NZ South Island Motorhome Road trip 2018 Day 13 and day 14 ( End )

We did not plan much to do today, just wanted to explore Lake Tekapo again as out last visit here cos our motorhome got sucked in the mud and the weather was not very good.Very funny is that we both suddenly had craving for KFC so we decided to have it for breakfast in town.
We visited Farlie Bakehouse again cos the first time we wanted to visit it was closed as we were too late. Today is like doing Day 1 all over again. Their pies are really good be it fresh or those ready packed, wished I could find them in SG here.\
It was bright and sunny when we reach Lake Tekapo and was lucky there was not much tourists so we were able to take nice picture of the Church of the Good Shepherd. Our main purposed to revisit here is actually to stay for the night view so we actually got nothing to do the whole day till nightfall so we decided to drive along the lake.
Think the road we took was towards one of the Ski area and it was all gravel road , won't recommend if you did not purchased full insurance covered. We did about half a circle of the lake and we made an U-turn back cos was thinking to go back to the church to have dinner and then wait for nightfall.
But ........ when we waited till nightfall ,,,,,, the whole sky was DARK !!!! it was all covered with cloud then you can see a single star. It was such a big disappointment for us as we had plan to detour here just for the night sky and this was our last night before we need to head back to Christchurch. We decided to save $ and move further on for a free camping site as we don't think the sky will clear up for the night. We drove all the way back to Farlie and camp at Lake Opuha Picnic Camping & Picnic Area for the night. There is a toilet here but was closed during winter season which a lot of campsite does the same thing so need to take note of this if you are doing your trip during winter.When we reach there, it was pitched dark ( sky here is also all covered with cloud) We got no idea how the place look like and we are the only one camping here for the night.

What a surprise we had in the morning when we woke up , this place is actually quite peaceful and nice. You had to drive past the sheep field area and this campground is inside it and by the lake, as we arrived late last night , we totally got no idea.Did a simple time-lapse video below ( woke up too late and missed the sunrise ).

After breakfast, we left and make our way back to Christchurch and will spend out last night in our motorhome which we called home for the last 2 weeks.

Birdie	Clean and simple kitchen	Dining room
Warm ? pool	Parking for the night	Last night

We stayed at Christchurch Accommodation TOP 10 Holiday Park cos it near to where we need to return out motorhome tomorrow as our flight is in the afternoon. This place is actually not bad , with a pool and slide ( we did a quick dip as the water was not very warm as we had expected), hot shower are FREE ( those we stayed before , we need to pay like $1 for 5-6 min ) and shopping mall ae about 10-15 min walk nearby. Do note that there are no cooking utensils here as well. We got a non-powered site which is just like a normal parking lot.

Final Farewell

This conclude my 2 weeks travelling in Motorhome in South Island of New Zealand. It had been a wonderful experiences and I totally loved it. The nature landscape , the comfortable motorhome , the food , the night sky and of cos the beautiful memories ~ Thank you New Zealand.

NZ South Island Motorhome Road trip 2018 Day 12

From Brighton , today we be driving mostly along the coast trying to see more wildlife. We will stop by a few places like Dunedin for petrol and some food top up, then to Sandfly bay ( it really means sand that fly , not the insect sandflies ) , Shag point , Katiki Point lighthouse , Moeraki Boulders Beach and finally to Patti Point for the night. So it's actually quite a few places to visit but no choice as holiday is ending soon so had to try and complete as much as possible. We hope to be able to see seals , sea lions and maybe even the yellow-eyed penguins.
There are many sea lions "sun bathing" under the sun at the beach, do take note that the beach is some distance away from the parking lot and also there is a sandy slope down to the beach which can be quite tiring to climb up. You can get quite close to them but it's wild so still better to keep a distance away. Apparently you can also come here for Yellow-eyed penguins in the morning of evening.

Next we moved on to Shag Point. Did not see much wild life here on the day we visit but it's always good to see the sea. So we just stayed a while and move on. Do take note that the opening hours is from 7:30 am to 5:30 pm. there is a path next to the light house that will bring you down to the sea. We saw all we wanted to see here , think the timing was great cos we saw some yellow-eyed penguins coming back from the sea to their nest.
Sun was setting cos we spent quite some time over at Shag Point , next we moved on to Moeraki Boulder Beach.

It's really amazing seeing all these big boulders , some more it kinda of look like century egg inside with the layers as you can see fro the picture above. Also we saw a new white one by the side of the beach. Apparently early morning is best to visit here to see the sunrise but we did not have the time for that.
We park at Patti Point for the night , it's Freedom camping again , tomorrow we will be making our way back to Lake Teakpo as we wanted to explore it during the day and maybe get some night sky pictures.