Tuesday April 23, 2013
We used the ablution block for our
morning ablutions. We have been having a laugh about that aspect of our trip
ever since our first stop in Akaroa all those days ago – well the day before
yesterday!! Rab was certain, based on her experiences travelling around Europe in a Kombi before she met me, that she would have
no desire to use the facilities on the camp sites. And she knew, from her
experience with the very small showers on our boat in Zimbabwe and the Indian Pacific train in Australia, that
it would be difficult to shower and wash her hair. That was the main reason
that she had her short haircut before we left.
I had suggested that the facilities
might have improved in the half century that had passed since her European
adventure, but…..as most men know, women tend to be unmoved by their man’s
logical arguments. So it was a great and joyous surprise for Rab to find modern
facilities in the camps – the quality did vary somewhat, but all were good and
also that she could use her hair dryer in the van – as long as we were hooked
into the power supply. She may have apologised for disbelieving me – in fact I
am sure she must have done, but I don’t recall the conversation specifically.
After what is now our usual breakfast:
cereal, toast and fruit – the latter shared with a couple of early morning
visitors from next door – we started to pack for our next move. Matt and family
had a couple of things to do before they got going, so we left before them as
Rab wanted to see the shops in Queenstown – and I wanted to see if I could get
my Ugly Shorts. I remembered to unhook the power point this time and also
pulled the gas tank out to check it and found it to be very light – so light
that it might be empty, which might account for the lack of heat last night.
On Matt’s advice – they had been
told by their van people to empty tanks daily – I exited via the waste station.
I had some doubts that there would be too much waste, especially as far as the
grey water was concerned because I hadn’t been able to get much fresh water
into the tank when I topped that up. And so it proved to be, making me more
certain that the van had not been prepped adequately before being handed over.
Rab had put some powder into the toilet as disinfectant – the training video had shown putting in a liquid, but none
had been supplied. This made the toilet cartridge water a violent purple colour
– and once again there was little to empty.
We went to a local filling station
to get some diesel and to fill the gas bottle. The owner said that there was no
way that we could have used the full bottle of gas and that I should collect
the cost from the van people when I returned it.
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| The Kingston Flyer with a full head of steam |
The first leg of the trip back to
Queenstown took as back past Kingston and then alongside Lake Wakatipu
again. There is a steam train – The Kingston Flyer – that does a short run in
this area and we were lucky enough to see it at full steam. A lovely sight,
especially for those of us who did so many journeys in trains pulled by engines
like this. The weather wasn’t as bright as when we had passed by on Sunday, but
it was still pretty spectacular. Matt and I had both noticed a large boulder
overhanging the road on the way down. The curious thing bout it was that it had
a metal plaque fixed to it, about twelve feet above the road. There was no way
to pull off the road to try to read the inscription, which would have been
pretty dangerous anyway as the road was narrow. I thought there might be a
parking place on the way back, but there wasn’t so the plaque will simply have
to join the Omarama cairns as New Zealand mysteries.
I felt quite sleepy as we went on
our way and was glad that it was not a long drive. Queenstown has expanded
dramatically over the 20 years since we were last here. Back then there was a
small cluster of shops and eateries around the wharf area where the cruise left
from and the cable car to the top of the mountain. That was still there, with
many activities at the top of the mountains, but now there were streets of
shops, dozens of pubs, restaurants, advertisements for all manner of dangerous
activities (the New Zealanders invented the bungy jump and several variants of
other foolish things to do).
We had one false start in our quest
to find the campsite. Rab’s map reading skills have been improving ever since
we left Akaroa. She found two short cuts on the way from there to Omarama and
now was able to guide me to the site. We had not paid the additional expense
for a GPS system, given the dodgy electronic coverage - mountains and sparse population doesn’t
provide much financial incentive for telecoms.
Matt had stayed at this site on the
way to Te Anau to meet us and had expressed a little concern about how Rab
would find the weird and whacky approach that had been adopted with the
buildings and décor. Of course she had no objections and found them as amusing
as he did. Since we got there first I took the more difficult of the two adjoining sites – my
reversing skills and confidence had improved considerably as had Rab’s
understanding of what you cannot see seven metres behind you. The site,
including the eccentric buildings and décor was great, set on the side of the
mountain with soaring forests above. Mostly dark green conifers with patches of
shining gold annuals.
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| Ablution block and waste station |
We were near the ablution block
again, which was built in the shape of an oast house. In front of that building
was a curious structure which turned out to be the waste station. Sundry other
non-functional works dotted the grounds – abandoned boilers; urinals with
cut-out figures of kids using them; an old trunk hoisted on a pulley outside
the laundry.
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| Matt in the Gents 'bar' toilet/shower |
Inside the ablution building the walls were covered with tromp
l’oeil works in the gents the main work
was a bar stretching around two walls,
with patrons present; in the ladies the walls were covered in shelves with
beauty products.
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| Ladies rest room/toilet/shower |
Matt and family duly arrived and we
had our sperate lunches, with the last of our fruit disappearing down the throats of the girls. Caroline also
loves one of Rab’s favourites – raspberry jam and cheese on the special seed
bread we buy. She consumed two of those while arguing with her Granny as to
whether the local jam was better than the Australian version. She and I felt
the former had the edge over the latter but Rab was not moved by our arguments.
We were ready to head into town
after we had lunch which then raised the
question as to how we were to get there, given the narrow streets and
lack of much parking space. This actually highlighted one of the areas where
travelling by van can create some difficulties that do not arise when driving
around by car. The family convinced us that it was an easy walk, and downhill
most of the way (which meant uphill most of the way back!) so we set off past
the mural of the horse and cart.
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| One of the many murals |
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| Driving - Ivan Clarke |
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| Rugby - Ivan Clarke |
It was fairly warm – about 18°C/65°F
but as we had been told it was an easy walk, although a little further than we
had thought. Rab popped in to pick up some maps of the town and then we were on
our way. One of the first things we came across was an Art Gallery
featuring the works of artist Ivan Clarke in what are said to be the celebrated
Lonely Dog series is showcased. Lonely Dog is a moving story of an orphan hound
growing up in the whimsical world of Alveridgea in which cats and dogs co-habit
side by side in a segregated society. The paintings were amazing and amusing as
were the bronzes.
My favourite was the bronze bust of a hound in military gear
– The Baron, but at the asking price of NZ$11,500/US$9,800 was startling. The
coloured version was NZ$24,000/US$20,400. That was nothing compared to the
magnificent folio book in an antiqued hand made wooden case, which was a snip
at NZ$62,000/US$52,600. I was very tempted to buy the only reasonable priced
item in the gallery – a book titled Alveridgea: The Legend of the Lonely Dog –
by the artist. It was selling at NZ$49/US$42 and I was tempted but…..we moved
on.(When I got back and had a look at
the Lonely Dog site I thought I might check on availability from the usual book
suppliers and found Book Depository had the book at half price, with no
postage. So I ordered one.)
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| The Baron |
Moving on, we browsed in some shops
– or Rab did, while I kept an eye open for the Canterbury shop.
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| Me and my Uglies |
It was very hot in the shop and as
usual rising temperatures knocked me about a bit. I stayed out in the cooler
street while Rab went into some of the other shots and tried to get some
pictures of the main street which had some magnificent autumn colours – and a
fair bit of traffic. Coming out of one of her shops, Rab spotted The Remarkable Sweet Shop. Matt and the girls had
said they had found this treasure trove of lollies/candies/sweets in Arrowtown
on their way to Queenstown, but we didn’t know there was another shop. They
specialise in fudge made on the premises – and what a selection. You could
taste as many as you liked, although they recommended keeping it down to eight
flavours as your taste buds apparently lose the ability to distinguish
different flavours after that much sugar.
We chose
two flavours – green apple pie and crème brulee and some English Toffee Bon
Bons. Very restrained. We searched for Rab’s favourite US goods Goetze’s Cow Tales and
Bulls Eyes, but there were none. Just as well she has plenty of stock back
home.
I was feeling pretty well gone in by
now – this blasted heart medication is SUCH a nuisance in its debilitating
effects. We paused on the way up the hill towards the Information Centre for an
excellent fresh fruit ice cream and then plodded on to the supermarket to top
up our victuals. By then I was so bushed that after we met the family, I
accepted Rab’s insistence to catch a cab back to the camp, embarrassing though
it was to travel that way over a distance I would have covered with ease only a
few years ago. Cost NZ10 too, which I begrudged.
The van was cool and I had a lovely
snooze for about an hour. That made me feel much better. We had another variant
on our Two Minute Noodles – this time a Noodle Soup, which was very
satisfactory and the last of our fruit. We went across to Matt’s van for our
postprandial entertainment – once again a hilarious, happy evening with family.
We were so glad we had made the trip.
Despite the full gas tank, we still
could not get the heating to work at low temperatures. Fortunately it was not
too cold - about 10°C/50°F and we slept like logs.
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