well thats January done and dusted

Hello again all,

Well here we are having just got rid of January, and what an interesting month that was, and I hasten to add a tad expensive. But, more on that in a little while

Firstly a big thank you to Tony, Julie, Ann and the menagerie for looking after me so well for the Xmas week I stayed with them. It was a very relaxing  time and the weather played ball yet again. Paddles in the Pacific on Xmas morning, nothing finer.  That’s my third Xmas in Dunedin and each time its been a lovely sunny period.  The dogs thoroughly enjoyed their daily walks on the beach and frolicking in the sea, and they were very pleased to make some new friends as well, so thank you  Breeze, Moss and the new boy Storm.

I left Dunners on the 29th December and headed North West and inland a bit to Ranfurly, not a huge amount to write home about there but it does have a good smattering of Art Deco buildings and some lovely walks. The only drawback with the place was the constant wind, which although cooling in the sun, did start to grate on the nerves a bit after a while.  Had a couple of lovely trips out to Naseby with some lovely old buildings and it felt like you were stepping back in time to the 1950’s when walking around the town.  I also took a drive out to the Denysis Pass, mainly to scout the route as I was thinking of going that way when I left Ranfurly to drive over with the caravan. Well after nearly 20km of gravel road which wasn’t too bad I came to a sign which said unsuitable for motorhomes and caravans, so that answered that question very nicely. So I knew I had to come up with a plan B for when I departed.  I also went out to an old gold mining town (town in the very loosest meaning possible) called St Bathans. Here then mind for alluvial gold which basically meant the gold was intermingled with the gravel and soil so they washed the river banks with high pressure hoses then filtered it out. certainly made a good mess of the landscape.

3rd of January and it was time to move on again. I headed back towards the coast and to Oamaru, the place I parked up the van was called Awamoko, about 18kms distance from the main town. Oamaru is the NZ capital of Steam Punk, for those unfamiliar please contact Uncle Google, as even now after a couple of trips to this place I am still not 100percent sure exactly what it is.  Stu and Vicky, if you remember we had fish and chips in the old railway station here, on our trip North in early 2016. Well like all good things it is now a Chinese Restaurant and by the looks of it not doing too well.  I had to get a new tyre for the caravan while I was here as one of them had a slow puncture so thought it prudent to buy new rather than try and patch it up. Whilst here the weather turned a bit chilly and damp for the last couple of days, but I did manage to get out to a lovely vineyard at Kurow and bought a couple of bottles of a very nice pinot gris. And just as an aside and probably not meaning very much to most of my audience, Kurow is the little town where one Richie Mccaw started his rugby career.

After Oamaru I ventured back inland again and ended up at Tekapo, the caravan club site was right on the banks of Lake Tekapo and you couldnt have asked for a larger of more scenic location. I was only going to stop a few days but ended up staying a week. It was a beautiful drive up from Awamoko to Tekapo and I must say that McKenzie country certainly can give Central Otago a good run for its money in the scenic drive and locations categories. . Stopped just after Twizel for a doggie comfort break and got a couple of shots (not great ones) of the reversed side of Mt Cook/Aoraki. So manged to see it from both angles during my trip. Tekapo is purely geared for the tourist industry, but it is also famous for being on of several Dark Skies location in New Zealand. Basically this means that at night all outside lights are switched off so you can get some really fantastic views of the night sky.  Tekapo is also famous for its Church of the Good Shepherd, which must be the most photographed church if not in the world then certainly in Southern Hemisphere.  Unfortunately I found it very disappointing as it was surrounded by fencing and building materials so it was impossible to get a decent shot of it during my stay. Also, it was only open between 9am and 8pm which is when Asian tourist swarm all over it like plagues of locusts. So all in all there wasnt al lot done here apart from reading while sitting in the sun and taking the dogs twice a day to the lake for a decent paddle and chasing the ducks.  I did manage to book my return ferry trip to North Island for the 11th February.

14th January I decided to leave Tekapo, but things conspired against me for a smooth exit as I managed to get a puncture in on of the van tyres. Thankfully not the new tyre. So I pulled over to the side of the road to set about changing the wheel. Now the configuration of the spare tyre system proves to me that the makers of Swift caravans never envisaged anyone having a puncture or being on their own to change it.  Also I discovered the caravan doesnt come with a jack which certainly didnt help the situation.  Now to get the spare tyre out you have to jack up one side of the caravan, undo a bolt which drops down the spare tyre rack, you then have to undo two more bolts to remove the spare tyre from the rack, all this while halp underneath the caravan. You then have to drop down that side and go around and raise the other side to change the wheel.  Luckily for me a chap stopped to assist me and he was towing a racing car and onboard his towing van he had two hydraulic jacks he uses for his race car. Boy that certainly sped up the operation somewhat.  As it was such a rigmarole I didnt put the punctured tyre back where it belonged, instead it went in the back of the car with the dogs. So after nearly two hours I got back on the road and went off to a little placed called Ealing which is between Timaru and Ashburton where I managed to get my second new tyre for the Caravan. Only stayed at Ealing one night as it was mainly just to get the new tyre rather than for any sightseeing reason.

Next stop was Weedons which is about 20kms from Christchurch city centre. while here I thought it would be very wise to buy a jack for the caravan so went to the local caravan shop and bought a 2000kg side jack to do the job. This should do the trick thinks I and on getting back to the van I found that the jack has two brackets which have to be fitted to the caravan chassis which the jack slots into.  Now I couldnt get under the van to fix these brackets so I rang the dealer where I bought the jack and they said bring the caravan in and we will fit it for you as the holes should be pre drilled, only take about 30mins to do and we will do it while you wait. Now me knowing me, I should have heard the alarm bells and certainly should have known better, but hey what do I know.  So back to the dealer I go the following day where they discovered that the couldnt fit the brackets because the rear motor movers on the caravan were blocking the holes.  So it came down to choice either I had four motors movers or I couldnt jack up the caravan. I thought it more likely I would get a puncture so the rear motor movers had to come off. So this 30minute job turned into just over 3 hours and I now have to find a place each time I pack up the caravan to put two motor movers each weighing about 25kgs and a 4ft long metal bar.  Anyway that was finally all sorted and I could set about seeing what Christchurch had to offer. Still lots of building going on after the 2011 earthquakes and like most major cities the world over parking places are very few and far between and the carparks virtually need a second mortgage to park there any longer than 30mins. But I did a couple of trip in had managed to see the earthquake memorial wall which was the one thing I did want to see.

Moved on from here after a week and headed back inland again to Hanmer Springs, just for a couple of nights as all this place is known for are the Hot Spring spas. A prettyish sort of town and surrounded by some lovely scenery.  We got hit by a Southerly storm on the Wednesday night winds up to 100kph and a huge drop in the temperature. I had to put the tv dish down as I feared it would git ripped from its bracket. Luckily I was facing into the wind so the caravan wasnt really buffeted too much.  I did get up early the next morning as the wind had died down as I wanted to get through the mountains and Lewis Pass before any winds returned.  So by now its the 24th and I went back to Murchinson (remember Rust to Dust). Lewis Pass was a lovely drive apart from the road being quite bouncyj, more than once I had to slow right down  to stop the caravan going up and down on the tow ball.  Spent the weekend in Murchinson in some really lovely weather doing what they say in the modern vernacular chillaxing.

So I am currently in Motueka, which is about 45kms west of Nelson on the North coast of South Island, where having put my car through a WOF (MOT in UK parlance) I discovered I needed two new rear tyres, so those have been duly bought and I also had an electrical fault on the car which has also been sorted by a very good local auto electrician. But more on Motueka in my next post, probably next wee sometime.

So to add up my expenditure for January no including food, diesel or camp fees.

2 x tyres for the caravan $250

2 x tyres for the car $420

Jack for the caravan $225

Mountings added and movers removed $220

Electrical problem fixed on the car $118

WOF for car and caravan $102

Not a cheap month by any standard. But anyway the sun is out and will update you all again soon