BTDU

Unusually for us, we were woken early by the combo of heavy rain (good – they desperately need it as all the farmers are using vast sprinkler systems to water their land) and the dawn chorus (excellent 😍) led by our favourite songbirds Mr & Mrs Tūī😉🇳🇿

Today our plan was to check out Hanmer Springs itself and then drive across to Hokitika (ABBA fans might like that name..😉🤔) on the West Coast

Apart from being an all year centre for the outdoors, Hanmer Springs is famous for 2 things, it’s thermal Springs…bit of a clue in its name😉…and it’s huge trees, both in the town itself and the forests in which this place evolved.

The former had a long queue so we enjoyed a wee walk around the place admiring, mainly in the rain!, the sequoias and street art 😊

Just outside the town there are many spectacular walks through the forests and we had been recommended the Sculpture Trail …it didn’t disappoint 😊

Our next challenge was the drive over the Southern Alps via the Lewis Pass…

The route has clearly been carved through the native rainforest that covers much of these mountains and, right on cue, it rained…a lot…

Some of the climbing and descending is quite difficult due to the steepness and number of hairpins to negotiate, but once over the other side the scenery changed to great wide plains and views of turquoise mountain rivers …

We arrived in Hokitika shortly after getting our 1st views of the Tasman Sea.

Two of the first things we noticed was the driftwood art, which seems to be a local speciality, and the number of mature palm trees😊

We had also noticed just how much the temperature had plummeted; before coming over the Lewis Pass it was c. 24, now, at 7 pm ish, it was barely 11C!

Stepping outside confirmed why – a fierce Southerly (think Northerly in UK terms 😉) was battering the coastline with great gusto! (Please excuse the pun…)

So, for the 1st time this trip, multi layers were donned to lean into that headwind for the 2.5 km walk into Hokitika town centre to reccy the place…

Clearly it was quite arty, so, after a strong recommendation from our Mongolian campsite owner, we headed to a Thai restaurant, in search of good scran and some warmth…and we’re pleased to say it completely met those criteria and we had seen enough to warrant an extended visit the next day😊