{"id":37,"date":"2014-05-11T18:52:08","date_gmt":"2014-05-11T23:52:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/love.clevercouple.com\/blog\/?p=37"},"modified":"2020-11-27T03:46:04","modified_gmt":"2020-11-27T08:46:04","slug":"reflections","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/love.clevercouple.com\/blog\/?p=37","title":{"rendered":"Reflections…"},"content":{"rendered":"

2:30am – wake up. 2:35am – go back to sleep. 5:30am wake up again \u2013 this time, stay up, do a little bit of trip research, and get ready for the day. Mkl made Pancake Sundaes with the leftover pancakes from before, topped with Nutella and Vegan Coconut Ice Cream (sooo good!) He\u2019d planned to make them for dessert the night before, but we skipped it, since we went to bed so early. And, hey, we\u2019re on our \u201cCeremoon\u201d in New Zealand, so if we wanna have Pancake Sundaes for breakfast, well, then, that\u2019s what we\u2019re gonna have. After breakfast, we packed up and were back on the road in short order (BEST thing about having an RV!!). We were heading to Lake Matheson to check out the reflection on Reflection Island, and had read that the best time was 8:30-9am on a clear, calm day \u2013 which it totally was!<\/p>\n

The drive was about 30-40 minutes of astounding beauty \u2013 seriously, how is it so gorgeous EVERYWHERE!?!?! This morning, the newly-risen sun was warming the landscape and was just beginning to burn off select, exposed areas of the morning dew. The fog was delicately placed between layers of trees and mountains, drifting along crevices in the hillsides and across various stretches of road. Cattle roamed lazily in numerous fields along our route, seemingly oblivious to the beautiful scenery surrounding them, while at the same time, adding to the charm of the view. We didn\u2019t want it to end, but we really wanted to see what Lake Matheson\u2019s Reflection Island had to offer.<\/p>\n

We finally arrived, to find other tourists with the same idea. We trekked around the beautiful jungle-rain forest path, opting for the shortcut, but still being wowed by a plethora of sights along the way:<\/p>\n

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These are how all the walkways look in New Zealand. Cool and functional!<\/p><\/div>\n

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\nWithin 40 minutes, we had arrived at Reflection Island (which was actually a very small, 3-4 person platform, built off of a stairway, and over the Lake). Of course, it just happens to be placed in possibly the most accessibly scenic spot on Lake Matheson \u2013 great for us photo-snapping travelers! Aside from one slightly annoying cloud, the weather was PERFECT for this opportunity \u2013 yay! I snapped a bunch of photos (then, I realized my camera was on the total wrong setting, so I fixed it and snapped a bunch more).<\/p>\n

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\nMkl took a bunch, and then I took a bunch of other travelers, and then they took a few of us\u2026<\/p>\n

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This is what happens when someone else takes our photo… It looks like we’re in front of a video wall or something.<\/p><\/div>\n

We even got to know one couple quite a bit (a teacher and an engineer from Barcelona \u2013 who\u2019ve travelled all over the world, enjoy the south of France on a motorcycle, lived in Malaysia for a few years, and who plan to tour the USA on a Harley!) We kept \u201cmeeting up\u201d with them along the path. How adorable are they??
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Before we knew it, we were all back at the caf\u00e9 & gift shop! They got some lunch on their own, and we got some snacks and a functional souvenir for mkl, and then the two of us were on our way, yet again!<\/p>\n

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Shot from the parking lot, next to the gift shop. See the white peaks above? That’s Mount Tasman (left) and Mount Cook (right). Mount Tasman looks bigger because it’s closer. Also starring: Camper Van Beethoven<\/p><\/div>\n

Our plan was to make the 2.5 hour drive to Hokitika, check out the Gorge, and camp in the free carpark there for two nights. The drive was breathtaking, both for its beauty, as well as its potential danger.<\/p>\n

We passed many kilometers of storm-damaged landscape on the way in \u2013 mkl had learned from a female semi-professional netball player, on our flight from Australia to NZ, that the area was recently hit by several powerful cyclones). All of the mudslide areas, toppled trees, and uprooted plants made me quite nervous for the stability of the ground, ie: roads, walkways, etc. There were, afterall, many places on the road with \u201cdanger\u201d indications, rock-clearing work, and \u201cmissing\u201d chunks of land.<\/p>\n

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Threatening skies<\/p><\/div>\n

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Less threatening skies over a beautiful river (yes, it was actually that color)<\/p><\/div>\n

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Pretty much status quo, but still…yikes.When we arrived at Hokitika Gorge, the skies looked threatening; however, Hokitika was on my \u201cmust see\u201d list, so, onward we pressed. Guided and reassured by mkl, we headed along the trail to the Gorge. First, was a viewing platform overlooking the waterway \u2013 beautiful! Then, we crossed a swing bridge spanning the waterway \u2013 so cool! Then, we tramped to the rocks and scrambled as close to the water as we felt comfortable, and took a ton of photos!<\/p>\n

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\nWhat\u2019s so special about this area, you ask? Well, the main attraction is the water \u2013 it\u2019s a pure, turquoise\/aqua\/tiffany blue opaque color. It is so beautiful, words cannot even describe it!<\/p>\n

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A terrible photo showing the science (geology) behind how this happens – basically, it’s due to mineral-rich glacier dust!<\/p><\/div>\n

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All-too-soon, the sandflies (major nuisance here) began swarming, so we had to get going. It was probably good thing, as we may have stayed there all day, it was so peaceful and awe-inspiring, and we had the WHOLE place to ourselves!<\/p>\n

Back at Beethoven, we reassessed our plan to stay the night in the carpark at the gorge. It was still daylight (surprisingly) and the weather was good for driving, so I decided that we should head onward toward the next recommended camping spot. A few hours later, we were pulling into a picnic area off the highway, that faced a gorgeous stretch of beach.<\/p>\n

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The sun was just setting over the water (well, behind the clouds, anyway) and it was a serene scene. That is, until I contemplated sleeping on the side of the highway for the night (like, literally, five feet from the two-lane, 100 km\/hr road). Hmmm… the ocean waves crashing in the background…tractor-trailers banging along the highway in the foreground…hoping they stay on track (and awake!). Nah, I decided again to continue onward and find a better spot for sleeping.<\/p>\n

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Although it was beautiful on the left, the highway is just to the right of our camper.<\/p><\/div>\n

Just a few kilometres down the road, we reached the park where the Punakaiki (Pancake) Rocks were, which was our next planned stop. It was pretty much dark at this time, so we went in search of a place to sleep and found the local Beach Camp to be open and available. We booked a spot for the night – it was right on the beach, and FAR from the highway! Plus, we had electricity and water! The campground was peaceful, sparsely populated, and had some great amenities, including a huge drying room, a sizable and well-equipped kitchen, and a few neat little sitting\/working\/game-playing nooks, heated by an old wood stove. (none of which we utilized, but they looked decent!).<\/p>\n

There was no wi-fi or phone signal at our camp, so after mkl made dinner (Ricotta Basil Ravioli with Chunky Pesto Sauce – and I enjoyed a glass of red wine that was a gift from a friendly Kiwi), he laid down on the bed for a pre-sleep nap and I stayed up a wee bit longer to draft the next post for the blog. Within the hour, I was falling asleep at the laptop yet again, so I mustered enough energy to wash up and then I crawled into bed, amidst the sound of nearby crashing waves and the occasional birdsong.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

2:30am – wake up. 2:35am – go back to sleep. 5:30am wake up again \u2013 this time, stay up, do a little bit of trip research, and get ready for the day. Mkl made Pancake Sundaes with the leftover pancakes from before, topped with Nutella and Vegan Coconut Ice Cream (sooo good!) He\u2019d planned to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/love.clevercouple.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/love.clevercouple.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/love.clevercouple.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/love.clevercouple.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/love.clevercouple.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=37"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/love.clevercouple.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":333,"href":"https:\/\/love.clevercouple.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37\/revisions\/333"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/love.clevercouple.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=37"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/love.clevercouple.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=37"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/love.clevercouple.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=37"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}