The Traveling Sput

February 2, 2026

The morning was heavily overcast with occasional sprinkles. We drove into town and decided to visit The National Kiwi Centre. We spent a couple of hours indoors viewing different varieties of fish, turtles, frogs, huge eels, and two kiwi birds. We were there for the morning eel feeding, and I had the opportunity to feed and pet the eels. Many of the eels in the tank were 80 to 100 years old.

Next came the kiwi feeding. The two kiwi birds had been hiding earlier in the day, but they popped out after the food trays were filled. One of the birds became quite active and was hopping and jumping back and forth.

Next we visited the New World supermarket across the street and stocked up on food for the next few days. Then we returned to the kiwi centre one more time to watch the noon eel and kiwi feeding.

We drove back to our cabin, had sandwiches for lunch, and then returned to Greymouth to swap out the rental car. The new car was ready for us just as we arrived. It was exactly the same model and color as the old car, so I was glad to be able to keep the hybrid. We did end up getting a discount of a few days off of the rental car price as compensation for all of the trouble.

The weather in Greymouth was partly cloudy and better than in Hokitika where a storm was approaching from the south. We drove to the nearby town of Kumara to do some local sightseeing. We took a short hike to Londonderry Rock, a huge glacial erratic. It was a nice walk through the moss covered trees and ferns inside the rain forest.

Next we went on another short hike to an old 1930's swimming pool site.

Nearby, I went on the Taylors Hill Walk, which was a short loop trail that climbed to a nice view of the river valley below.

We returned to the cabin and grilled ribeye steaks for dinner.

I spent some time watching the local farm animals that were roaming around in their pens directly across from our cabin.

There was no sunset or glow worm viewing for us since it started raining shortly before dark.

February 1, 2026

The weather forecast was for sunny all day, so we got up early and took the 1.5 hour drive to Arthur's Pass. The road to the pass had stunning views in the morning light. We drove over the Otira Viaduct and passed under the Reid Falls Aqueduct. I was able to take some nice photos along the drive. We stopped at a viewpoint of the Otira Viaduct.

We continued on to Arthur's Pass Village, where we spent the morning walking around the town. We were looking for kea birds which we had seen in abundance during our visit in 2023. But none were to be found at the place we had watched them previously, since there was no longer a dumping ground of food scraps for them to feed on. Much better for the birds not to get fed, but I missed seeing them.

We stopped at Arthur's Pass Store to buy chicken cranberry pies that were delicious and my favorite New Zealand pie so far. We sat outside to eat our pies, and we heard kea birds in the distance. Then we spotted a few hanging outside the front of the store, hopping around the tables where the customers were eating their food. Fortunately everyone was being good about not feeding them. Heinrich sat on one of the benches near a table to take some videos. A kea bird came closer and closer to Heinrich, and then suddenly it grabbed the bag of trash from our pies and flew off! It then handed the bag off to another kea.

After that bit of fun, we decided we would spend the afternoon taking hikes to Devils Punchbowl Falls and the Otira Valley Track for some mountain views. We walked back to our car to drive to the trail head, and that's when the day went south, in a bad way. We had a key fob to electronically unlock the rental car. Heinrich pressed the button and nothing happened. And even though there was a physical key that we used to start the engine, there was no keyhole on any of the doors to unlock the vehicle. What to do? We walked over to the nearby visitor center to ask for help. Maybe someone there might help us figure out if there was a manual method of unlocking the car. A very friendly ranger offered to take a look. Heinrich found a way to open the key fob to extract the coin battery inside. The ranger happened to have the same type of coin battery, and he gave it to us to swap out. I thought for sure that would fix the problem, but no! It still didn't work.

The ranger suggested we do a Google search to see if there might be some information online. I found a video that showed a method of unlocking a similar model. Sure enough, our car happened to have the same design. On the driver's side door there was a tiny slot located underneath the handle. Heinrich inserted the key into that slot, which allowed him to pop off part of the handle. Underneath was a keyhole to unlock the car.

The car was still drivable, but there was no way we were going to stop anywhere for an extended time and leave the car unlocked with all of our stuff inside. Even though most of our stuff was in the room back in Hokitika, there was enough still inside that we would worry about. So I got out the rental car agreement from the glove box and found a phone number to call for help at the agency. It connected to one of those automated lines where I had to press a series of buttons before finally getting to talk to a real person. I ended up getting routed to roadside assistance that offered to send someone out to try to fix it. Estimated wait time was a half hour to an hour and a half. And there was no guarantee it would get fixed.

This did not seem like an ideal option, especially since the car was still drivable and we weren't stranded. I tried once again to call someone directly at the agency, this time using a different phone number. The agent I talked to suggested that we drive the car to Greymouth to swap out for a different car. But she didn't know if they had any cars available. She said she would call them to check and then she would call me back. Twenty minutes elapsed with no phone call. At this point we had been dealing with the situation for almost two hours. I did a Google search and found that the agency at Greymouth closed for the day at 4 PM: it was already after 2 PM and Greymouth was over an hour drive away. I called the agency one more time, talked to a different person who told me yes - we should just leave and go to Greymouth. And since roadside assistance had also not bothered to show up by this time, I called them back to cancel the assistance.

We left immediately to drive to Greymouth -- waving bye bye to the nice waterfall out the window that I had wanted to see close up. At least we had already done that hike in 2019 so it would have been a repeat. But still… it was not fun to leave on an absolutely gorgeous afternoon there. I knew we would not try to return the next day because the weather forecast was for cloudy and afternoon rain.

We did stop briefly to snap a photo of the Otira Viaduct and other bridges on the other side of the road as we drove back down the mountain.

We arrived in Greymouth shortly after 3 PM and then had trouble finding where the rental car agency was located. Google Maps had directed us to a rental car return area near the train station, but we weren't seeing any signs for Apex Car Rentals. Then I received a phone call, finally from the first agent that I had talked to that was supposed to call me back… after 2 hours had elapsed. She said she had repeatedly tried to call the agency in Greymouth but nobody there was answering the phone. I told her, we are already there, how about helping us find the agency? She said she thought it was inside the train station. We finally found it there after several minutes of wandering around. There was one woman who was manning all of the counters for various rental agencies. And guess what, no cars were available that day. She did have one car but it was not a hybrid, and that was unacceptable. Our options were to return the next afternoon or wait until we got to Queenstown a few days later. Since we didn't have much planned for the following day due to the bad weather forecast, we told her we would return at around 2 PM for the swap.

It was still a beautiful day in Greymouth, so I looked for other options to spend a few hours sightseeing in the area. And I found the Point Elizabeth Walkway. I remembered this was something I had put on the agenda in 2019 and again in 2023 but both times we had skipped it due to weather or time constraints. We drove to the trail head, and I had brought a small backpack that I stuffed all the valuables inside that I really cared about. It was about a 2.5 mile round trip hike up a bluff and through a beautiful tropical forest with ocean views.

We drove back to Hokitika, had scrambled eggs and potatoes for dinner, and then walked out to the beach to watch the sunset which was much better than the previous day.

At the end of the day we walked over to the dell to watch the glow worms one more time.

January 31, 2026

Today was a long drive day: 4 hours to Hokitika. I checked the weather forecast, and today and tomorrow were supposed to be nice in Hokitika and in Arthur's Pass, but the following day was supposed to rain. If we were to have any chance of seeing Hokitika Gorge in good weather, it would have to be today, since we would be in Arthur's Pass for the other good weather day. This plan would add another 40 minutes to the drive.

So we got an early start after saying goodbye to Rascal the cat. He had climbed up onto our bed the night before and was sleeping with us.

We stopped to fill up on gas and then stopped to buy more treats at The Bakery in Wakefield. Then we drove to the Hope Saddle Lookout. Google Maps had reported this area was closed, but we saw no signs telling us to keep out. It was a short hike to the trig at the top of the hill. The views were quite nice.

We drove on and had a brief stop to look at the view from the Upper Buller River Gorge on our way to the west coast. Then I took over driving and drove the remaining 2 hours to Hokitika Gorge.

The nice blue sky had disappeared and it was now very cloudy but not raining. I didn't have much hope for seeing any beautiful colors in the gorge. The last time we visited was in February 2019 when the water color was gray. It was such a disappointment. We tried again to see the gorge in 2023, but we ended up turning around before we even got there due to heavy rain.

So today I had set my expectations to very low. We walked up the beautiful path through the rain forest, turned the bend, and wow! The gorge came into view and it was so blue! We crossed the swinging bridge and walked down to the base of the water, admiring the gorge from various angles. A second very long swinging bridge had been constructed in 2020, the year after we had previously visited, so now there was a loop trail through the area. It was really nice.

Heinrich drove us back to Hokitika where as checked into our room for the next 3 nights at the Shining Star Beachfront Accommodation. We ended up getting the exact same room that we had when we stayed in 2023. It was a studio with a small kitchenette. We arrived just in time to seeing the evening train pass through.

For dinner we had chicken with honey and mustard sauce, rice, and a salad.

After dinner I walked out to the beach to watch the sunset, but I arrived a bit too late. The horizon was cloudy. I did manage to catch a little bit of color.

After dark we walked over to the Hokitika Glow Worm Dell which was just across the street. This had been a favorite activity in 2023, and it was just as much fun today seeing the clusters of glow worms.

January 30, 2026

We chose today as the better weather day to go to Abel Tasman National Park, and it was indeed the best weather we have had so far on this trip: mostly sunny with a few clouds.

After watching a lovely sunrise from the deck of our Airbnb, we took the half hour drive to Kaiteriteri, where we had booked the Wilsons Swing Bridge Bush and Beach tour. The tour involved a 1-hour boat ride to Medlands Beach, followed by a hike and some side trips to Anchorage Beach, where we would be picked up by the shuttle boat later in the afternoon. We hiked a total of 9.5 miles including all of the side trips.

On the morning boat ride we passed the Split Apple Rock formation. The shuttle made stops at Apple Tree Bay, Anchorage Beach, and Torrent Bay before dropping us off at Medlands Beach.

We arrived at Medlands at 10:15 am, and we were scheduled to be picked up at Anchorage at 5:20 pm. A direct hike to Anchorage was about 4 hours, so we expected to have plenty of time to do all of the side trips. As it turned out, we made enough stops on the hike that we ended up at Anchorage with about a half hour to spare before the boat pickup time.

Our first side trip was to hike north from Medlands to Bark Bay, where we crossed a swinging bridge and viewed Bark Bay Falls.

We retraced our steps back to Medlands Beach and continued south along the main trail. We took another side trip to South Head, where there was a small view of the beach below.

We went back to the main trail and crossed a second swinging bridge at Falls River.

The trail continued along a ridge with occasional views of the beaches below, and then it dropped down to Torrent Bay which was the halfway point of the hike. Just past Torrent Bay we found a picnic table where we stopped and ate our sandwiches for lunch.

It was low tide at Torrent Bay, and we had the option to take a shortcut across the mud flats to Anchorage which would have saved over an hour of hiking. We chose not to take that option since we wanted to go to Cleopatras Pool which was along the high tide trail.

We still had at least 2 hours of hiking to do, and it was 3 hours until our boat pickup time, so I was getting a bit nervous about the time. It turned out we didn't have to worry since the trail to Cleopatras Pool was relatively flat and fast. We didn't stay long at Cleopatras Pool. Frankly I found it underwhelming, although I suppose it would have been more exciting if we had decided to swim. Only one other person was at Cleopatras Pool while we were there. Most of the others we had seen along the trail had taken the low tide shortcut.

We crossed one more swinging bridge on the main trail back from Cleopatras Pool, and then we had one more uphill slog before finally descending to Anchorage Beach. It was 4:35 pm, and we were supposed to be there at 5:05 before our boat pickup time at 5:20. So we had a little bit of time to relax on the beach before our ride back to Kaiteriteri.

The boat ride back made only one stop at Apple Tree Bay, and it did a close pass by of Adele Island where there were a couple of seals on the rocks (unfortunately I didn't get any good photos of the seals).

We drove back to our AirBnb, relaxed for the evening, and played with Rascal the cat. We had sandwiches for dinner because we were both too tired to cook.

January 29, 2026

We woke up to clear skies. I had planned to drive an hour over to Nelson and Cable Bay to do a view hike, but neither of us felt like driving through the largest town in the area, and the views were just great where we were. We decided to make this a bit of a rest day and just do some exploring around the local area.

I had full use of the kitchen facilities in the AirBnb house, so I made a nice breakfast of eggs and potatoes for us. Afterwards we hopped in the car and drove about 15 minutes down the Kina Peninsula Road to the LEH Baigent Memorial Reserve. Kina Peninsula Beach was several miles long. To call it a beach was a bit of a stretch because it was mostly gray rocks and no sand. It was also low tide while we were there, so the Moutere Inlet was a big muddy flat.

On the way back we stopped at the Tasman Golf Club which had some wonderful views, and on the edge of the golf course some walking paths were open to the public. We walked around for a few minutes and admired the views.

Next we drove up a road that led to a new multi-million dollar housing development being built at the southern end of Kina Beach. We followed a short trail along a cliff top with views of the Tasman Bay. The trail ended with a steep descent down to the beach. Conditions were the same as earlier with lots of rocks and no sand.

Next we stopped at the McKee Memorial Reserve which contained a campground and a picnic area. By this time the weather had deteriorated and it was mostly cloudy, so we decided to head back to the house.

The owner stopped by to feed the cats, and we chatted for a bit. She led us to a path that went from her back yard to a trail that had… glow worms! This was actually the main reason I had decided stay in Ruby Bay: on the Internet it is listed as a place to spot glow worms. I had no idea we would be staying practically right on top of them! We made a note of the trail and terrain so we could return later.

Before sunset I took a walk around the neighborhood on the Pinehill West Walkway which had some nice views of the surrounding countryside.

Back at the house we had spaghetti and salad for dinner.

Later that evening we ventured out to the glow worm trail with our flashlights, and sure enough, only about a hundred feet down the trail we could see their lights. In terms of all of the other places in New Zealand that we have seen glow worms so far, this ranks at the bottom since there were only a few, but still it was really fun to see them again.

January 28, 2026

We woke up to fog with the promise of a nice day ahead. Since we were staying in a bach, the New Zealand expectation is that we had to clean the cabin thoroughly before we left. This took about an hour. The fog burned off, and it was sunny by the time we left the cabin.

We drove down to the lakeshore to finally see the area with blue sky. We walked out to the jetty and saw eels hanging around the dock. I was surprised at how big they were.

Also near the jetty were a pair of black-billed gulls. A posted sign explained that these were the most threatened gulls in the world, with numbers rapidly declining. A flock had decided to make Lake Rotoiti their home.

We drove over to Kerr Bay which had several easy walking trails in the area. We took the Bellbird Walk followed by the Honeydew Walk. The highlight was seeing the pretty little Honeydew Falls.

We left Saint Arnaud shortly before noon. The drive to Ruby Bay was only 70 minutes. We stopped for a short walk to the entrance to Spooners Tunnel. This is the longest decommissioned rail tunnel in the Southern Hemisphere and is 1.4 km long. It is now part of a long bike trail, and several bicyclists passed us on the walk there. An added bonus was a small waterfall to the right of the tunnel entrance.

Next we stopped at The Bakery in the town of Wakefield, and we purchased steak and cheese pies for lunch. They were very good. We also bought some dessert treats to enjoy later.

Heinrich wanted to stop to see a statue of Richard Nixon (one of only two in the world) that was only a few blocks away from The Bakery. But when we arrived we found the statue had been removed. Such disappointment!

We drove to the town of Richmond to buy groceries for the next few days at the PAK'nSAVE store, and then we drove to our Airbnb rental in Ruby Bay. The house was perched high up on a hill above Tasman Bay, and wow, what a view it was from there! The owners were away so we had the entire house to ourselves, and we spent a lot of time on the deck eating our bakery dessert and enjoying the amazing view. We heard no car or people noise, just the sound of the many birds in the area.

Joining us were the three resident cats: Rascal, Tilly, and Gizmo. Gizmo was very shy, Tilly was somewhat tolerant of our presence, and Rascal was super friendly and wanted lots of attention. Rascal was a big fluffy long haired cat that liked to sleep on its back in the hallway. We could hear him snoring softly just outside our door!

In the evening I took a walk down the street that led to a nice viewpoint of the coast below.

January 27, 2026

We woke up to a steady rain with clouds obscuring the mountain peaks. I had planned to do a view hike up to Mount Robert, but the forecast of all day rain caused a change in plans. We decided to hike along the lakeshore to a waterfall.

The Lakeside Track was about a 10-minute drive from our cabin. The trail was mostly level, but it was very wet and muddy in spots. We started later in the morning to allow the weather to clear a little bit. We did see a few patches of blue sky off and on, but it never lasted. Drizzling rain fell periodically throughout the hike.

Our destination was Whisky Falls, about 6.7 miles round trip. Very close to the end of the hike, we encountered a creek that was almost impassible due to all of the recent heavy rainfall. There was no bridge, and the stepping stones were mostly covered with rushing water. Heinrich found a walking stick that someone had left on the bank, and I was able to use it to pick my way across, but Heinrich didn't feel comfortable doing it. I did get a shoe full of water part way there. I made my way to the waterfall which was about another 5 minute walk ahead, took some videos and snapped a few photos, and rejoined Heinrich.

The waterfall was very nice with probably heavier than normal flow due to the rain, but it was unfortunate that we were not able to enjoy it together.

The return trip back to the cabin was even wetter and muddier than the way out. At the cabin we had dinner: pork chops, rice with salsa, and apple chinks (New Zealand's alternative to applesauce, which is practically impossible to find in grocery stores).

It was rather cold and damp in the cabin, so we built a fire and enjoyed its warmth that evening.

January 26, 2026

It was about a 3 hour drive from Hanmer Springs to our next destination in Saint Arnaud. The morning was very overcast and it was raining periodically. I took over driving. Our first stop was Lewis Pass, but since it was still raining and we had visited there before in 2019, we only stayed long enough for a quick bathroom break and rest stop.

Another 10 minutes of driving took us to Maruia Falls. This nice small waterfall was just a short walk from the parking lot.

Our next stop was at a bridge that crossed the Buller River. We walked onto the bridge and had very nice views of the river in both directions.

We drove to the town of Murchison where we wanted to visit the Tutaki Bakery. We heard this was a good place to buy pies. The bakery was inside a food truck. The sign outside said "Open", but the truck was closed with nobody around. Just down the street from the bakery we stopped at a small park. The Mataki Willow Grove Walk was a pleasant 20-minute loop hike near the Matakitaki River.

We drove another hour and stopped to take the Kawatiri Historic Railway Walk. We had done this walk before in 2019, so this was a repeat for us. It's a nice loop walk through a railroad tunnel and then returns with views of the nearby Hope River. Here we had our first encounter with the dreaded sandflies. Many flew inside the car as we were getting ready to leave.

We reached Saint Arnaud after another 25 minutes of driving. Our accommodation was a kiwi bach: a huge old house named Long Lookout. It was very private and had its own dedicated path down to the shore of Lake Rotoiti.

After settling in, I took the path down to the lake. The weather had cleared a bit, and I had a nice walk near the lakeshore.

Back at the house we had lamb burgers and salad for dinner.

January 25, 2026

The day started out cloudy and drizzly, so we decided to drive into town and eat out for breakfast at the Mumble's Cafe. I had the salmon benny with potatoes and fresh spinach. This was the very first time in my life that I had tried eggs Benedict, and it was delicious. Heinrich had the Big Breakfast with scrambled eggs on toast.

After breakfast we took a walk around the outskirts of town. The Queen Mary Hospital Reserve had park-like grounds with trails running throughout the property, and we admired the trees. We walked north past the golf course and then returned to town.

In town there was a farmer's market going on. I finally got some New Zealand cash from a nearby ATM, and we bought some fresh vegetables. One booth was selling varieties of New Zealand honey and giving samples. I tried the manuka honey and discovered I did not care for the taste. But I did buy two jars of the local brand.

The weather had not improved and light rain was coming down. I got a message from my friend in Hawaii that episode 41 of the Kilauea volcano had started and was attaining record-breaking heights (1,575 feet!). So we stopped at the bakery, bought a chocolate eclair and a chocolate cluster scroll, and drove back to our room to eat our treats and watch the volcano erupt via the webcam view on the big screen TV.

The weather cleared a bit, so I ventured out to the Woodland Walk one more time to take some photos of the nearby stream which now had rushing water from all of the rainfall. I followed a different path back for a new adventure.

In the evening we drove back into town and bought fish and chips for a take-away meal. We also bought some food at the grocery store to get us through the next couple of days: we were going to be driving into a remote area with few food options.

January 24, 2026

It rained hard overnight, and we woke up to overcast skies with puddles everywhere. We decided to explore the Hanmer Springs downtown area. Hanmer Springs is overflowing in cuteness with lots of shops and eateries along beautiful tree-lined streets. Early in the morning before 10 am there were no issues finding a parking spot, and only a few other people were walking about. We did some souvenir shopping and purchased some decorated cotton storage bags, jute bags for groceries, and a kiwi refrigerator magnet. We stopped at the bakery to buy a few chocolate treats.

By late morning the rain had stopped and the forecast indicated we should have a few hours of dry weather. So we returned to the Woodland Walk to complete the circuit hike. The area had several trails branching out to various places. One spot that I had wanted to visit was the Dog Stream Waterfall, but the road to the car park was closed, so it was a much longer hike. The map indicated we should be able to hike a connecting trail from the end of the Woodland Walk. So we took the Timberline Trail up through an area where the forest had been heavily clear cut, and it climbed a few hundred feet up a hillside, offering nice views of the village below. But when we reached the top, we found that the trail to the waterfall was roped off. So we hiked down a side road to rejoin the Woodland Walk and returned to the motel.

For lunch we drove back into town and purchased a couple of meat pies at PJ's Pies. I tried the South Island lamb pie that was the special for the day, and Heinrich had the Angus beef and cheese. I was a little bit disappointed in my selection since I thought it was too spicy. But Heinrich enjoyed his.

The weather was still dry after lunch, so we drove up the road to hike the Conical Hill Walkway. This was a very popular hike with switchbacks climbing about 500 feet to a lookout with panoramic views of the Hanmer Basin. The hike through the forest was quite nice, although the trail was a bit squishy and muddy from all of the rain. We sat at a picnic table at the top to admire the views.

By late afternoon the rain had restarted, so we spent the remainder of the day relaxing in the room and getting caught up on more sleep. I had another distraction late in the evening when it appeared that the Kilauea volcano in Hawaii might be getting ready to erupt. Currently some of my friends are visiting there, so I was keeping tabs on its activity. I had the volcano webcam up on YouTube on the big screen TV in the room; however no eruption occurred that night.