NEW ZEALAND CAMPING 2013: DAY #7

Thursday April 25, 2013

We both slept well again, clearly used to the narrow bunks and bulky bedding now – Rab’s doona was for a Queen sized bed, so took up a bit of room on her bunk. The heater was still not quite right, but it was better than it had been now that we had a full gas tank and we stayed nice and warm.

Stephi and Matt in their One For Two

As I sat having my early morning coffee, Matt came along from the Internet/kitchen area and we just had a chat, nothing important, but it was so nice. We don’t have much time on our own. Then he was off with the girls for their morning ride. They came pedalling past a little time later.

The last of our fruit - two Jon O'Coy

It was a public holiday in Australia and New Zealand - ANZAC Day. Like Memorial Day in the USA it was a day to remember the men and women who had fought and died for our respective countries – ANZAC being an acronym for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. The ceremonies are all held at dawn and everything was closed until 13.00, putting the kybosh on the tentative plans to look at the Timaru shops. Since we were not travelling far to our final night’s campsite, Matt suggested we have a look at the beach and the bay – appropriately named Caroline’s Bay!

We were following them but lost them at some traffic lights and then took a different turn. We weren’t far out of our way but we did run across yet another schnauzer. That did delay us somewhat as Rab simply had to meet the dog and chat to the owners. Matt was wondering where we had got to!

Dani, Caroline, Rab and Stephi

We strolled along the cliff at the northern end of the bay. The view over the harbour wasn’t great. I think Matt and I had been expecting a somewhat romantic fishing harbour like Kalk Bay, but this was an unromantic working harbour. And between us and the quays was a bit of dirty looking sand. We laughed about a lighthouse perched on the hill with a large tree between it and the sea, wondering how it ever functioned in that position. Of course, as it’s information board explained, it had been moved there some years ago.

The girls and Matt still wanted to get onto the beach so we drove down there and left them to it – Rab, Dani and I sitting on some park benches in the sun like a row of old pigeons – well, not Dani so much: she isn’t old. The girls had fun building sandcastles and then came back for more fun on an interesting assortment of playground equipment before we all saddled up for Geraldine.

The site we were headed for was not a Top 10 site, like all the others we had used, but The Farmyard, where children were welcome to meet all the animals. Matt thought it would be a good spot for the last evening we had together – they had one more night and were heading down to Akaroa for that. We were flying to Wellington.

The Farmyard was off the road to Geraldine and I thought I recalled seeing the sign on our double trip along the road to Geraldine looked it up on Google Maps when I had a WiFi connection and sure enough there was a turnoff which I remembered as Church Road on the left as we headed for Geraldine. Well, of course no one should rely on the failing memory of an old man for accuracy. The road was Coach Road and it was off on the right! We sailed past it watching the left side of the road like hawks. Rab remembered seeing a farm site turnoff on the other side of Geraldine, so thorough the town we went again to find that her memory, like mine, was not as good as it was. Of course once we had sought a little local help we found the place easily.

It was certainly rural with none of the slick reception areas typical of the Top 10 sites, but there were two which were easy to park in and which were adjacent to the ablutions. No point in making the morning dash in the cold light of dawn from too great a distance.

The girls had been playing up a bit during the morning – not when we were there, but in the company of their parents, who clearly needed a bit of a break. Almost two weeks in close proximity to each other can do that even when there are exciting things to see and do. So Rab suggested they leave the girls with us and head into Geraldine to have a browse through the shops and get a decent cup of coffee, perhaps – one thing that Matt had missed. He says there are not many places on their route where the coffee was up to his high standards. Citizens of Melbourne regard the city as being the  coffee capital of the world.

So off they went and I set up the van before taking the girls off to look for the farm animals. By now an old hand, I plugged in the power point, opened the gas, checked the water level, went to check that the power was working. No it wasn’t – our guide was the clock on the micro wave. If it was blinking, the external power was on. The switch on the power pole had been in the off position when I plugged in – maybe there was an issue there? No difference. Plugged it into the neighbouring pole – Matt’s – no difference: no power. So off I went to report the problem to the very nice young daughter of the house. Fortunately, before her father got to our van I had discovered the problem – I had not plugged the power plug into the van! What a fool I felt. Teach me to be cocky.

I took the girls off and they were thrilled when the first pen we came to had a couple of pigs in it. We only saw the one animal initially, gazing out at the sheep in the paddock as they grazed, but as soon as it hear us at the fence it whirled around and almost galloped over to us, presumably on the assumption that we hd some food. This woke up another pig who had evidently been having an afternoon nap in a shelter and he stuck his head out to see what the fuss was. Without doubt one of the ugliest pigs I’d ever seen. Disappointed by our lack of foodstuffs he retreated. There was a sheep, some chickens and a couple of peacocks in the same pen.

Stephi admiring the rabbits

But what caught Caroline’s attention was an area where the rabbits and guinea pigs were lying around in what was now quite a warm day. The girls were both excited to be allowed into the enclosure and were soon stroking the rabbits – guinea pigs were not quite so interested. These little animals were unlike any that we had known when I was young. Back then their coats were smooth and piebald – brown and white – or plain brown. These modern animals looked like a pop artist with their long wild unbrushed hair in multi colours. Caroline was prepared to hold a rabbit, so I picked one up for her. She was surprised how light it was – comparing it to her cat Eric or our boys – and how soft. The rabbit was happy.

Happy girl: happy bunny

Stephi had run off to see the wallaby and other animals so we went over to see them and then Matt and Dani arrived. What excitement – you’d think the girls hadn’t seen them for months, but they had so much to tell. I left them heading back to the rabbits with me heading back to the cool of the van and afternoon tea with Rab – or so I thought.

 

Matt, Caroline and Stephi

But “Man proposes: his wife disposes.” as Thomas à Kempis didn’t quite say. Rab, having had a chat to Dani on her return from town, thought she’d like to have a look around and also pick up something for our evening meal. I suggested we might get a packet of marshmallows because, chatting to one of the other guests I had learned that a bonfire was lit every evening and everyone gathered around to toast their marshmallows.

We duly returned from our little trip, refreshed by another excellent New Zealand ice cream – they do make very good products. Rab decided, under pressure from the girls to visit the animals, risking the possibility of mud and poo dirtying her shoes. We were just in time to see the pigs eating, which was quite amusing. They just got stuck in grunting and snuffling – Granny said to the girls “Now you know what I mean when I tell you to stop eating like a piglet!”. Below them and dodging their trotters were the chickens dashing in and out for a quick peck and even the peacocks got some of the more widespread pellets. The poor old sheep was dashing about, spending more time on policing these intruders than getting a feed. Every now and then she’d get too close to the pigs and jump away in fright as they gave her the stink eye and a loud grunt.

Back to the vans for us. In due course we had our meal – this time two frozen dinners – Pea and Ham Risotto for Rab and Lamb Korma for me - which were very tasty, followed by more of that delightful fruit. The girls wrote their journals back in their van, had their meal there and then went off with their parents for the marshmallow bonfire. Matt was a little reluctant and, I think, regretted somewhat that he had been painted into a corner by our purchase of the marshmallows. But they came back in due course full of high spirits with a burnt sacrifice for us and full of stories of how good it had been.

We all congregated in our van for another evening of  song and tales from the family history. Wouldn’t have missed this experience for quids.