Glacier Country

Glacier Country

Franz Joseph There wasn’t much time to hang around. I’d booked a helicopter flight for the afternoon to take us up to the glaciers. The flight we booked was supposed to take us to Franz Josef Glacier, Fox Glacier, Tasman Glaciers, the Southern Alps and the...
Hokitika and Shantytown

Hokitika and Shantytown

Hokitika We drove our van into the Shining Star campsite late afternoon on the 27th of March. Apparently, we weren’t the first Riverside Drive Marina residents to check in here. Only a couple of weeks before, our sailing friend Jeanne Socrates also checked in at...
Greymouth, Blackball and Brunner

Greymouth, Blackball and Brunner

Greymouth We only went to Greymouth to meet Charmaine, one of our Riverside Drive friends who was staying in Greymouth for a while. But we are glad we saw the town too. It has a rugged charm – and some good OP shops from which you can grab a bargain. Hats off to...
Pupu Springs and Pancake Rocks

Pupu Springs and Pancake Rocks

Te WaikoropupÅ« Springs – Pupu Springs This is a special place, both culturally and geologically. The water here is some of the clearest on the planet. And there is a lot of it. Underground springs here produce approximately 14,000 litres of water per second....
Kaiteriteri and Abel Tasman

Kaiteriteri and Abel Tasman

Kaiteriteri Kaiteriteri is lovely in March. It isn’t too cold, the sun is shining, and, more importantly, the holidays are over. This place must be rammed full of people at peak summer time. But hardly anyone was around when we visited. Although Kaiteriteri is a...