6 am alarm and a run along the shore of Lake Rotoiti. Breakfast in the van and set off for Greymouth by 9am.
It was too cold to take a dip in the lake before we left, quite chilly without the sun.
Twisty roads with stunning views around most of the corners. The sun came out and it turned into a lovely day. The road followed a number of rivers with crystal clear water, growing bigger as we got closer to the ocean.
We pulled in a couple of times to take photos but the camera doesn’t do the view justice.
We stopped for fuel, coffee and pies at Muriston about 60km into the journey. We’ve been wanting to try the local pies which are a speciality of the region and these were good. Diana has chicken and bacon and I had Truckers which was beef, chicken, cheese, egg and bacon and was delicious.
Back on the road and none stop to the Ocean road free camping site in Greymouth. The site had great views of the ocean but was essentially a big tarmac car park and didn’t feel particularly special. We drove 5 minutes north along the beach road to where our walk for the day started and found a much nicer camping spot right at the start of the walking path.
Our walk for the day was 11km along the coastal path to Point Elizabeth through sub tropical vegetation. The sun was shining but we were sheltered by the trees as we walked up and down the hills. The signs warned it was a penguin zone but we didn’t manage to see any. A really pleasant walk which broke into a run just for fun near the end.
We arrived back at the camper around 5pm and rearranged the parking to get the best view. We then settled into appero on the beach and bbq chicken for dinner listening to the ocean. Some paragliders landed nearby to provide the after dinner entertainment and the area emptied out quickly with just one other camper left by 8pm. An idyllic spot.
The kids loved playing on the stoney beach, building dens, collecting special stones and making guns from the driftwood.
Tomorrow we’re driving down to the Fox Glacier area and are hoping to fit in a walk and a bike ride.
Distance travelled today: 221km
Grand total: 1362km