Hello again one and all,

Well what has been going on since my last missive?

I spend a few days in Tamworth and must admit its not really my kind of town, can’t really put my finger on why, I think maybe because it was too spread out with no real sense of a town centre. Quite a modern looking place with a lot of building work going on so it is obviously still growing. I stayed at the Showgrounds for $15 a night with power and water which was nice, and also got a single person reduction in the price which was even better. The campground was right next to the trots track, or pacing as it is formally called. Unfortunately there were no race meets scheduled for when I was visiting, but did get to see some horse being worked. They do go round at a fair old lick seeing as they aren’t allowed to break into a full run.

Anyway after that I decided to head a bit further north to a place called Barraba which was about 100kms north of Tamworth. Again just a small rural town but it has one local claim to fame and that is the three painted grain silos at the entrance to the town from the South.  Here I free camped at Glenriddle reserve  which was about 17kms from town and 8 of those kilometres were down a side road. This was a large reserve possible 250acres or so maybe larger and apart from being dry and dusty it had a good quantity of wildlife, kangaroos, cockatoos, kookaburras, herons, a pair of (to my limited knowledge and I stand to be corrected, Benners your opportunity) Whistling Kites which were nesting right opposite where I parked up and local cattle.  I was parked about 20meters from the rivers edge, well it would have been if there had been any water in it. According to a local chap I got chatting to, when the river is running normally it is about 30 to 40metres wide and up to 2metres deep, now there are just small pockets of water lying around. He also said it had been over 3 years since they have had any decent rainfall in the area. This river was one of the main feeds for Split Rock dam which was the major source of water for the local area, both agriculture and domestic and that was also suffering.  Apart from the wildlife the other good thing about this site was the the darkness at night, no unnatural lights at all at night except for other campers lighting fires even though there was a total fire ban. I stayed longer than I intended but it gave me a bit of an opportunity to explore some other small towns in the neighbourhood. They were all much of a muchness and all desperately short of H2O.

When if finally decided to move on I thought it would be a good idea to take a back road short cut to my next destination Bendemeer, cutting a 130kms trip down to 70kms. As it turned out not one of my better plans. After about 20kms the tarmac stopped and the gravel started, and it went from two lanes down to one and in some places slightly less than that. There were a lot of potholes and corrugations, blind crests, 90degree turns and dust, even at the speed I was going (I think I averaged 24kph for the trip) a lot of dust was being thrown up. I was very glad to see Bendemeer when I crested the final hill and parked myself up at the local very small (about 6 power sites) but very friendly local camp site again only $15 a night with power and water and yet another single person reduction, very nice to see. Bendemeer although classed as a town was really only two roads, the main road through the town used to be the main route heading North/South but in 1985 it was bypassed and since then has been slowly going downhill.

I was going to loop around via Armidale  before heading back Southwards but heard about the bush fires that were being fought in that district so I gave that a miss, the last thing they needed was another idiot to clear out of the way.

So on leaving Bendemeer I decided to head across to Walcha which was a town my sister Pat and I last visited in 1978, where we stayed at a farm for a couple of nights on our way North to I think Coffs Harbour. My abiding memory of that stay was having a T-bone steak with three fried eggs on top for breakfast before going out for a while with the farm owner, anyway that’s by the by.  As I was saying its been 41 years since my last visit and I didn’t recognise a single thing. I stayed overnight at a rest stop just south of town and had a mooch around but nothing really struck me.  The only thing was what used to be the main cross roads in the centre of town is now a roundabout with a large sculpture in the middle of it.  So once again I hit the road and headed further South down Thunderbolts Drive to a place called Nowendoc.

Now to call Nowendoc a one horse town would be doing the disservice to the horse, it was a collection of about 8 buildings, a memorial hall, RFS station (Rural Fire Service) a police station, a general store with fuel pumps outside and a few houses. I love these small town general stores, talk about one stop shops. This one sold most things from petrol to booze to sundries right down to fried food and chips. All served by a young girl who looked about twelve but was probably late teens early twenties. I managed to park up on the only reasonably flat piece of land behind the Memorial Hall but it was side on to the wind which had been steadily picking up all morning, this being a Friday.  Now Friday night it got worse, windy Holy Moly I’ll give you windy. Come the morning having not slept a great deal I got up to let the dogs out, and I went to open the door just as a gust of wind hit the caravan. I couldn’t get the door open, the wind was that strong. I had to wait for lull to let them out. It was windy all day Saturday and all day Sunday and it was a proper gale type wind not a gentle summer breeze. So not much sleep was gained Saturday or Sunday nights. Come Monday morning and it was still going strong I thought enough is enough and decided to pack up and move on to find somewhere a bit more sheltered, being in the caravan whilst that wind was blowing was just like being back at sea again, and believe me Im over that by a long way.

Heading further down Thunderbolts Drive I passed through and area with a fair amount of smoke still in the air and it was obvious there had been a decent sized bushfire along an area of about 10kms within the past few days. Still lots of patches still smouldering and also small pockets of flames could be seen from the road. There was no signage to say the road was closed so I kept on going, and further down the road I came across about five or six fire crews having a meeting so I guess they were still in the process of damping down. Whole paddocks were burnt black where the fire had run across the surface with no trees to burn. I would have loved to have stopped and taken some pictures but it didn’t seem appropriate in the circumstances, and also the one parking layby on the way down the hill was full of fire fighters.

To end this little lot Im now in Gloucester and the local campsite for the weekend, and I must say this placed has changed a bit, there is now a Woolworths supermarket and land prices have doubled if not tripled since 2010.  Its still a friendly little town though so that’s all good.

Just as an aside, after I set up yesterday I was watch a group of Asians setting up about 4 very large family sized tents, and I was struck by one man who put down the ground sheet and raised and pegged out a large tent all on his own without once taking the cigarette from his mouth for the whole duration, for some reason that impressed me.

Thats it for now hopefully you will like the pictures

 

Well its been a couple of weeks and things have moved on a bit since I arrived in Bathurst. I was only going to stay there for the weekend but ended up staying a couple of extra days, mainly because it was so cold in the mornings around the minus 1 minus 2 Celsius region that I couldn’t be bothered getting out in the cold to stow the gear away, and anyway the water and waste pipes were frozen so would have had to wait for them to thaw out before I could sort it out. So I decided it was prudent to just put the heating on and stay in bed for a while longer before starting the day in earnest. Even the dogs were not overly keen to get out of the van with a frost on the ground, but more on the weather later. Anyway on the Wednesday morning I bit the bullet and packed up and headed off to a small town called Sofala which was only about 45kms up the road to make that my next stop for a few days.

Now Sofala is an old gold mining town which if you believe the advertising around the town its the oldest gold mining town in NSW, it has a permanent residency of about 250 people and is in a valley next to a river where you can still hire equipment to do a bit of panning for gold. However, this is appears to be a mainly summer thing as when I was there only one little place was open which laid claim be the local grocery store, cafe, tourist information and souvenir shop. Well lets just be kind to the owners and say they may have over stated their enterprise a tad. I was able to get some fresh milk and a freshish loaf of bread which had already seen the best part of two weeks in their freezer before I bought it according to the sell by date on the packet. Anyway the free camping site was about 6kms out of town on a little back road so off I set to find it. A lovelier spot you couldn’t ask for, right by the river, with basic long drop toilets and rubbish bins. And yes long drop toilets are exactly as they sound. I had the place to myself so I chose my spot and set myself up. Now for those of you not in the know, free camping is just that, it doesn’t cost anything but there are usually no facilities, no water no power and usually no toilets, so that at least was a bonus. But as a bonus (or not) at this site there was no phone or internet reception either. It was a 4km drive back towards the township to pick up any decent reception or a bit of climb up the local hill to pick up a single bar of reception but no internet. So I thought this will do me for a few days, lots of walking opportunities for the dogs and I also as I was to discover later that day some really friendly neighbours.  The first day I was there the temperature got up to a very pleasant 23c so I was more than happy to sit outside under my awning reading my Kindle and catching a few rays, when the sun went behind the local hill the temperature dropped very rapidly and that night got down to minus 4. I hadn’t seen temperatures like this since I left the UK, minus 1 was the lowest I got in NZ. Even with the doubling up of the dooner on the bed it was still a very chilly night. The next day dawned and with it the sun and up went the temps again to the low 20’s and this is how it was for the next couple of days. So after a while I thought I should move on and get out of this valley and find somewhere else which would be a bit warmer at night. Oh boy was that a great decision, what’s that old saying, man plans and God laughs.

My next stop was a place called Rylstone another one horse town in the back of beyond, again not much there including very little phone reception, but I thought this will do for a couple of nights, again free camping. Little did I know that there was an Arctic blast on the way up from the Southern Ocean which was going to hit central NSW the next day. I woke up the next morning to a light drizzle and very chilly, at least the locals would be happy as every drop of rain would be very welcome on a very parched land. Well the temp that day didn’t get above 4c and that night whoa Nelly,  it got down to minus 9, I was putting more clothes on to go to bed than I was wearing in the daytime.  The Blue Mountains area was cut off due to snow as the Great Western Highway which runs through them was snowbound. Luckily my brother and his wife who live there had gone away in their caravan so they were spared it. I didn’t get any snow where I was but on the afternoon drive to have a look around I ran into some when going up a back road into the hills, so promptly gave that us as a bad job and went back to the van. So after putting up with this for a few days I thought its time to go and get on some power and get my heating on I packed up and drove up to Mudgee.

Mudgee is a decent sized town and is right in the middle of Central NSW wine region. I parked up at the show grounds on power and water, with shower and toilets, so it gave me a good chance to regroup, and thaw out. My first job after setting up was to go and get some food in as I was starting to run a bit low, and to by a hot water bottle, never had the need for one before but its paid for itself already. I also decided whilst in Mudgee not to head out west towards Broken Hill as I was originally planning to do as I thought the weather out that way at night wouldn’t be a lot better, so decided to head a bit further north instead.

On leaving Mudgee on a bright Saturday morning I headed North going through Gulgong which was like driving through the 1800s apart from the modern vehicles on towards Denedoo, then hung a left to go west to Dubbo. Now my reason for suddenly heading towards Dubbo was I had seen on the internet that there was a large Jayco caravan dealership there and I had realised while free camping that I wasn’t a hundred percent sure how to switch over between my two water tanks onboard. I thought I had figured it out but wanted to be sure just incase I was doing it wrong. So yes it was a bit of a detour but it was worth it for my peace of mind. Turned out that I had got it right but it was good to have it confirmed.  Why I didn’t ask the chap who parked next to me in Mudgee Show grounds who also had a Jayco is another matter entirely.

Consulting my book of camping spots I headed off from Dubbo towards Coonabarabran and a little place which had good recommends about 40kms before there called Hickey Falls. I got there after a very uneventful drive early afternoon and it was a lovely spot not far from the main highway but a large flat tarmac area surrounded by lots of trees. I left the car hitched up to the van and just put the legs down for stability and set off with the dogs to look for Hickey Falls. Well the were literally 50mtrs from the van and I found out the reason I couldn’t hear them, it was completely dried up, and had been for a long while looking at the surrounding area. there were a couple of small pools of water at the base of the falls and you could see on the rocks where the falls should have been but not even a dribble.  But as it was such a lovely spot I decided to spend a couple of nights there. Man alive the cockatoos! When I got up on the Sunday morning I looked at a tree about 30mtrs away and thought it was a magnolia tree in bloom, then when I put my specs on I realised it was full of cockatoos, I went to get my camera from the car to take a picture of it, but Cody and Whisper saw some goats grazing nearby and started barking which made the birds take flight. But it was quite the sight.

Well to end this rather long winded tale Im now in Tamworth arrived here yesterday (Monday) and will be heading off again Thursday morning.  Now Tamworth is the Australian capital of Country Music, a bit like Nashville Tennessee but drier and with an Aussie twist. It does make the radio stations a bit repetitive and there is no mistaking the sound of the banjo or twanging guitars.  Never really got into Country music but hey each to their own.

Thats it for now, some photos for you all

Finally after two and a half months Im back on the road again, Friday 2nd August 2019 or as I like to call it day one.

This is just a short trip to blow the cobwebs off and to get used to the new caravan, as I have to be back at my brothers house by the first week of October to catch up with cousin Wendy who (at last) is coming to pay us a much overdue and welcomed visit.

Firstly lets get the housekeeping out of the way. A massive thank you goes to Vicky and Stu, a) for putting up with me since May, and b) for all the running around they did with me to get various bits of paperwork and documentation sorted out. Greatly appreciated and again thank you both very much.

So left Blaxland this morning at just after 0945 to head West to Bathurst. Not a long trip by any sort of measure about  135kms (80miles or so), after about an hour I pulled into a place called Hartley, which is just a collection of very old houses which date back to the early 19th century. But they do have a rather nice coffee shop situated in one of the buildings so it was an ideal opportunity to top up on caffeine and give the dogs a bit of stretch. Coming down into Hartley from Blackheath Mt Victoria area or the top of the Blue Mountains if you will, is quite a steep hill down, and getting used to a caravan with electric braking well lets just say when I got to Hartley I turned them up a notch or two on the controller. I kept getting the feeling that the caravan was trying to push me up the escape roads a couple of times. When I got down into Lithgow I had to turn them back down again as I laid down a wee bit of rubber when I braked a bit sharply at the first set of traffic lights. I think I have the hang of them now so touch wood should be ok from here on in.

Arrived in Bathurst after a very uneventful trip from Lithgow, but all around is very brown due to a complete lack of rain. Ive only seen one day with a few drizzles since I arrived Mid May, and looking at the paddocks out here its been even longer than that.

I was nowhere near my 11 minute record of setting up but I finally got there and managed to settle down to a decent cup of home brewed coffee which hit the spot. talking of coffee machines, I do hope Pat that you have figured out the new system you have and are managing to enjoy the benefits.

So that’s about it for now, just a very quick blog to let you all know that Im back up and running

As usual a couple of pictures to end with

 

Geoff

Hello everyone,

Well I’m safely back on the North Island and really have not done a great deal since I’ve been back. Had another mill-pond crossing on the 11th Feb of the Cook Strait from Picton to Wellington, arriving on the North Island about 1530hrs ish. So I wasn’t going to travel too far before stopping for the night. Set my trusty satnav for the NZMCA caravan park in Plimmerton which is probably about a 20 minute drive North of Wellington…..or so I thought.  Now its been a wee while since I last updated my trusty garmin, so unfortunately it wasn’t au fait with the new roads which have been built on the way out of the City.  Now without having previously looked at a map as I left it in the car on the ferry, I had a very rough idea where Plimmerton was so I put my faith in the satnav. Big mistake. Twice it led me to a road which wasn’t or rather no longer accessible so I had to go back down the State highway to start the trip again. On the third go I ignored the satnav and just went straight up the State Highway until I saw a sign, so my wee trip took just over 45minutes in all. Luckily I got one of the last places at the caravan site and I didn’t even bother unhooking the car, it was just a case of down legs, walk the dogs, grab a bite for tea, a couple of hours on the book, then off to bed.

Next morning it was off to Taupo, quite a long drive about 400 plus kilometers, on a very drizzly morning.  The drive took the best part of 6 hours which included quite a few stops for coffee for me and a  leg stretch for the boys. Ruapehu (if you recall from previous lessons, the highest mountain on North Island) still had a good dusting of snow on its higher reaches which I could just get the odd glimpse of through the cloud.  Got to Taupo and the Equestrian Centre (my usual stop over place) about 2pm  and after setting up the caravan for what I thought was going to be a 3 night stay I headed off to where my container and belongings were being stored.  On arrival at the storage facility there were large chains a very industrial looking padlocks locking up the front gates, not a good look thought I, I wonder if the have gone bust and shut up shop. So with some trepidation I phoned the main office number to see what was going on, and was enlightened to the fact that they had shut the Taupo facility and my container was back in Whakatane. I do wish they would have told me this previously as I would have driven straight through rather than stopping. So rather than the 3 night stop it was just the one, and off to Whakatane/Kawerau it was the next morning.  So arriving at the compound in Whakatane on the Wednesday afternoon, there was no-one around so I thought I would just go and sort out my bits I needed to get from it, when I discovered that none of the containers were marked. Now I had key 3 so logic to me seemed to dictate that it should fit container 3, this alas dear readers was not the case. So on the phone again to be told that my container was number 2 but my key wouldn’t fit it as I had a Taupo key and they had changed all the locks to Whakatane locks so my key was useless. So I had to return the next morning to pick up the correct key. Anyway I got what I wanted out of the container and arranged for the Sally Army to come and collect the rest, which they duly did on the Friday morning. So the upside to all that is that I’m saving myself $200 a month. But what a lot of hassle could have been avoided for the want of a single phone call, customer service people customer service.

So really for the past month I have just been pottering around the Bay of Plenty area I’ve just spent a week at Waihi Beach, and exploring the area around it. Waihi is a strange little town It got an open cast gold/silver mine right in the middle of it. It’s currently closed as they had a huge rock slide which has wiped out the access road down to the bottom of the mine, well over a million tons of rubble came down. But the people who own it have just gained permission to clear the slide and reopen the mine so it should be back in business by the end of the year. The actual are where I was at Waihi Beach was lovely and peaceful. Most of the holiday makers are starting to drift away now that summer has come to an end. It was good to re-introduce the dogs to the sea again.

In currently up the coast a bit now in Whangamata and will be staying here until Monday when I’m off back down to Rotorua to pick up a few things I need for my next adventure.

This brings me to the reason why this will be my last blog for a while. The time has finally come to make the jump across the pond to Australia. I’m hoping to be over there sometime towards the end of April or early May. I will be sending the dogs over a couple of weeks before I plan to go (to a really good dogs home in Blaxland) thank you Stu and Vicky, they packing up the caravan and shipping what belongings I have across, selling the car and passing on the caravan to a dealer to sell for me, before jumping on a plane. Once across the other side I will be buying another car and caravan and starting all over again.

So thank you all for reading my little offerings over the past 12 months or so, and hopefully it wont be too long until I update you all again as to what is going on.

As usual a couple of pics (not taken many lately) to end with

Not a blog as such more just an update on a few pictures. My final campsite on South Island in the Wairau Valley, a great site and some stunning views. More proper blogs later on in the Month. Hang loose folks

 

 

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

 

 

 

Long time no update, when I last left you all I was just arriving in Greymouth,  well I’m pleased to say that I did partake in a couple of pints of Monteiths Original and a lovely order of barbeque spare ribs at the Brewery, I also managed to get a six pack carryout to keep me going as I headed further South.  I didn’t get around to sampling the fare in the Speights Ale House, but still plenty of time to do that as I continue my trip around the South Island. The weekend in Greymouth was very wet which curtailed too much sight seeing, but I did manage to get out to Brunner Lake to get a better look at the snow

capped mountains.  So, on the Monday morning I packed up and headed off down to Hokitika.

Hokitika is a very pretty little town, a lot smaller than I imagined it to be, but you had the sea on one side and snow covered mountains on the other. It was from here that my whole perspective when driving South changed. I was used to looking out of the right side from Westport down as most of the good views were of the sea and coves on that side, but from here all the good views changed to the left hand side as the Southern Alps really came to the fore.  I took a drive out to Hokitika gorge where there is a swing bridge over the river, but, the most striking thing was the colour of the water in the river. As my colour perception is not the best I will describe it as a very pale bluey/green. You will see it in the pictures and that was the actual colour, there are no camera jiggery pokery goings on. Quite stunning to say the least. Now I forget why the water is this colour but I due recall it was something to do with glacial melt and minerals. For any more information I urge you to contact Uncle Google.

It was while I was in Hokitika that I had a serious theft occur, but luckily the two culprits were quickly apprehended but unfortunately the stolen items were never recovered.  I had to go to the Supermarket to stock up on provisions and on completion put the bags in the car while I just popped to another shop to pick up the paper and a magazine to read. On getting back to the campsite and unpacking the shopping I was four items missing, these being crusty bread rolls, two of which I had planned for my lunch. I went back to the car to see if they had dropped out of the bag on the trip back, but all I found was an empty plastic bag in the back of the car and a few crumbs, so, ladies and gentlemen of the jury I think its an open and shut case of the dogs who ate the bread. Lesson learned, not to put the rolls at the top of the bag to stop them being squashed as worse things may happen.

Next stop down was the little town of Franz Joseph, which was absolutely crawling with tourists, and it wasn’t even the height of summer. Very much a town fully geared up for dealing with hikers, bikers, climbers and sightseers who all wanted to see Franz Joseph glacier.  The whole town was Hotels, motels, backpackers accommodation in between places to eat and drink.  As for the helipads they must be some of the busiest in the country, helicopters were flying constantly from 8 in the morning until about 6 in the evening. I took a drive down to the next  town along called Fox Glacier which was about 20kms south of Franz Joseph, and although it was a bit misty I got a good view of Mount Aoraki, or Mount Cook as some may know it as, this is the heighest peak in New Zealand at 3724meters or 12,200feet it used to be higher at 3764 meters or12,300feet but a rock slide in 1991 took 40meters off the top.  Geography for beginners, all part of the service. I managed to get a couple of shots of Fox Glacier albeit not overly good ones due to the weather conditions.  After 4 days here I packed up again and got back on the road.

 

Next port of call was the small, about 250 people of Haast which was some 140kms South of Franz Joseph. Some lovely scenery was seen on the way down before parking up at the back of a shop in the middle of the town.  Not much to see or do here and was only going to stop for one night, mainly to give the dogs a break from the car.  But then I nearly packed up and went the same night, as I made the mistake of sitting outside enjoying the evening sun when I got my ankles covered in sandflies. Now for those of you who don’t know, I believe that New Zealand is the sandfly capital of the world.  These pests are very small, no bigger than a decent mosquito, but boy they can certainly nip. They don’t bother you if you are moving but as soon as you stand still they are on you like a back of starving hyenas. I used to suffer from these things when I lived at Kawerau, but the ones down in Haast were from a whole new level.  Luckily non got into the caravan so I didn’t have to grab the flyspray and set about them.

From Haast it was quite a longish drive to Cromwell, bypassing Wanaka which no way was I going to try and drive through towing the caravan.  Although it was a decent drive the scenery was outstanding. Going through Haast pass to  Wanaka was probably the best I had seen so far on the trip.  I passed four waterfalls on the way, but, you will all be pleased to hear that I didn’t stop to take any photos of them, not because I didn’t want to but I couldn’t room to park at any of them.  So down into Central Otago we went and finally got to Cromwell. A stunning little town, surrounded by mountains with snow still on the tops and looking really nice in the sun. But I should imagine a very cold place in winter. What more could you ask for a pretty town in some really warm sunshine, surrounded by snow capped hills and to top it all lots and lots of vineyards with cellar doors offering a wide variety of wines.  It was obviously a thriving town as lots of new housing was being built, which I guess if it continues will eventually spoil it. That’s progress folks.  I took a drive out to a place called Bendigo which was a town or village just a cluster of vineyards, but I was drawn more by the name as it is the same as where my sister lives in Victoria, Australia.  I was driving along this backroad with a local chappie in his Ute a kilometre or so ahead of me when I saw he went through a ford. Ah thought I he went across ok shouldn’t be a problem for me either.  Well, being a local he obviously knew the way across it better then I, when I drove in it  was a bit deeper than it looked and faster flowing,  and neither was I in the same wheel tracks as him, so down went the front of the car and the the water came up over the bonnet. Luckily it was only about six meters or so across so I managed to keep going and was soon coming out the other side, but it gave me quite the scare.  It wasn’t until a week or so  later I discovered that my front number plate was missing and I presumed it was lying on a river bed in Bendigo.

Drove out from Cromwell and went down to a little place called Lumsden, going from Cromwell to Queenstown I went through Kawarau gorge, no not Kawerau but Kawarau and passed the world famous and  original A J Hackett bungy jump bridge. Sadly I couldn’t stop and jump off myself as the carpark was reasonably full and I wouldn’t have been able to park up, so to my sorrow I was unable to partake. But I can now say I have been to Kawerau and Kawarau. Managed to miss Queenstown which was busy enough on the outskirts for my liking, so I was thankful I didn’t have to go through the town centre. I managed to stop a couple of times when I got south of Queenstown to give the dogs a break and to take a couple of photos.   It wasn’t until I got to Lumsden that I realised that I didn’t have a front number plate, so that entailed a 160km round trip to Invercargill to get new plates for the car. So Ive gone from HWP778 to LUF452.  Lumsden itself was nothing to right home about but I was the only person staying at the caravan park so  the dogs had a bit of a free rein and I could turn the music up a notch which is always pleasant.

From here I went out West again to Te Anau, which is the gateway to Milford Sound. I was last there 12 years ago with my daughter when we did our little road trip, and although it has grown a bit since those days it wasn’t as big as I remember it, well maybe it just seemed as if there wasn’t as much there as I thought there was. What there wasn’t  was any shortage of was motorhomes it seemed that every other parking space had a motorhome in it.  Ive no idea just how many motorhomes are hired in New Zealand every year but between Britz, Maui, Starrv and Jucy it must be well into the thousands if not tens of thousands, and certainly far more of them on the South Island than the North.

Anyway I then swung further South leaving behind Otago and into Southland and went around to Niagara which is just at the bottom end of the Catlins National Park. There was nothing here at all, not even a shop, mobile signal or internet coverage, so it was a very peaceful few days. The nearest shop was 22kms away at Tokanui, and you had to drive 6kms just to pick up a phone signal.  Niagara was 4 houses and a river the nearest neighbour was in Waikawa 6kms up the road. But I did manage to have a trip out to Slope Point which is the Southern most point of South Island. Also went out to Waipapa Point where there were a couple of seals on the beach, which coincidently is one more than there was at the seal colony.

Finally I arrived in Dunedin, or Dunners as it is also known and Edinburgh of the South.  A good size city and in places very pretty.  Im currently stay just to the south of Dunedin in Brighton (no pier) thank for the hospitality of Tony, Julie and Ann, not forgetting Breeze, Moss and the new arrival Storm. So with my two its is quite the doggy house. Thankfully all the dogs and the adults are getting on well together.

So I will wish you all a very merry Christmas and all the best to everyone for the New Year

Its been a while so I will try and remember what has been going on since my last update. I ended up staying at Eketahuna for a week. Not the most exciting small town in New Zealand, but the weather turned very inclement so I didn’t see the point of packing up and moving on. The actual campsite was very peaceful with very friendly managers. The other reason I remained was that I booked my ferry crossing to the South Island for the 6th November so I was gearing up for just one overnighter on the way down to Wellington.  The only exciting thing to happen while I was in Eketahuna was we had quite the shake on the 30th Oct at about 3pm it was measured at 6.2 and the epicentre was 285kms northwest of where I was. Just about the whole of the North Island felt it, but thankfully there were no injuries or damage caused.  It certainly gave the caravan a good shake. As for this theory that animals can sense these things before they happen I am happy to say that both Whisper and Cody slept through the whole event.

On leaving Eketahuna I travelled South to a little place called Clareville which is between Masterton and Carterton. After parking up and sorting out the caravan I was enjoying a nice mid morning cup of Rosy Lee when I was rudely interrupted by a very loud noise like rolling thunder and the next minute a train went rumbling past the. Unbeknown to me when I backed up to the hedgerow just the other side of it was a train line. Thankfully the trains seemed to stop running at about 9pm and the first one in the morning was just after 6am so it was bearable for one night.  I suppose I could have moved to the other side of the paddock but to be honest I just couldn’t work up the enthusiasm to do so.

Had a very quiet drive down to Wellington the next day, going up over and through the Rimutaka hills was certainly interesting with some very tight corners and steep hills, but the views were quite stunning. As per usual though stopping places were conspicuous by there absence.  I pulled over for a cup of coffee and give the boys a leg stretch at Petone right on the seafront. Brought back some memories of stopping there with Stu and Vicky when we drove around to Eastbourne, when they were over in 2013 to watch the Footie (AFL) at the Cake Tin (Westpac stadium Wellington)

Got on the ferry just after 4pm ready for a 5pm sailing. I chose this time of sailing as it was a RO-RO ferry so it saved having to turn around before driving off. I was a little apprehensive as to how the dogs with cope with the crossing as they had to stay in the car, but it was a very smooth crossing and 3.5 hours later I had to wake them both up when I got back to the car.

On arrival at Picton I was first off the ferry and drove for about 30mins out of town to a freedom camping spot at Koromiko, so parked up there for the night. By now it was getting on for about 9:30pm so it was a quick down legs on the van and a brisk walk for the boys and then to bed.

Next morning was very windy and I left the delights of the Koromiko dried river bed and headed off towards Nelson. I was aiming to stop just before for the night but the site wasn’t ideal and a bit too near the road for my liking so I pulled in and pulled straight out again and carried on. I then was going to stop in Nelson but as I was heading along the seafront I drove past the Boat Shed Café which again brought back memories of 2015 when I stopped for a coffee and a bite with Stu and Vicky on a day trip from Blenheim. I was so busy reminiscing I took the wrong road and before I knew it I was heading South out of Nelson so I found myself a spot in a place called Wai-iti. I was going to stay for a couple of nights but on listening to the weather forecast I thought it prudent to move on the next day and find somewhere with a hard standing as I was currently parked on grass and didn’t fancy getting bogged in with the rain which was forecast.  So this now being the Thursday morning I drove of to a small town called Murchison which had a Caravan Club site which was all on a hard surface.  Well the storm hit Murchison on late Thursday night early Friday morning, the wind wasn’t too bad but boy did it rain. It wasn’t quite as bad as the West Coast had, where they had major flooding and a road bridge washed away, but it was a significant amount.  Murchison is a funny little town, sort of built around a crossroads. Two hotels on adjacent corners a convenience store on another and a garage on the last. But added to this was a wonderful knick-knack shop called Rust to Dust which had a collection second to none. I think Vicky could have spent a good couple of hours in there at least.  While in Murchison I managed to break one of the wheels on my roll away grey water tank, so had to empty it on a daily basis as it had to be carried, searched high and low to find a replacement or even a matching pair to put onto it without any luck. Maybe its just me but it seems a bit odd to make wheels for something that could weigh up to 45kilos out of plastic. Oh well these things are sent to try us.

So on Monday  I moved on to Westport, a beautiful drive through the Buller Gorge again with the usual lack of stopping places, but at least it was dry if a little misty in places.  So when I got to Westport I was officially on the West Coast. Not a huge amount in the town, its basically just one major road which is about 2kms long with shops both sides. A real mixture of architecture from the 1800 thru Art Deco to the modern. Most of the West Coast is coal mining areas well certainly down as far as Greymouth. Once you get South of there it turns very touristy as you are into the Southern Alps and the Glaciers.  Anyway back to Westport, I managed to get two new wheels for my grey tank, they are a bit smaller than I would have liked but they will do until I find something more suitable. At least now I don’t have to empty it every day.  I went out to a place called Cape Foulwind to have a look at the lighthouse, and thankfully it didn’t live up to its name there was just a gently breeze blowing. From there I went down to Tauranga Bay to go and have a look at the seal colony. Now I don’t know about you but when I hear or rather see the words seal colony it conjures up an image of seals on rocks basking in the sun, now Im no David Attenborough so I don’t know if it was the wrong time of day or the wrong week/month/year but there was the grand total of ONE seal, yes a tad disappointing to say the least, but there wee some nice views over Tauranga Bay.

Yesterday I managed to have a quick dip in the sea, it was a bit chilly but bearable, just. Luckily the sea was quite shallow with very small waves so it must have picked up a bit of heat. Luckily I had a big towel with me which truthfully was meant for the dogs but I commandeered it for my own use. Whisper was more interested in sniffing logs on the beach, so she didn’t need it and Cody was still bouncing around the waves.

Today Thursday, I drove down to Greymouth and will be staying for the weekend as rain is forecast for Saturday and Sunday. Not sure what there is to see here, but what I have found out is that the Montieths Brewery is here (Montieths Original Ale is my favourite tipple in the beer family) and also there is a Speights Ale House, which along with doing good beer (Speights is a South Island Brewery) the also do good wholesome pub grub. So no doubt sometime over the next few days I will be availing myself of both establishments to see what they have to offer.

Anyway I think we are all now caught up

 

 

 

 

 

Well spring has deserted us for the time being and its been a very drizzly day so I thought I would take the time to update what has been what for the past week or so.

Left Waipawa and headed off to Dannevirke, again just over 60kms to the South which took just over ninety minutes as we stopped a couple of times once for the dogs and once for a coffee break. I spent five nights in Dannevirke as it was over the Labour Day weekend (kind of a bank holiday in NZ) so thought that A. the roads would be busy and B. the camp sites would be hectic with everyone making the most of the weekend, and at only $10 a night it seemed like the sensible thing to do. Now Dannevirke is a quite a small town but with all the shopping one would need. The biggest downside to it was that it was very dog unfriendly. All the open spaces had no dogs signs, even the A and P showgrounds didn’t allow them. So it was a drive out into the country to find some open spaces for the dogs to have a bit of run around on.  The campsite got very busy on the Friday due to the holiday weekend and a caravan club of about fifteen caravans turned up. I think there was just one powered site available after they had sorted themselves out. There were also a couple of families in tents which you don’t see very often these days. But I guess the warmer weather brought them all out.  Unfortunately not to far from me were an Asian family of which the youngest girl was learning to play the ukulele. One strum pattern and two chords all weekend got a bit much very quickly. Just like the drip drip drip of the water falling on your head, or the literally meaning of Chinese torture.

While I was here  I managed to have a drive out to a very small settlement called Weber (pronounced Weeber) which was about 35kms Easterly towards the coast  from Dannnevirke and a place I had wanted to visit for quite a long time.  When I say its a small settlement there is nothing there at all apart from a handful of houses but, what it does have is a school (primary) and this is the place I had travelled to see.  This was the school where Amy got her first job as a teacher after graduating from Otago University at the end of 2006.  I must say it looked a very lovely school and I sent Amy some photos of it. She was surprised to see how much it had grown since her days there.

After leaving Weber I drove on for another 20kms or so as there was a hill I wanted to go and see. Its not as if it was a big hill at just of 300mtrs but its famous and big in a very special way, and this is it, its called. Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateapokaiwhenaukitanatahu, the longest place name in the world, and there will be picture to prove Im not making it up.

So after pottering around this area until Tuesday morning I moved on heading a bit further South and decided to drop anchor in as little town called Pongaroa. I parked up near the sports pavilion, no power but there was fresh water and a dump station so all was good. As well as no power there was no cell phone, radio or tv reception. the lack of tv was down to the 30 meter high trees directly behind where I was parked blocking the signal. But I had my music and  kindle so was more than happy.  Not much to say about this town, a pretty little place but nothing really of note to tell you about. I drove out to the coastal town of Akitio more for something to do than for any specific reason. It was about 30kms each way on mostly gravel (or metal as they call it over here), and never passed another vehicle either going or coming back.  I did notice though that when you did pass another vehicle they always waved, it must be the novelty of seeing another road user.  On the Wednesday night I went to bed with a bit of wind blowing and was awoken a couple of hours later with a full on gale blowing.  The caravan was really rocking about and there was a lot of banging where the wind was hitting the rear of the caravan, making sleep all but impossible.  I was very concerned as well due the fact the high trees I mentioned earlier were only about 3 meters behind the caravan and I did wonder what would happen if a branch or God forbid the whole tree came down. I did consider packing up the caravan and moving it but was concerned that if I got side on to the wind that the van would tip over, the wind was that strong.  So discretion being the better part of valour the dogs and I moved the car to behind the sports building which provided a bit of shelter from the worst of the wind and catnapped (or dognapped) in the car for the rest of the night. The wind carried on well into the next day and I finally managed to move the caravan to behind the pavilion mid afternoon on the Thursday.  It was by far some of the strongest wind Ive experienced since being in the country.

I left Pongaroa on the Friday morning with the intention of stopping at a place called Alfredton. But, I drove straight through Alfredton without realising it. It wasn’t until I got to Eketahuna where I am now that I realised that was what had happened. I knew it was a small place but to not even register, not even a sign saying it was there. Ah the joys of back road driving in rural New Zealand.