First stop on our West Coast adventure was Reefton.
Up until then I knew nothing about Reefton but now I can not only happily recommend it as a great place to stop between Hamner Springs and Greymouth but also tell you a few of Reefton’s most redeeming qualities….
Reefton has a great skate park! James is a bit of a skate boarder from way back and was wishing he had bought his board. The girls on the other hand didn’t let a little thing like lack of a skate board stop them and slid down on their onesies instead! They had a ball!
Reefton has a lovely river out the back of the skate park – great for taking photos
Reefton has awesome stones – the kids loved them
Reefton has very friendly people – everyone we met smiled and chatted to us
Reefton has flags of every nationality everywhere – I assume for the Rugby World Cup but it felt very inclusive
Reefton has a well stocked 4 Square with pretty much everything you need.
Reefton Roller ParkReefton – stoney riverbed
So there you have it – Reefton, a great place to stop and you can find out more about it here…
Day 3 is about where we decided to through the plans out the window and get lost….
Laying in bed in the Camper Van in Hamner Springs before the kids had woken up James and I were talking about our route. The plan was to go down the East coast and stay at Tekapo and then on to Queenstown the next day – about 7-8 hours drive.
However, James (having worked in Ashburton and traveled frequently to Blenheim) had travelled that stretch a lot but never the West Coast. Kind of bucket list stuff he reasoned. Absolutely I said, jumping at the chance to get lost.
A quick (and as it turns out rather incomplete) search on Google Maps convinced us we would get there in about 9 hours – really not much longer at all… [spoiler alert – after 13 hours we finally made it to Haast!!]
Rather auspiciously as we set out from Hamner Springs we found a sign that said “Get Lost” – both James and I agreed – it must be a sign. We were destined to get lost.
With the radio blasting James, me and the 3 kids were singing at the tops of our voices with the GPS valiantly saying every 5 or so minutes – make a U turn when possible.
We didn’t listen to a word it said….
From James..
I would have liked to have more time and explore more and see some more of the coastline – maybe a few seals
About an hour and a half from Christchurch Hamner Springs is an easy drive from Christchurch.
We drove in tandem with James and 5 children (our 3 plus Sarah’s two) in the Camper Van and me and Sarah followed behind having a great old time talking about anything and everything. From the sounds of things the “Daddy Day Care bus” as it was dubbed by Krystal was the best party bus around! I’m surprised we didn’t see it rocking as we drove…
Campervan on the way to Hamner Springs
We stopped for marmite sammies and a few supplies at Culverden. Lots of picnic tables and a well stocked dairy!
Dairy at Culverden
On to Hamner and to my shock and horror I found that they had at least two camping grounds. As I have said in previous posts, organisation is not my strong point so I had blindly assumed when booking several months before that the Hamner Springs camping ground was THE Hamner Springs camping ground.
In a mild panic I rang the first one that I saw and asked if by any chance they had a booking for me. They didn’t and didn’t seem overly happy about suggesting other local camping grounds I could try (why ever not?)
Fortunately I hit the jackpot with the second camp ground and they had us booked in to a powered site for night two of our South Island Campervan Holiday.
Camper Van successfully stowed and we were on to the pools.
Amazing variety of pools from the kiddies pools to the lazy river to the super hot (including some adults only) mineral pools.
The spring weather still wasn’t super hot and unfortunately for us the kids preferred the luke warm kids pools to the hot mineral pools so it was a matter of tag teaming between Sarah, James and I to all try and get a little time in the hot pools.
Sophia, despite all her verge eating over the past 3 months, remained half a centimetre too short for the hydra slides (if you have a little one that is on the verge of 120cm don’t promise slides as they are very strict) but could go on the super bowl with an adult.
You get in to the super bowl on an inflatable ring (in my case a double with Sophia) – are sent down a slide and then spun around a bowl several times before being spat out another slide at the other end. It wasn’t as alarming as it sounds but I was kind of relieved when Sophia said it was too cold to line up for another turn and didn’t even mind that I had paid $5 for her and $10 for me to have just one turn.
Hamner Springs Super Bowl
All in all – it was well priced, great family fun at Hamner Springs. If you manage to spot the pool photographer definitely call her over. It’s challenging conditions to photograph in but I wager that most of you won’t be taking your camera in the pool (I know I wasn’t) and she really does capture great moments.
In terms of where to stay… there are a couple of options for camper vans. The one we went for was really basic (and cheap) and did the job perfectly for a one night stay after a long day swimming. You can find more information about it here…
First up – hiring a camper van is awesome and surprisingly affordable for a family of 5 to have a really amazing holiday!
However, there are some things that I wish I had of read about hiring a camper van before embarking on a journey across the South Island with our 3 children…. Hopefully some of this will give you some useful tips for hiring a camper van in New Zealand.
After the inevitable toilet stop we finally made our way out of Christchurch airport and on the shuttle headed for our Maui camper van pickup.
I had checked in earlier in the week online and printed all the information we needed so I was ready to race in, pick up our camper van and head off to the city to meet my good friend Sarah for a well deserved wine.
This is a good time to point out that organisation is not my strong point. I’m more a big picture thinker and the finer details not only escape me – they scare the living daylights out of me. It probably won’t surprise a lot of you given the name of this blog (Getting Lost) that I prefer to cruise along and see what happens. So clearly for me this level of pre-organisation is only reserved for the very special occasions where I need a speedy departure.
Feeling mighty proud of my organisation skills I sauntered in with kids in tow ready to collect our keys.
An hour later I’m sitting at a table with 3 children in various stages of melt down, hot chocolate spilt over the floor and luggage strewn all over the place.
Finally we get to key time but there is some fine print in the terms and conditions that we didn’t read where it said that in the event of a roll over we wouldn’t be covered by insurance. These things are high and let’s face it – the chances of rolling one of these is probably higher than anything else we drive. Grumpily I pull out my credit card and decide it’s just not worth the stress.
Finally we head out to the camper van. By this time all three kids are in complete meltdown, I am grumpy and James is looking like he might just drive off without us all but I’m excited to see my new Maui camper. So I’m a little surprised when they lead us up to a Kea camper…. Apparently all the same company but in my head I had made a decision for Maui over Kea so I felt quite disappointed.
The purpose of this blog is not to complain about companies, but I do feel that if I had of done a bit more research and read a few more blogs before our trip then I wouldn’t have felt so disappointed initially – I hope it does the same for you.
Overall Maui/Kea provide fantastic camper vans that drive brilliantly and have great on road assistance. They answered my complaints quickly and authentically and went out of their way to help fix the situation.
There are however some things that I wish I had of read about hiring a camper van first….
There will be a wait when you check out your camper van – even if you do it online. Allow for 2 hours from when you arrive at the airport and plan entertainment for the kids.
Maui and Kea – same company.
For peace of mind, expect an extra charge for roll over insurance
There are some roads that are excluded – like the road from Queenstown to Cardrona – if you are planning on going over there you will need to take an alternate route (we did – it’s not bad at all, just longer)
The TV is not able to be viewed from the seats down low – only the cabin up high – this really helps with bedding expectations
For Kea (not Maui) the rear bed is cut on an angle so while it is a double at one end it is a lot narrower at the other and has cushions that separate instead of a mattress – again, helpful to set expectations with where little ones are sleeping.
Grumbles over we are on the road. The music is blasting and we are singing at the top of our lungs, waving madly at every camper van that goes past and James is asking if we can download that song about the King of the Road.
Getting Lost 