Riverton, NZ

Sunday, March 15

This morning, we left Te Anau and drove 1 1/2 hours to the very southern tip of New Zealand’s South Island. The scenery outside our window was peaceful and serene — wide, open spaces of farmland for as far as our eyes could see.

The Southern Scenic Route is one of the world’s best-rated drives, and it officially begins in the town of Tuatapere. Our first stop along the popular highway was at the famous Gemstone Beach. Our rock-loving Tory Girl was super pumped to explore the beach for treasures and practically bolted out of the RV the minute we parked. Gemstones have often been discovered here which is where the beach gets its name. We didn’t find any diamonds during our visit, but we loved collecting and comparing colored stones in all shapes and sizes.

Next, we continued driving along the Southern Scenic Route to the town of Riverton. This small town was one of the first European settlements in New Zealand, and therefore shares a lot of history with the native Maori people. I suggested we visit the Te Hikoi Southern Journey Heritage Museum to learn more about their heritage.

We first visited the “Discovery Depot” inside the museum to learn more about the gemstones we’d just collected on Gemstone Beach. Aden liked using the microscope to view rocks up close and Tory worked to identify all the ones she saw on the beach.

The museum potion of our visit started with an introduction and 15-minute video about the history of the area. I always appreciate these videos because it’s an easy way for the kids to get the gist before we go off and explore on our own.

The exhibits themselves showcased information about Maori traditions, the first European settlers in the community, whaling and farming. There was also a fun scavenger hunt for the kids to keep them engaged in learning.

After the museum, we walked down Riverton’s Main Street so Andi could buy a coffee. Not much was open, but there was a cool mural painted on the wall by the grocery store.

Andi and I parked by Taramea Bay and let the kids play on the playground while we decided where to camp for the night. There was camping in Riverton, but it seemed expensive for what was offered. Instead, I suggested we backtrack a few kilometers to a freedom camping spot in nearby Colac Bay.

New Zealand “freedom camping” locations are essentially free campsites. Typically, the only services are a public toilet which doesn’t matter to us much anyway since we have a self-contained RV with a bathroom. When we pulled up to the Colac Bay freedom camping spot around 5:30pm, the place was packed. Campervans and RVs lined the gravel road with overlooking views of the ocean. We nestled in amongst them and called it good enough.

After we got settled, we walked down to the beach to check it out. It was windy, but beautiful. Not a bad view for free!

Tonight we started reading The Chronicles of Narnia as a family. This book has been on my reading wish list with Tory, but traveling here in New Zealand spurred our interest even more so. Parts of the series were filmed across the country.

Tomorrow, we’ll continue along the Southern Scenic Route to an area known as The Catlins. More to come…