The rain finally got to us, and with wet weather forecast for the next week also, we reluctantly left the West Coast this morning heading east. We moved up to the NZMCA Park at Hokitika a couple of days ago and pulled out of there this morning.
Initially we were going to stop overnight at Arthurs Pass Village again, at the DOC camp, but it was very cold (expected) but raining there too, with snow forecast in the next day or two.
So we carried on, thinking maybe Lake Pearson/Moana for the night, but the sun was just about to sink behind the mountains...
...so we carried on past Castle Hill and through Porters Pass...
and down onto the Canterbury Plains where a very impressive sunset pushed us on...
and on...to our second home, the NZMCA Park at Weedons in Christchurch. It's time to do some retail therapy and a little van maintenance, re-gather our thoughts and decide on where to next.
We love the West Coast and while we were expecting rain, we weren't quite expecting so much- I don't think most West Coasters were either, they have had an above average rainfall for summer and autumn this year. I think we did great to get eight straight days of sunshine early in the piece when we were in South Westland, and we had mostly fine weather when we did the top of the West Coast last year so it's just been the middle bit that has caused a few problems.
We will be back though, we still have plenty to do and we want to be on the Coast during the spring or early summer when the birds are nesting, the lakes are good for fishing, and the tracks are more accessible.
And, I have to come back to shoot Lake Matheson without a pesky breeze in the corner.
