264099 kms, 11:26 and 7.5⁰C. We are off somewhere – anywhere. It’s been crap weathe
r for weeks now and today isn’t much better, but at least it’s not raining or snowing and it’s warmer than it has been for days and we so NEED to go somewhere! The model on MetConnect says it’s going to be better towards the East Coast, so we’re heading off in that direction. Got to Beaumont and it’s raining, and looking decidedly dark towards Lawrence, so we turned towards Balclutha. We bought Chinese for lunch in Balclutha and ate that on the side of the road at Kaka Point. Carried on and went as far as we could go up the road to Nugget Point. Walked to lookout, but bitterly cold and raining again so we decided to flag walking to the Lighthouse. Walked the dogs along the only bit of beach where dogs are allowed between Kaka and Nugget Points while it was dry – and the sun even tried to come out. No camping allowed anywhere around here, so continued down the road towards Owaka – and it’s p-ing down! Saw a sign that said Cannibal Bay, which neither 
of us had ever heard of, let alone been to, so off down another dirt road. Well worth it, because e
ven though there isn’t much room to park up, there’s enough for 1 camper and it’s very pretty, and right on the beach. Got here at 16:15, 264387kms. Absolutely hosing down, but it’s 10⁰ out, which is almost tropical compared to what we’ve had for the last week or so! Didn’t eat any tea as we had such a big lunch so late in the afternoon. The rain stopped every so now and then – enough to take the dogs out for a quick run and to have the occasional smoke. Played Monopoly all evening! Bed at 22:06. 14 May 2009
Up at 08:00, 6⁰C out
and not raining. Turned gennie on (our first trip with the “wee” gennie. We swapped the big, heavy 2.3kW one that had a fault for 2x1kW. We don't actually need a big gennie as we only need it to charge the house battery now - we don't need it to run a heater thanks to gas heating!) as the battery is a bit low. Then took dogs for walk along the beach and over the dunes to Surat Bay where we saw a sea-lion coming out of 
the surf. She was all sweet until Mike started to talk “sea-lion” to her – problem is, we don’t know what he said, but whatever it was really upset her – so much so that even after we’d walked along the beach the other way, the moment we turned and came back to within site of her, she charged! Might need to learn to speak sea-lion first next time, or at le
ast know what’s being said, before doing that again! Nice and sunny and out of the wind it’s quite pleasant, Now 11:30 and Mike is cooking brunch - 11⁰C out and starting to cloud over a bit from inland. Oh – we have an airlock in the water pump – we emptied it too much before we filled for this trip. Can’t seem to fix it either, have tried to bleed it by undoing the filter housing but no luck. No major, just means a shower might be a bit uncomfortable as pressure goes up and down. Oh, and this is also the first trip with Biomagic toilet chemicals. 13:35 – have had showers (which turned out no problem!) etc. and now off tiki-touring. Went to Jack’s Bay, Newhaven, Surat Bay, Owaka, Owaka Heads and Pounawea – pretty much all the “seaside” places are actually on the estuary and not re
ally doing it for us. Stopped at Owaka to check out the Info Centre/Museum – there we saw pictures of Purakanui Bay which looks promising, so after a handle at the pub we’re heading off that way. 16:00 – Purakanui Bay. Yep, very pretty but absolutely nowhere to park except for on the road, due to the fact that the whole area is a bog. Spoke to a guy in a bus when we pulled up who advised us not to go on the grass as he’d had to pull someone out that morning. But at least it’s not raining, and the sun came out just before it set. Had lamb chops, potatoes and cabbage for tea after playing Monopoly again. Saw the most amazing moon-rise - completely orange and huge just before going to bed at 21:45.15 May 2009
Up at 07:50. Took the
dogs for a walk – bog, bog, bog everywhere except along beach – but can’t get to most of the beach due to the river so ended up being a short-ish walk. Saw another sea-lion on the rocks in the distance and Mike just had to have another go at speaking sea-lion – which made it RUN down the rocks into the surf! Did walk up the hill behind the camping area for some stunning views. There’s a cold win
d blowing and left at 09:45. Off to Purakanui Falls, which are definitely very cool and the on to Papatowai, which wasn’t. Nowhere to park up, and again not really doing it for us. Carried on down the road a bit further, but then decided to turn around as it was time to start heading back. Got to Balclutha at 11:49, filled up with 64L of diesel (264476 kms) and bought takeaways for lunch (scallops, oysters, spring roll, paua pattieBalclutha Boat ramp. Headed off home, into a howling norwester at 12:33. Got to Beaumont and decided to carry on h
ome along the true left bank of the Clutha – along the Millennium Track. Really cool not to be on main highway, and really glad we didn’t do it the other day (we did think about it, and even got down the road a wee bit before decided it was way too wet and slippery), as it would have been way too boggy to get through. Had one interesting moment crossing the bridge – literally a couple of centimetres cleara
nce on either side, but got across fine in the end. Came out at Millers Flat and got back on the highway, home just after 15:00. A really cool trip, and the most dirt roads we’ve ever been on – pretty much every road we went on bar the main highway was dirt, so poor old Maggie is incredibly dirty! End kilometres: 264628, so that's another 529kms added.
