Mike got back from Wellington at about 11:30, and we are now off to the Coast. 13:21, 284183kms, 15.5°C and cloudy here. The weather forecast is better for on the coast than anywhere else, and we don't have to be back until next Thursday for Mike to start work on Friday, so we are off over there to park up and stay for a couple of days. But we'll have to see what the weather is actually like, and to see how bad the "black bitey bastards" are, which we've been told are pretty thick at the moment. Left Alexandra at 14:27 after doing some shopping for supplies, getting diesel (68L) and filling up the gas bottle (4kgs). Got to Boundary Creek at just on 16:30 and decided that was far enough for today.
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| View from Maggie @ Boundary Creek |
Wondered whether it was beginners luck - finding the right elevation and direction so quickly but hey, we'll take it! But then Mike went over and helped Rob get his - so maybe Mike is just good at getting the thing set up real quick. Anyway, watched the news on TVNZ7 (not limited to only TV1 now!) and had steak and salad for tea. Now that we have got the pan sorted the steak (get it really hot first) was delicious! Went to bed at 22:20.
22 January 2011
Up at 08:15 - although we were woken up earlier than that by the bloody smoke alarm "chirping" a couple of times and then it went quiet! Didn't go off as such, just a couple of little chirps - can understand why we need a smoke alarm, but if it does this again might have to invest in a new one. And no, it wasn't the battery - that's brand new. Anyway, 9.5°C and the sun is rising, just hasn't made it here yet. Had a coffee and decided to get an move on before everyone else also hits the road. 10:02 - stopped in Haast Township to dump rubbish - but no joy as they have "no glass" signs all over the rubbish bins, so couldn't get rid of our beer bottles. How silly is that? They (Westland District Council) provide a dumpstation and rubbish bins - but you can't dump your bottles - explains why there's broken bottles along the roads, I guess. Filled up with water at the DoC centre and now 10:31 and parked up in the 2nd spot - the first one had another camper in it already.
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| Is this REALLY Haast Beach? |
Absolutely stunning weather - so good that Marielle spent most of the day sitting outside - with the help of a little insect repellent but mainly the breeze, the sandflies were kept away and it was definitely warm enough to sunbathe - on Haast Beach! Unheard of. Anyway, read, relaxed and got sunburnt. Walked along the beach and to our great delight - especially Marielle's - there was Hector's dolphins, 6 of them, playing just off shore. At 16:00 it was still 21°C and gorgeous. Collected firewood for tonight's tea and got the fire all ready to go. And we are totally amazed - it was really busy at Boundary Creek last night, and we saw heaps of campers on the road while we were sitting at Boundary Creek, and we honestly thought we'd be shit out of luck getting a spot on Haast Beach. Ok, our first choice spot had someone in it (but was empty when we went for a walk so we could have moved there if we wanted to, but decided we're ok where we are) but we have only seen 3 vehicles in here all day. Thought it would be way busier than that - go figure - but we are not complaining, quite happy to have place to ourselves. Watched the news (Mike had the dish tuned within 30 seconds of getting here this morning!) and "Coasters" (the new Al Brown programme about the NZ Coast). Marielle broke one of the vanes of the gas outlet cover when her heel caught in it as she was shuffling round the table - bugger. Won't stop the gas heating or anything working, but a bit of a nuisance.
20:25 - fire is going - going to have pork cops, corn and baked spuds for tea. As we were just about to light the fire a station wagon pulled up and looked to be going to settle in for the night - so Mike went and asked them where they were going to shit - at which point they moved on. 
Probably go and park somewhere else and still not have a toilet, but at least it's not in our "backyard"! And then ended up talking to people who rocked up in a car marked "Alexandra Storage"
(Hugh Clark, Devon & Pru Millar) for a while while we stood round the fire to keep the now very hungry sandflies away.
Oh, and at this time of the year, the sun doesn't set into the sea - it sets way round behind the hills of Jackson Bay. So no "sun sinking into the water" photo's this trip - but then again, we've got enough of those. Bed at 23:10.
23 January 2011
Up at 08:00 and another beautiful day with a slight off-shore breeze, no clouds and 15.5°C at the moment. While we were having our coffee and admiring the view we saw this absolutely massive pod of dolphins - a wee way off shore, but close enough to see them all leaping and playing and feeding.
They stretched, in a pretty much straight line, from one side to the other on the horizon! Never, ever have we seen so many dolphins. And at the same time, the Hector's are here too - just off the surf line. How cool! Left to go for a walk along the beach just on 11:00, but then thought we should go and dump and get some more supplies just in case it does get busy today and we loose our spot if we leave it too late. All chores done and back in position at 12:07. Went for a short walk along the beach and it was warm enough (24°C) for Mike to stand in the waves and try, unsuccessfully, not to get his shorts wet. Spent the rest of the afternoon reading - Marielle often outside - and relaxing.
It's been another gorgeous day and it's now 21:00 and the spuds and chicken thighs are cooking in the fire - yep, we've gone adventurous and cooked the chicken in the fire too! Sandflies have not been too bad today, although at night fall they do get very bitey and result in shorts being swapped for jeans and socks, despite it not being cold. Tea was delicious and we can't remember what time we went to bed, but definitely after 21:30! Oh, watched TV again tonight!
24 January 2011
Marielle was up at 07:50, 14.5°C and decided to leave Mike to have a sleep in and took Roxie for a walk along the beach.
Sat and watched the morning Hector's Dolphin show - a regular thing, it seems, as they've been here every day, morning and afternoon. Awesome! Mike cooked bacon, eggs and cheese on toast for breakfast and then we went for a massive (1.5 hour) walk along the beach to the point towards the south. The dolphins seemed to be keeping pace with us so much that Mike remarked that we were "taking the dolphins for their walk!" They delighted us both by 2 of them, very close in, leaping clean out of the water - like our own private dolphin show.
We got back to Maggie at 14:15 and spent the rest of the day doing what we do best - reading, sleeping and relaxing! Gosh, it's a tough life LOL! Oh yes, got rid of another "shitter" (what we call those awful camper things that have no toilet facilities on board) this morning - 5 people in this one, and they arrived, and spread out like they were here to stay! They saw the dolphins, and asked Marielle if she had too - which provided the perfect opportunity for Marielle to point out that yes, the dolphins were beautiful, just like our country and we want to keep it that way - so make sure you at least bury your waste! So they obviously didn't like that, and moved on very quickly after that. We are tired of people not staying in campgrounds if they have no toilets, and we are going to continue to ask them to move on. If we don't say something we are just adding to the problem. Anyway, just about to watch the news when another camper rocked up - this one CSC, so no worries. Got talking and it turned out we are all from Clyde! - Neil and Christine Driver were on their way home from nearly 3 weeks round the South Island, and stopped to check out this spot for future use. Watched TV from 18:30 onwards, had pork, fresh home-grown beans and salad for tea. Marielle went to bed at 22:05, Mike followed after "I shouldn't be alive" had finished.
25 January 2011
Up at 07:30, 12.5°C and partly cloudy. Can tell the weather's going to pack up later on today - the sandflies are very, VERY bitey this morning - and they have gathered in their thousands, too. So they are telling us it's time to move - which we did at 09:15. Went for a short detour to Hannah's Clearing to see what's happened there in the last little while - nothing much, but there is now a POP there (another gravel pit beside the road!) and there's a new house going up. Got back to Haast and dumped everything, bought a pie for breakfast and left there at 10:44. 12:34 - have had lunch (chop chop chook sandwiches) at Boundary Creek. Norwester really blowing here, and you can see that it's raining in the hills, so decided against staying here. Uhmed and aahed about what we were going to do - neither of us really want to go home yet, but if the weather's going to poop itself then maybe we should. Thought about driving over the hill to Aviemore, but seems a long way to go, especially if the weather's no good there too. So we'll go and check out Albertown and see what that's like, and then make a decision. Checked out Dublin Bay on the way - another one fo those roads we've always driven past and seeing as we have time thought we should check out. Turns out that there's a lovely recreation reserve right on the lakeshore there - but no camping!
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| Beside the Hawea River at Albertown |
14:00 - all set up at Albertown Camp Ground - but not where we always thought we would park.
Mike pulled into the driveway on the opposite side of the road to where the main campground is - and when we were reading the sign, at the very bottom, is an arrow with "camping" written beside it. Neither of us knew there was anything here, let alone camping. So off we go, tiki tour around a bit and find the perfect possie. What a wonderful little spot this is - well, not so little as the camping area is huge. We are parked right beside the Hawea River, away from other people and roads (so no need to continuously keep an eye on Roxie - which she's loving 'cause she can go and explore!) and just gorgeous. Not only that, we are tucked in completely out of the wind - can see it's blowing by the trees across the river, but we are completely sheltered. It's overcast, but not cold - 21°C, and there's no bitey things here either - YAY! Decided to go and check out the Hawea River Swing Bridge at 14:35 and carried on up the track a bit. 
And a bit further, and a bit further - in typical Mike fashion these days it became a "well, we're here now so we might as well carry on and have a look", and we ended up walking, and walking, and walking! Saw another track that looked like it would take us back, round in a circle, but after walking for ages and seemingly going further and further away from where we need to be we finally decided to climb a ridge and have a look - and sure enough, we were WAY past where we should be. 
So we followed the ridge back round, to meet up with the track we originally started on. Another "quick" walk that turned into a 1.45 hour marathon! Phew - even Roxie was exhausted after this one! Got back at 16:10 and sat and read until beer o'clock - and then Mike decided he had to go and check out the rest of the camp - well, just along from us, anyway, and he arrived back with 
2 rubber duckies! They had a fundraising duck race on the Hawea River last weekend, and these guys obviously got caught up - so we now have (temporarily, I hope) 2 rubber duckies, a Bart (found last year at Aviemore) and Russ sitting in the windscreen - becoming a bit of a gypsy wagon! Watched the news and Coro Street and had stir fry (chicken, veggies and honey soy sauce) for tea. Marielle hit the pit at 22:10, Mike at 22:30. Oh, and we are totally amazed and pleased with the Winegard Sat dish - we did have some small concerns as you hear stories about them being difficult to tune, etc etc, but Mike has got it nailed within 30 seconds everytime, and it's not at all difficult.
26 January 2011
Up at 08:20 (which seems like a sleep in but not really as Mike was up and down all night - he just couldn't sleep!), cloudy and 17°C. Went into Wanaka and bought some more draftstop (for the bottom of the flyscreen door, to stop bugs coming in) and also went to Puzzling World - haven't been there for years. Great - you pay $9 per person to go into the Illusion Rooms - which is good fun, until someone points out to you that you have just spent $9 to make yourself feel sick! Still worth it though, but have to admit, the wonky room does bad things to your mind! And then back into Wanaka because Mike had said that we were going to do lunch "at that seafood place". Well, what a find that turned out to be - The Reef, it's called, and we had the most fabulous seafood platter for two. Mussels, salmon, salt & pepper calamari, scallops, salad and chips - delicious. At $58 it might seem a bit expensive, but we were absolutely chokka after eating it all (and we did not eat any tea that night, still full from lunch!) so we thought it was extremely good value. Will definitely go back there and have it again. And with that we decided to head home - the weather is getting darker and cooler, so we might as well. Got home at 13:45, 284720 kms - which is a 537kms trip. (And PS - it started to rain just after we got home, and it pelted down for the rest of the afternoon, clearing up at around 5pm-ish.)
