31 October 2009
10:45, 268778kms, 11⁰C and sunny. Haven’t been away for a wee while, had planned to go away Labour weekend, but weather forecast wasn’t good, so stayed home and did chores instead. Oh, and installed a new water pump on Maggie, as the old one decided to stop working after the last trip! Fortunately we discovered it wasn’t working before we went anywhere – could have been a bit of a hassle arriving somewhere only to find we had no access to our water! Anyway, now off to shop and fill with diesel and then off over the hill. Put 55.88L in at Caltex Truckstop (pump at BP broken). Had lunch beside Lake Dunstan at Lions Creek – beautiful day and getting warmer. Now 12:45 and on our way again. Got to Ohau C at 14:25 – and there is now a “no camping” sign as you drive past the power station – but we figure it doesn’t apply to us as it shows a picture of a tent and anyway, we don’t camp – we are just parked up! Coolish breeze but not too bad – temperature has varied between 17 and 19⁰C. Read and relaxed for the rest of the day. Oh, and we have bought the wee black and white TV with us to watch the news and weather while the generator is running – and it worked perfectly! So we watched TV until it was time to cook tea – chicken and asparagus – YUM. Have not had any heating going at all today – first time in months and months that it’s been warm enough not to have to turn the gas on. Went to bed just after 22:00.1 November 2009
Up at 06:40 – a mild but cloudy 11⁰C. Odd wee shower came through during the night, but now dry. Marielle caught a beautiful brown – and remembered to take the camera along this time, so there is proof! Fished, read and relaxed – beautiful day once cloud burned off – and it’s still 23.5⁰C outside at 18:00. Norwester starting to pick up now though. Started the gennie at 17:50 – overload light on with nothing plugged in and it won’t reset – SHIT, no gennie – again! Still watched TV though – just started the motor to keep the battery charged. Had beef stir fry with Thai green curry sauce on salad for tea – different! Bed at around 21:30.
2 November 2009
Up at usual time. Now 09:40 and it’s 17⁰C already and sunny. The forecast was for rain, but they got that wrong! Off to Twizel to dump etc. and then we tiki-toured around Ruataniwha before heading back at 14:00. Southerly has arrived, but still gorgeous and warm enough to sit outside ‘til news time. Chicken Kiev and salad for tea, bed at 22:00.
3 November 2009
Up at normal time, fished, relaxed – cool breeze until around 15:30, when once again it was warm enough to sit outside and enjoy good weather. Mike has tried all day to catch a fish but no luck – the lake is very, very milky and the fish just aren’t interested. Marielle fished the little river beside us with the same result – plenty of fish to be seen, not interested though! Had Mike’s spaghetti and mince for tea and bed at usual time!
4 November 2009
Into Twizel to dump at 10:30 – been very, very windy this morning and during the night, but at bit calmer when we travelled in. Had a gourmet Chicken Burger for lunch at Hunters Café – should have only had one, as they are huge – but very good and worth it. And while we were in Twizel the wind arrived again – with a vengeance this time. Marielle nearly got bowled by the wind carrying the shopping across the car park, where we were parked exactly side on to the wind – the result was that Maggie was rocking from side to side quite heavily – and that was sitting still! Back to the Lake – and the little stretch along the main highway was an experience – once we were out of the wind break created by the trees Mike had to hang on for dear life to keep us on the road – and a bus coming the other way didn’t help. Anyway, good thing was once we turned off down the canal we had a tail wind! Parked in the shelter of the trees around the back, simply to get out of the roaring wind. Few branches down around the place, but gorgeous where we parked. Spent rest of afternoon keeping an eye on the dogs – JD loves it here because it’s grassy underfoot and he is over running on river rocks and now he’s running everywhere at full speed chasing hares and having a ball! Had salad for tea – still full from lunch – and hit the pit at 21:30.5 November 2009
Up at 07:15 (sleep-in!) and beautiful day but much cooler than other days - 5⁰C when we got up. Moved back to our normal spot so we could go and have a fish, but river up (snow-melt) so Marielle couldn’t fish the river. So we both tried spinning in the canal, again no luck. Left at 11:00 to go to Wanaka to drop the gennie off. Had thought to maybe stay somewhere round Wanaka, but the wind is back again so ended up just going home. Got home about 14:00-ish (forgot to look at the time!) and have done 511kms this trip - final odo reading 269289 kms.
