The Travel Bug

Day 7 (25 October 2026)

Today, we're making the drive from Nelson, which is in the northern part of NZ's South Island to the West Coast which is known as the the rougher and wilder part as it's less sheltered and completely exposed to the wind and dramatic surf of the Tasman Sea.

According to the weather forecast, there was a severe storm warning in this area for next two days which would have made our impending drive to the West Coast (and the one after that through the infamous Arthur's Pass) more hazardous. But this morning, the receptionist said the storm suddenly shifted, and would be delayed by two days, giving us safe passage. God is so good 🥹

It was a beautiful day - brilliant blue skies contrasted against meadows of lush green carpet. Such a serene backdrop, one would never guess there was a storm brewing.

Our pit stop was at Murchison, a quaint little rural town.

I simply had to post this photo - look at the cloud formation!

There are a few shops along the main street, where we could see local arts and crafts being produced in-store.

I find NZ products to be very aesthetically and thoughtfully designed. Here are a couple of the local birds:

Murchison is known as the white-water capital, due to its location at the confluence of four rivers - Buller, Matakitaki, Mangles and Matiri. However, we're not here for any thrill-seeking, thank you! We're here to look for Kutaki bakery, which is supposedly the smallest bakery in South Island. Not having any idea what it looked like, we drove past it a couple of times and missed it altogether.

Finally, we found it - it's a little food truck!

It's parked in the garden of the Murchison Museum. The owner bakes a number of pies daily and it's first come first served. Once they're sold out of a specific flavour for the day, they're out.

We were fortunate enough to find an empty picnic bench to have our morning pies and coffee. The pies are seriously good!

It was a bit nippy that morning but it's so lovely to be able to dine outside in a garden, breathing in all that fresh air. Birds often come a-visiting.

Then it's back into the car and on our way. We saw a sign along the way for the Buller Gorge Swing Bridge, which is NZ's longest swing bridge, and we stopped. However, we found out it's a paid attraction, so we gave it a miss. Mona managed to take some photos though, it does look quite thrilling! Not my cup of tea, though 😅

Instead we stopped at Kilkenny Lookout for some spectacular views of Buller Gorge.

Finally, we reached our first destination - Cape Foulwind. Before we went on the walkway, we were sidetracked by a few creatures at the carpark - the weka!

Often nicknamed bush chickens, they're a flightless bird endemic to NZ. There were quite a few of them in the carpark, they roam freely and are quite unafraid of humans.

At first, we were all like "aww, so cute!" until we realised they went under the car and were pecking at it. Then we went, "Shoo! Don't destroy our car!"

An army of admirers

Where were we? Right, on to the walkway!

The walkway leads to a historic lighthouse. Along the way, we were treated to some magnificent views.

The photographer at work.

The vegetation lining the walkway is tall and dense. Here, you can see the height towering over HM. When you walk past it, you can't see what is beyond and at times, it felt like it could be the setting for a horror movie aka Children of the Corn.

The vegetation actually has a sweet back story. In 1997, a teacher and some high school students started planting native vegetation in the open pastures here, especially NZ flax. Over the decades, this practice continued and since the hardy flax grows quickly, the barren grassland has been transformed into a thriving habitat, providing crucial shelter and food for local birdlife.

The nature here is wild and harsh - we could feel the gusts even on this calm day. I can imagine just how blustery it must be when there is a storm here. It's called Cape Foulwind for a reason!

To the Lighthouse!

To get up there, you need to climb through a thicket. The five of them went up but I opted to stay on terra firma. My knees were not feeling up to it.

That's me on the other side of the looking glass. (Channeling all sorts of literary references today, are we?)

Making their way to the top...

And rewarded with a panoramic view.

This looks surreal, like something right out of a movie. That single large tree spoke to me. It instantly made me recall a prophecy that was spoken over me, of my future ministry. What a dramatic sight it poses, with its silhouette against the canopy of clouds.

That's meeee... that tiny speck on the path, walking towards the tree. I'm sure that's symbolic somehow 🤔

The benefit of having one person on the ground is that I can take a photo of this.

Descending...

Photo from drone.

And here's the imposing tree up close. According to Google, it's a lone Monterey cypress. Its wind-swept look, standing tall and fully exposed to the harsh elements, is a striking visual testament to the "foul winds" that give the cape its name.

"The mountains and the hills before you
    shall break forth into singing,
    and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress;
    instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle;
and it shall make a name for the Lord,
    an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.” - Isaiah 55:12,13

After that, it was a short drive to Tauranga seal colony. This is a lookout point on the other side of Taurang Bay where you can see fur seals resting on the rocks.

Once again, the scene is dramatic. Waves crashing against the rocks, against a pristine sky.

The beach.

Mona and HM stayed behind at the lookout to take more photos. The rest of us decided to go down to the beach.

This was where the excitement of the day happened. I went back to the car first to change into my water shoes. When I got to the beach, I saw the three young 'uns looking like they were deep in conversation.

It was only when I went closer that they told me Lesley-Anne had fallen into the water! Apparently, she was trying to take a photo for Andre with her back to the water, when a large wave came and swept her off her feet. Thankfully, no harm done but she was completely drenched. Even had time for a wefie 🫣

She went back up to the carpark toilet to change and dry off. Joel and eventually Andre went to help her.

That's me on the beach, if you can make out the speck on the left. Alone contemplating God's vast creation really puts in perspective how insignificant we are.

Enough excitement for the day! We checked into Buller Court Motel in West Port, our stay for the night. It's the cheapest accommodation on this trip, but still very decent and clean. I really love NZ motels.