NEW ZEALAND CAMPING 2013: DAY #3

Sunday April 21, 2013

Another good night’s sleep, although again it was difficult to get the heating quite right. Rab had turned the heating down for the night but the thermostat seemed not to work and did not kick in when the van cooled. I really only noticed when I got up in the early hours of the morning – at about 04.00 for a piddle and I put the heat back up so that we were both in a snug cabin when we finally stirred.

Breakfast at Omarama

A cup of coffee – using the Cappuccino Strong instant coffee we had bought in Akaroa, sweetened with the good brown  sugar from the same source and all was well with our world. It was a sunny morning and the camp site view we had of trees and a pond looked very pleasant. A substantial improvement on day #1. We were aiming to get across to Te Anau to meet up with Matt and family. It was only a little over 350 km/220 miles but we were told it could take over four hours driving because of the roads over passes and alongside the lakes.

 

I thought I should try my hand at emptying the toilet cartridge and the grey water tank, having no idea how often this should be done. I had viewed the training videos on line and tried to listen to our tutor when we picked up the vehicle, but….theory is one thing and practice another.

As I started up to drive over to the waste station I almost  did what we did from time to time at the old drive-in movies – drive off while still attached to the power pole. Fortunately I realised as I put the vehicle in gear and didn’t even move. Unplugged and having turned off the gas, I moved along……opened the trapdoor for the toilet cartridge and couldn’t get the darned thing out. Surely our tutor had just pulled it out? Well, yes she did, but she unlatched it first, as a passerby showed me. The unit felt very heavy and it took ages to empty and rinse and empty, yet we had barely used the toilet, preferring the comfort of the ablution block and I began to wonder if the vehicle had, perhaps not been adequately prepared for us.

This suspicion deepened when I emptied out the grey water tank which ran on and on for what seemed like fifteen or twenty minutes. We certainly hadn’t used all that water. Hmmm…..

Off we went with full fresh water tank and empty waste receptacles. As we headed out of town in a slight drizzle – the morning sun hadn’t lasted - towards the first of the passes I noticed an odd thing . all along the side of the road on the verge there were cairns of stones – there were ;plenty of stones about to build cairns. Some were small – only half a dozen stones; others were quite tall. But what were they doing there? Who built them and why? We couldn’t guess. (Googled this on our return. No really good explanation – just a bit of light-hearted nonsense apparently.)

 

As we topped Lindis Pass the sun came out again and we had our first glimpse of the fresh snow on the mountains. It looked for all the world like icing sugar sprinkled on a very large fruit loaf.  Although there was more green about, brown was still the predominant colour except where clumps of trees grew – usually in little dells or along the banks of a water course. They were glorious in their autumnal colours, shining gold with shades of orange and, every now and then a touch of red. The first large body of water we came to was Lake Hawea The road was indeed very winding and on our side was so narrow that there was no stopping which was a pity because the reflections in the water were marvellous to see, even in the quick glances I could take. I wondered if this was the Mirror Lake that I had heard about.

As we drove on we came to the area where small amounts of alluvial gold had been panned many years ago. There is a small tourist trap there where you can pan for gold – without much chance of finding any, I’d guess, although I did buy a small nugget there on a fishing trip. I liked it because it was the shape of a very small fish. The main attraction now was jet boat rides, which are very popular in New Zealand. They are terrifying as the boats skim at very high speed over shallow water, close to rock faces and over rapids – not for us. The water in the river was a curious colour, so Rab  told me – a deep translucent green.

Proceeding along the flat after the lakeside roads, we spotted what looked like a very nice fruit stall at a little spot called Cromwell. Well, actually it was the sign advertising fresh fruit ice cream that attracted Rab’s attention. I was gawping at the avenue of golden trees that stretched down the side of the road. We swung in there and were very glad we had done so. The quality and varieties of fruit, much of it grown in the adjacent orchard was splendid. There was a tasting table and the very pleasant young  girl introduced us to two varieties of stone fruit that had been developed in the orchard. One was a cross peach/nectarine and the other a cross nectarine/apricot. Both were tremendous, with the latter beating the former in the taste  stakes. We also tried a couple of their apples and landed up with enough fruit to last us until the end of the holiday – or so we thought. I also picked up a couple of bars of chocolate that appealed – dark chocolate with Kiwi Fruit. Turned out to be a very popular choice with one and all. And of course we each had an ice cream, which was a big mistake. The serving size was positively American and we could quite easily have shared one between us. Delicious though – berries for Rab, banana for me and we managed to deal with them before heading on.

Our lunctime spot on Lake Wakatipu

 To get to Te Anau we had another lakeside drive, this time along the banks of Lake Wakatipu, which is the large body of water on which Queenstown stands. It is a zig zag shape which on the map looks a bit like Harry Potter’s scar.

Lunch by the Lake

We were ready for a bite to eat at that stage, so I pulled in to one of the campsites down at the bottom of the lake. It would have been a grand place to stay, although there was no power or ablution block. We parked as close to the lake’s edge as we could and had a delightful meal. It was a simple one – just excellent local cheese and salami on crusty local bread followed by a bit of fruit. As I said to Rab it reminded me of a meal I had many years ago in the Seychelles with the man who became a lifelong friend – Lars Bengtsson. He and I simply picked up bread and cheese and a couple of beers and after driving around the island for a while found a spot and just sat under the palms, talking of this and that.

On we went after our break and found the Top 10 site where we had agreed to meet Matt. They had been there ahead of us, but had then gone on to do a tour of the glow-worm caves. We had hoped we might get there early enough to join them, but couldn’t make it. He had reserved adjoining sites so we duly parked – and I took the easier one on the basis that if he had been parking for a week, he had more expertise.

They duly  turned up and the grandgirls leapt out of their van to greet their beloved Gran, verbally tripping over each other to get their news out. Dani was directing Matt into the bay next to us but in all the excitement there was some confusion and Matt collected a boulder marker on the drive, denting a couple of the panels on his van. Fortunately he had a nil excess deal, so financially he was not put out although as he said on his FaceBook entry his ego was also dented.

Sharon and Karen ride off

The girls had been hiring pedal cars wherever these were on offer at campsites, so Matt and I went off with them alongside Lake Te Anau while Rab and Dani caught up with the news. The girls adopted different persona when they rode – Sharon and Karen, two housewives and mothers who spend a considerable time together at home – and kept up a constant chat, calling in the police on their ‘radios’ if they went off the pass, or roadside assistance if they got stuck. All in their version of an American accent. Such is the power of television. The views as we moved along the lakeside were, once again, simply marvellous as the sun set behind the mountains. Difficult to describe, but recorded thanks to our ever present cameras.

Sunset on Lake Te Anau

It was getting dark when we got back to the vans. Matt had picked up a menu from a local pizza shop who were happy to deliver to specific van sites. They had been recommended by the very pleasant people on the Reception desk and Matt suggested we order our meal from them. Seemed a  good idea and before too long we were all crowded around the table in our van having a great evening. The girls  found the fruit to be very tasty – especially the Golden Nuggets as the apricot/nectarines were called. Maybe the fruit will not last us until we leave after all!!

While we were waiting for the pizzas, the girls had to do their homework. They were missing a bit of school and the agreement was that they had to read every day and to keep a daily journal. I said to them that was good practice for future travelling. They read their entries for the day after they had completed them. Both were excellent, catching the essence of what they had done.

Rab and the girls - Caroline, Stephi and Dani

We had a couple of beers and a bit of wine to wash down the pizzas and had a hilarious evening, telling stories about the old days when Matt was a boy. the girls had heard most of them, but that didn’t stop them shrieking with laughter  at some of his mishaps.

A great evening – and one to remember.