You know you are on the West Coast when….

You know you are on the West Coast when those vicious sand flies still bite even though you have slapped on so much insect repellent that you smell like a hospital.  It doesn’t matter which brand you try, or even if you apply a couple of different brands at the same time, those insects still bite!  And those  little critters zero in on the one tiny bit of skin which you missed in your administrations.

You know you are on the West Coast when there is no cell phone coverage and no Internet for days while we travel around this magnificent part of New Zealand full of towering mountain ranges.  But never mind, we are diligently writing our blog each day, and will post them as soon as we get into range.

You know you are on the West Coast when you drive past sign after sign offering those delicious “Whitebait Fritters” for sale.  Or when you see whitebait wharves on the side of a bridge, which get lowered into the river during the whitebait season to allow the fishermen to put their nets out further into the river.

Whitebait Bridge

Collecting our vans from the motor camp after our drive down to Jackson’s Bay, we continued on SH6 to our next camp for the night, making several stops along the way.  First stop was Ship’s Creek Walk, where we stopped for lunch.  Those dratted sand flies were still biting with a fury, so we ate our picnic lunches in the comfort of the caravans.  We noticed that the other travellers eating outside were constantly brushing and slapping their arms and legs in an attempt to keep those nasty insects away.  Robin climbed up onto the lookout tower to snap a few photos.

  Picnic lunch at Ship’s Creek Walk

Knights Point Lookout was our next stop, and we had a good view over the coastline.   A stately looking monument unveiled by Prime Minister Sir Keith Holyoake commemorated the official opening in 1965 of the Paringa-Haast section of this highway.

View from Knights Point lookout

Lake Paringa, a small bush clad lake with a DOC Camp (Department of Conservation) on the lake edges. Stands of kahikatea, New Zealand’s tallest  tree, line the road near the lake.  We are unable to stay at DOC Camps as we are travelling with our cat Muffy, and pet animals are prohibited at these camps. 

Lake Paringa

Next stop was at a small salmon farm, and we could see the fish circling around in their pens, from baby salmon to really large fish.  A white heron was perched on the edge of one of the pens, just waiting for his chance to catch one of those temping fish.  We purchased some salmon fillet and enjoyed it for dinner tonight, pan fried in butter – so tasty.

 Young salmon Circling their pen

Waiting for his next meal

Our stop for the evening is the Pine Grove Motels, between Jacobs River and Fox Glacier, who also have several powered sites for caravans and motor homes.  After our busy day of sightseeing we relaxed in the sunshine with a cool drink and some nibbles.

Parked up at Pine Grove

What’s that over the fence?  It was a pet red deer, and he was happy to come to the fence to see if we had any goodies for her. Derek offered the deer a couple of biscuits, which were gobbled up with gusto.

Pet deer over the fence

How is this for a “Blast from the Past”  When we arrived at Pine Grove, Robin was sure that we had been here before.  He was right – but it was about 20 years ago when we walked the Milford Track.  We were travelling with our friends Shirley and Lewis and to cut costs we shared motel rooms on our travels.  The arrangement was that each night one couple would get the bedroom, while the other couple would sleep in the lounge.  On the night we last stayed here all those years ago, Shirley and Lewis slept in the bedroom, which had, believe it or not, a mirrored ceiling.  The next morning Lewis commented to us that “it wasn’t a pretty sight at all”.  Don’t tell the motel owners, but the motel unit doors were open so I just had to sneak into that bedroom and take this photo of the mirrored ceiling!  And then just as quickly sneak out again.  And yes, I did take my shoes off first.

Oh dear, what am I doing?