Honeymoon - Farewell spit and campsite palaces

Breakfast looking out over the sea to Farewell spit, you can’t beat it. A very early start for the farewell spit tour which is tide dependant as a lot of the time the majority of it is under water. It looks like a kiwi nose out the top of New Zealand and is a nature reserve for birds. Many thanks to Team Saunders and Rachael and Keith who treated us to the trip, we loved it. 

The day started on our big old Bedford truck. We drove from Collingwood onto the spit and our first stop was the fossil beach. All 24 people swarmed a seal which wasn’t good, later they were all over the place, you couldn’t miss them. I really dislike it when people get too close, especially since going to Galapagos and islands where animals aren’t scared of you. The spit was covered in oystercatchers, Ali was in heaven. We saw godwits, gannets, shags, fur seals and lots of jellyfish. 

We visited the lighthouse at the end of the spit for morning coffee and lunch. Now automated, previously it was occupied by married lighthouse men for 3 years a go, never leaving the lighthouse in that time. The sun was blazing, not a cloud in the sky, and the tree cover at the lighthouse was very welcome. We sat under a tree, eating our sandwiches in tin foil and reflected on the trip. 

We climbed one of the sand dunes and I resembled the lizard on a TV ad years ago…hot hot hot hot…as I ran over the sand. It was literally burning my feet so I had to keep kicking the sand out of my shoes and running along it. Ali thought it was hilarious and watched! Some ran down the face of the dune, but my feet needed water so I bathed in the Tasman sea between the jellyfish I had to jump over. 

The sea was such a gorgeous colour and so clear. We visited Cape Farewell, the furthermost point of South Island. So, we have visited the Southern most post, the Western most point and now the Northern most point. Just the east to go! The arch at the cape was beautiful and we can’t believe the weather. I’m getting very confused with the weather, when discussing with Ali about what we can cook Brigitte on her visit, I blurted out that we could have a BBQ!!!

We arrived into Kaiteriteri motor camp and it’s one my family would always avoid, crowded and tent to tent with no gaps in between. I thought it was because the pitches are small, but it’s not, everyone has filled their pitch with their huge tent, they pup tents, their gazebo and their boat! I kid you not, boats on the pitches. On a wander around the campsite, one palace had carpet and  3 piece suite inside. This isn’t camping. Why is it that people take a stroll around the campsite and look in everyone’s abode too. In fact, that’s what I did. We had to dump waste and empty the toilet for the first time and as the waste pipe doesn’t fit and I had to hold it instead, it’s not something I want to relive again.