We woke up to nice weather but to a temperature of about 13 C, which is a little cooler than what we were used to. (It did warm up after the sun came out and ended up being around 20 C in the afternoon.) Partway through an on and off rainy drive to Collingwood we figured it might be better to stay in a cabin before starting our big hike, to make sure that we did not have a wet tent in our car for four days. We found the cutest little cabin at an older but well-kept holiday park in Collingwood for not much more than the powered camping site the night before. It only has beds and a table and some chairs - no bathroom or kitchen - and that's really all we needed. Later in the afternoon, when the weather improved, we went for a drive to Cape Farewell, the northernmost part of the South Island. The last kilometer or so of the drive was through a sheep farm, and after going through a gate there were sheep everywhere. A walking trail - accessed through another gate - led to some lookout points which offered nice views of the coast and the Tasman Sea. On the walk back we noticed two sheep on the wrong - cliff - side of the gate to the walking trail and, together with a Swedish couple, managed to round them up and get them to go through the gate to the right side. The evening was nice and we had supper at one of the outside picnic tables. After cleaning up we mostly packed our backpacks for our four-day hike on the Heaphy Track starting tomorrow. No cellphone reception on the track, so there will be no blog post until at least later on January 29.
Our cabin in Collingwood
Trail at Cape Farewell
Looking back at where the car is parked
Collingwood main street
View from the campground
Don preparing supper in the kitchen area
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