Ocean Views

 Moving slowly northwards, we stopped at two "new to us" Pops (Park over Properties) with ocean views.  There are so many places available to park up here in New Zealand, so it's always good to try somewhere new and exciting when we travel.

Leaving Wairau Tavern it was a short 52km  to our next stop, Conway Flat Ocean Edge.  The photos looked delightful, vans parked on the cliff overlooking the sea, room for large vehicles and pet friendly. We turned off SH1 at Hundalee and drove down to the coast, finally spotting several vans and motorhomes parked up in a large paddock.  This is the place.

We parked longways against the cliff edge, not too close, I worriedly told Robin,  not realising till later that the instructions were to park at 90 degrees.  Luckily there were not too many vans there, but I'm sure we would have been asked to move in the heart of summer.  Never mind. we will know for next time.  

Our stop for the night

Peeping over the cliff we could see the wavelets roll in.  This is a good area for fishing, we were told.    It was a lovely restful day indeed, and we were lulled to sleep with the soothing sounds at bedtime.  There was no show of catching the sun rise over the ocean the next morning, we slept so well that the sun was well up by the time we surfaced.  This is a wonderful place to stay and we certainly plan to return in a future South Island trip.

A great view of the coastline 

It was time to move on the following morning, to our second ocean view stay. The 140km drive up SH1 took us through the busy town of Kaikoura and along the previously earthquake damaged parts of the coastal road.  This netting structure hangs out like a verandah to protect the vehicles below from rockfall - we don't remember seeing this in place when we were down this way a couple of years ago.

And here are the tunnels again

Continuing on our way we saw glimpses of the snow capped Southern Alps again.

Snow on the mountains

We turned off SH1 at the tiny village of Ward, and the first thing we saw was this happy Mama pig.  She wandered over to the fence to show me her very best side.

Hello piggy

The instructions said to place our fees in the letter box next to the large white rock.  

There were a few other campers on site, and we found ourselves a spot overlooking the beach and settled down for the afternoon.    There is nothing nicer than being by the sea.

Overnighting at Chancet Pop

Gemma had a fine time exploring the grassy bank, safely secured with her lead of course.  Goodness knows what she was tracking in the grass, probably little bugs and insects I expect.  This kept her so occupied for such a long time that she didn't have her usual afternoon nap.  You know what cats are like, they generally sleep the day away.

Gemma is hunting tiny things hiding in the grass

Someone started a painted rock collection here and it has obviously grown and grown over time.  

The painted rock collection

The following morning we woke to a pink tinged shot of the sea and clouds.  The weather report promised  fine weather, but very windy conditions, not so good for towing at all. 

Pink tinged clouds in the morning