vouchers that were included in the ticket. Luckily for him I only redeemed one on a nice apple cider, so my remaining two were kindly donated to him, giving him a grand total of 5 beers to have! For some reason the selection process still required a lot of thought. We were impressed with the food menu so ordered lunch - good call.

Suitably tipsy, Hugo jumped in the passenger seat for the drive to Punakaiki, or the so called ‘pancake rocks’ due to their unusual eroded layers. This was pretty busy but there were plenty of limestone rocks to go around. We watched as the sea washed in and out, splashing up and under the carved out channels at the base of the formations. We walked past the inevitable pancake shops and drove on to walk the Truman track. The lookout from above the beach was worth the short ramble through forest.

The last journey of the day was along highway 6, an unexpectedly beautiful road, with the first section running parallel to the Buller river. There were few cars on the route, which was surprising as it was definitely one of the most scenic places we visited. Our campsite was in the field beside Berlin cafe, a remote roadside cafe with friendly hosts. We climbed up the hillside to a picnic bench and rested here to admire the spectacular 360 view over the valley and gorge as the sun began to set.

At 7.30pm we received a call to inform us that our scheduled rafting session for the following morning had been cancelled due to insufficient numbers. This was a bit disappointing as it would have been a great place to raft. When it was dark we took a walk a short way into the forest behind the field and peered down to see hundreds of glow worms hanging from rotten wood on the side of the path, creating an illusion of mini constellations of stars.

After a convenient breakfast at the café, and a quick Skype home, we continued on the road to the jetboat launch in the hope of an alternative adrenalin experience. Unfortunately it was not to be, as again there was no one else to make up the numbers. However we needn't have worried, because unknowingly we later turned down Braeburn track, a hair-raising unsealed road to Lake Rotoroa, one of the Nelson Lakes. Moa was put through her paces, rolling through forest and along narrow winding roads. I seem to remember only passing one truck and perhaps a few pickups, all of which were 4x4s, which somewhat added to our concern (although clearly not enough for Hugo to turn back). There was a rather large clearing at the end of the road and we parked up, somewhat relieved to be in one piece. We followed a track through the forest, walking over the green moss carpet to a waterfall. Ferns sprawled under the dark shadow of the trees, foxgloves lined the path, and we heard nothing but birds and running water. We returned 1.5 hours later to continue to the nature walk we had planned. A path had been laid out that weaved through the dense forest and we were happy to spot tui, New Zealand robins, fantails, tomtits, black swans and rabbits. We enjoyed the scenery of the forest and lake so much we decided to camp for the night and headed 2 minutes up the road to the DOC campsite. The steel postbox that you were supposed to put your fees into had been vandalised and the site was therefore free for the night, score! Unfortunately this came at a price: sandflies. It seems that Rotorua was the sandfly capital of New Zealand as we sat outside in our deckchairs slowly getting mobbed by more and more bites. We had to retreat to the safety of the van and spent the next 30 mins swatting the persistent flies that had followed us in.

The following morning we awoke with the naive hope that this ordeal was behind us… no luck. We opened the curtains to reveal a second curtain on the outside of the van made up entirely of sandflies. Opening the door was clearly out of the question so we climbed over the fridge and into the front of the van to make our getaway.

By early afternoon we had arrived in Nelson, a city at the top of the south island, and the home of Old Mout cider. We used this as an opportunity to stock up on fresh food at a grocers and paknsave. We found a Christmas hits CD for a fiver so of course we bought it. The campsite just outside the city was peaceful and green, and we were greeted by a British lady at reception. In the early evening we walked up a nearby hill in the direction of a nature sanctuary, although this was fenced off. We did see a cheeky weka back at the campsite, though.

Next day we parked up in Nelson to visit the Suter Art gallery, housing a collection linking Cornwall and NZ, ceramics, and a large multi-piece sculpture by Nelson artist Sally Burton, depicting the 1843 wairau incident between Maori and Europeans. We had a quick look around the Wednesday farmers’ market before sitting in the sunshine for a delicious lunch at Mac’s Brewbar.Read more