Babbling Brooke’s Travel Blog

Wishing we had late check-out of our Nelson Airbnb on January 1st, we dragged ourselves out of bed and into the car to continue heading south.

We left Nelson and drove and drove through the rain and the rainforest towards the West Coast! The weather was kinda crappy, to be honest, but the scenery was still beautiful. We passed river after river that looked like they were straight out of Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory: milk-chocolate brown!   

We stopped at a touristy swing-bridge that charged you an entry fee (kinda a bummer but still worth it imo). This bridge was the first one to freak me out a little bit! Perhaps it was because it was slick with rain or maybe it was the raging river below. Either way, I was relieved to make it across each way. 

We made it to Westport, a sleepy little surf town, in the late afternoon and grabbed some food at Dennison Dog. We ordered the baked Chambere to start us off and it was sooo good!

Fully carb-loaded up, we checked into our Airbnb and didn’t do a damn thing! We watched the finale of Stranger Things and I cried the whole way through it (classic me!). Having some built in R&R was so lovely and it helped that it was rainy and chilly outside- perfect staying-in weather! 

The next morning, we packed up and headed out. To our delight there was SUNSHINE! 

We stopped at the nearby seal colony at Cape Foulwind. Luckily for us, there was only a pleasant breeze and no foul wind when we explored! 

We observed the seals below for a long time, taking pictures and puzzling over some of their behavior. We even saw a new born pup with the seagulls eating away at its umbilical cord! Nature is incredible. 

Before heading back to the car, we walked along the black sand beach and I was blown away by the colors of the sand. It wasn’t just black sand- there were iridescent patterns with blues and greens shining in the sunlight. I was transfixed by the beauty of it. 

Back on the road, we continued south along the west coast, stopping at various lookout points to marvel at natures bounty. 

We stopped at Pancake Rocks and ate lunch at a cafe there. Appropriately, we ordered the pancakes! After lunch we set about, walking off the pancakes, to see exactly what the hype was with these rocks, and I can attest they are in fact very cool! 

They were made from layers and layers of compressed crustaceans and shells that, under the pressure of the ocean floor, compacted to form stone and then rose out of the depths of the ocean! The water then beat away at the layers, chipping away at the calcium-rich stone to form layers that really do look like stacks of numerous thin pancakes! 

Back on the road again, we randomly decided to stop at Shantytown Heritage Park

It was near closing but we had enough time to explore (unfortunately not enough time for old time photos. If you’ve received one of Matt and I’s Christmas card photos you would understand why we were kinda bummed!)

This place was randomly SO Interesting and I learned a lot about 1800s west coast NZ and the crazy gold and lumber pioneers living there during that era. They had a small village set up to replicate what was around back in the mid 1800s, and a few of the buildings were even original! 

I was most fascinated by the hospital building, as they had a very impressive collection of old medical memorabilia. They even had an Iron Lung! I didn’t think I’d ever be able to see one in person. 

By now it was time to head to our campsite for the night as we wanted to get set up and go do a quick hike nearby to close out the busy day.

We arrived and got our site set up (much easier when it isn’t blowing wind 45+ mph) only to discover a sign that stated you weren’t allowed to leave your site after set up – aka we couldn’t go drive to our hike unless we wanted to pack it all up. By now we were both tired, hungry, and not in the mood to take down our campsite and set it up later in the dark. A little defeated, we pivoted and did a quick waterfall walk near the campground to satisfy the itch (a little bit) of being outside. Then we headed back and made up some instant ramen noodles for dinner, in the camp kitchen. We discovered that instant ramen noodles are made infinitely better by adding canned corn to them! 

After eating we got into our tent and I read until I got tired. Sleeping outside in a tent is always a mixed bag for me. I love sleeping outside and hearing the birds. I also sleep like crap no matter what on the camp mattress and pillow. Luckily, we were just camping for a night!

We covered a lot of ground these 2 days, but we still have so many things to do before the trip is over! Follow along to keep up with our adventure by subscribing to Babbling Brooke’s Travel Blog!