Bethells Beach Cottages on Auckland's Wild West Coast

The Cottages at Bethells Beach

Pippy McCurdy

http://www.unusualstays.com/
http://italyoffthebeatentrack.blogspot.co.nz/2016/01/italy-off-beaten-track.html


Some places just sing with creativity. They set the ideas flowing. They make you yearn to put pen to paper; to paint a wonderful picture; to write a song. At Bethells Beach there is just such a place. Bethells Beach cottages are charming; they are romantic. Sitting high on a hillside overlooking the pounding waves of the beach below the view is awe-inspiring. Sunsets are spectacular.

The cottages themselves sit in the midst of gardens which are a mass of colour and flowers. The lawns may be carefully manicured, but the gardens are wild and free. They are true cottage garden style - informal and abundant, with plants tumbling over each other. Cottage gardens are for me. I was won over before I even set foot in the cottage itself.

The cottages are on the outside, simple in form and unpretentious. Ply lined with splashes of paint adding definition they sit well, surrounded by their clustered gardens. Inside they are rich in decoration and style. Every comfort is there, but character is not lost. Cut flowers, dried flowers, stained glass windows, colourful furnishings, a soaring timbered ceiling, an extensive deck . Indoor spaces - outdoor spaces, sweeping views, - they are all there. No amount of time could be too long in this spot.

With black sands and surfers below, a hammock on the cliff edge, a hot tub with the best of views, this is a place that is romantic above all else. It is rustic, natural, unpretentious yet also luxurious. Close to an ideal combination, I suspect.

Blackmore's Bach - Welcome Rock Trails, Garston

The Mud Hut

Pippy McCurdy

http://www.unusualstays.com/

http://italyoffthebeatentrack.blogspot.co.nz/2016/01/italy-off-beaten-track.html

Garston is a small country town just a little south from the southmost end of Lake Wakatipu. To stay at Blackmore's Bach there are two options. The first option for the intrepid tramper is to hike in and up through the hill paths of the Slate Ranges, to a point high up in the hills. The second option is for those who are attracted to the romance of the back country and the high hills but seek their romance without the pain. In other words pay the extra dollars and be driven to your cabin in the four wheel drive farm truck, dogs barking on the back, bags hanging on precariously who knows how,  along with the dogs. Yes - we took the farm truck in... 

Blackmore's Bach is an original and historic cabin  protected by the Historic Places Trust, and virtually unchanged from the days when it was first built in the 1890s. With sod walls and flagstone floors it is rudimentary and unadorned. This is where you bring your own bedding and all food; - there are no houses, no people, and certainly no shops for many many kilometers. In fact you are probably nearer to the clouds than to the nearest shops. 

The cabin has no electricity. It i is heated by the open fire that you will make yourself. Outside there is a bath which you can heat with a gas bottle provided; - the one you will also cook with. There is little in terms of comfort at Blackmore's Bach and there is an accompaniment of small furry animals which may or may not be of concern to those who stay.

But the pluses in the end outweigh the negatives,. You will never see the milky way so clear or so close. The silence is pure. The views stretch out far into the steep sided valleys below. You will be told about the history of goldmining in the area by a knowledgeable and interesting host. The little cabin stands like a monument to the miners who lived and died there. This is what it was like to be a miner living in fearsome isolation more than a century ago.

I may not wish to go back to Blackmore's Bach but I am surely glad I have been there. And just a heads up - baths are just as suited to sleeping in as to bathing in.

Is it a bath or is it a bed?

One word of warning for the faint hearted - small rodents ....

The Funky Bunker

The Funky Bunker

Pippy McCurdy

http://www.unusualstays.com/
http://italyoffthebeatentrack.blogspot.co.nz/2016/01/italy-off-beaten-track.html


Once it was high up a mountain - part of a film-set for an action movie set in the Himalayas. It may have only been an ammunition store but this bunker made it to the silver screen. You may have seen it - the movie was called Vertical Limits. Now you can stay in the bunker and maybe even live a little movie history for yourself.

 

Somewhere between a container and a bunk house, there is something about the Funky Bunker. It has angled down corners, - to let the snow slide off of course. You will know as soon as you set eyes on it,  that here is something unusual. This is not your usual tourist town accommodation.

 The bunker and the caravan sit together across a timbered deck. Is it a summer spot or a winter spot? Even though our visit was on a chilly late autumn night, something tells me it would work just as well either way. The outside deck, the deck chairs, the half fire-drum ready to go  -  well you can just imagine the sparks floating up over the big private section into the clear night sky.

But on a cold crisp night such as the one we encountered, the bunker turns into a snug nest with warm plywood walls and a pot belly stove pumping out the heat. Lots of bedding options - we never left the bunker for the sleeping caravan. It was a night of story telling and yarns. My how the time spins by...


The Funky Bunker is in Glenorchy by beautiful Lake Wakatipu. There are some great spots in Glenorchy for a meal or a beer but we couldn't tear ourselves away from the Funky Bunker. It was unpretentious, intimate and exceptionally likable.