THE SOUTHERN ALPS
8TH - 15TH APRIL
It was a pleasure to be driving as the roads were good and there was minimum movement required, as Bongo is really easy to drive and thankfully has power steering! We left Abel Tasman around lunchtime, and had a lovely drive back towards Motueka before the road spilt and we headed off towards the West Coast. The West Coast is notoriously a wet weather region so we weren’t expecting it be as sunny as it had been in Abel Tasman and as predicted the weather started clouding over and ominous looking rain clouds gathered overhead. It wasn’t long before it was raining but we weren’t too bothered by it, we were hoping it would ease a little by the time we got to Lyell so we could go for a walk. Through the drizzle we saw our first snow-capped mountain and knew we were getting close to a whole load more! By the time we got to Lyell it was on and off rain. We pulled up at the DOC campsite and decided to stay on the car park rather than risk driving onto the grass as it looked rathersoggy! There were a few information boards which we read between showers, and at one point we thought we’d chance it and go for a walk, but almost as soon as we said we’d go, the heavens opened and we retreated to Bongo rather quickly! Basically from then onwards it didn’t stop raining, infact it just got worse and worse, it rained like you wouldn’t believe for hours and hours. So we spent the rest of the afternoon and evening confined to Bongo, which neither of us really minded due to us being so knackered from our kayaking. We had an early night and were rudely awakened at some ungodly hour of the night with the most almighty clap of the thunder and strobe like lightening. It was still hammering it down, but now we were in the middle of an incredible thunder storm. We were parked in a small car-park surrounded by nothing but very tall trees - not exactly the best place to be! The thunder was deafening and the storm stayed with us for most of the night, lighting up the sky as if you had just