Last day of adventure! Continuing the trend of waking up in weird places, today our natural habitat was on the lake! I went out early to check out the landscape and Andrew was close behind with the drone getting some pretty cool shots - always mountains included. We had a decent day of driving so we all munched on cereal and then hit the road for Hokitika Gorge.
Today was the day I had promised the boys I would polar bear plunge. Andrew had done two, Jason had done one and Ashley had done zero and Emily had never agreed to the challenge. The drive to the gorge was about an hour through backroads and the cute little town of Hokitika. When we finally made it to the small parking lot, I was already geared up in my swimwear and anything else that I would need after the jump into the water.
We made our way down the path (all downhill) into the gorge. It is probably less than half a mile into the gorge through the woods and then it finally opens up to a bridge over incredible turquoise water. We continued to wind around until we came to a viewing deck where you could scurry down the rocks to get to the water.
We climbed the big rocks for a bit and then realized we were under serious attack by sand flies so we were going to have to make this quick. Before I was even down from the rock, Andrew had already jumped in, and then Jason, and finally I made my way to the jumping rock and took my polar plunge. I hadn't seen them get out of the water so I had no clue where I was doggy paddling to exit breathless and a bit chilly.
It honestly wasn't horrible and the surrounding gorge was holding off most of the wind, but the sand flies. Oh my goodness...the sandflies. By the time I got out of the water, they had gone full attack mode and my legs and back were polka dotted black by the patches of them that were thirsty for a snack. Trying to swat them off and put clothes on at the same time was tough and we all just took off running for higher ground.
Success!
From where we had parked, there were not many more hiking trails so we opted to hit the road and park by a cow field on our way out of the gorge to make grilled cheese and tomato soup for lunch. We had a long drive ahead from the gorge to Hamner Springs so we finished lunch and got a move on. For the first 2 hours, Andrew and I chilled in the back and played cards as we cruised the coast and then the last 1.5 Andrew drove and I again sat up front and entertained him with my singing and poor taste in music.
The rain had returned but the cliffs and valleys we were driving through were still from out of a storybook. When we arrived in Hamner Springs, we got a spot a the Top 10 Holiday Park and threw in some laundry while we had a little bit of time. Once laundry was done, we made our way over to the Hamner Spring Thermal Pools.
The pools consist of about 10 different areas that have different temperature and types of pools. Some are hotter than others, some have different minerals or healing qualities and some are lazy rivers. We were there at night so it was fairly quite but a welcomed change from the freezing, fly infested waters we had jumped in earlier.
We spent maybe an hour and a half at the hot springs and then made our way back to the RV to shower up for dinner. Emily and Jason had been to No. 31 last time they were here and got us pumped about the amazing menu. We hadn't eaten a ton that day so our last supper was bound to be a good one. Online, No. 31 said the restaurant was open until late so we were in no rush. However, when we walked in around 9PM, the lady behind the bar looked at us confused and said the kitchen had been closed for an hour and only their bar was open until late. Rats! Google failed us!
We went into survival mode and started running into every bar and restaurant we could find looking for a kitchen that was still open. With little luck, the only edible salvation was some pub chips and garlic bread at the Irish Pub, O'Flynn's. A bit thrown off guard, we ate our appetizers a bit defeated but figured at least we had food!
Andrew and I walked back to the RV early to pack up all of our belongings so we were ready to roll bright and early.
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