February 20, 2016. Roughing it on the rough west coast

CAMPGROUND:  Otto's/MacDonald's Department of Conservation Campground.  Like a state or national park....beautiful setting but minimal facilities.  Flush toilet and dishwashing area.  $9/night.  3 stars.  On a lake

LOCATION:  West coast on South Island, New Zealand.  Near Fox Glacier.

WEATHER:  Mostly cloudy. Rain in the evening.  Highs in 60s

We drove across the mountains through a lovely rain forest, full of bursting waterfalls, then arrived on the West Coast.  The Tasman Sea was pretty rough today.

There are only a few little towns along the way.  We passed the 2 famous glacier fields that are part of the Southern Alps.  We skipped the skydiving trip from the top of the glacier.

We stopped st this campground, our first Deoartment of Conservation park.  We have been staying in commercial parks recently due to the rain.  Since it wasn't raining this afternoon, we decided to give this a try.  Everyone has been warning us about the sand flies here.  We weren't too bothered as we had bought repellant and wore long pants and sleeves.  We set up camp and enjoyed the surroundings, full of huge fern trees.  

Seeing the dark clouds rolling back in, I decided to cook dinner early.  There is no shelter here, and we have to stand outside to cook.

So, I set up our burner and started cooking.  I made chicken broth from leftover chicken bones, seasoned with ginger and onion.  Then, I made rice using the chicken broth.  

 

After that, I sautéed a bunch of vegetables....green pepper, onions, garlic and ginger.  With just one burner, I have to do one thing at a time.  After they were cooked, I cooked some lamb shoulder pieces.  Finally, I mixed everything together, finishing with soy sauce and sesame seeds.  We decided to eat, even though it was early....5:30.  Just as we finished washing the dishes, the sky opened up, dumping buckets again.  We jumped back into the van and read books, keeping cozy and dry.