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Late Summer journey: Southland & West Coast
Tony Kissel
8 feb: My home for the next few weeks. Piano Flat.
A busy day here today at Piano Flat. A long weekend. They will all be gone tomorrow.
20 Feb: Mavora Lakes.
27 Feb: Pleasant Flat. Downsized my tent for tonight, getting everything packed this afternoon ready for a quick getaway in the morning.
There are 38 vehicles here at 8am, some had already gone, most with multiple occupants, yet I didn’t see a single camp-fee tag on any tent or vehicle. No wonder DOC is always crying poverty.
Heaps of native orchids growing above my tent, the smallest variety in the world, if my memory is correct. It’s a beautiful country we live in.
1 Mar: Laundry day again, I wish we had one like this in Oamaru rather than the Liquid Laundry which requires you to pre-load a proprietary card that can only be used at their outlets, and supply your own detergent. This one in Hokitika does it for you.
I still can’t bring myself to walk away and come back when the cycle is finished, someone might pinch my undies, so it’s sit here on Facebook for the next 35 minutes.
Bike clean and repair time, it has been fun having my bike with me on this trip but I hadn’t taken into consideration the fact I’d be travelling nearly 200km on gravel roads, which turned out to be very dry and dusty, my poor bike was caked in it. The dust set like clay on my chain and sprockets, playing havoc with my gears. Bought some cleaner and lube in Hoki this morning. All sorted I hope.
2 Mar: Visited the memorial to the seven men who were slain in the Stanley Graham ‘incident”’in 1941, New Zealand’s first mass murder. If you look through the hole in the middle you can see the place where the first men were shot.
4 Mar: Biked up to Dorothy Falls for my daily exercise, a lovely spot… The sandflies thought so too.
5 Mar: A typical West Coast day, not a cloud in the sky. It’s nice to see the Southern Alps from the “other side’.
10 Mar: A perfect morning for my last day at Lake Kaniere.
On to Karamea in the morning.
©2025 Tony Kissel
11 Autumn 2025
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