12:02, 289758kms, 12°C and overcast. And, it's our anniversary - 15 years ago today Mike came round for a coffee - and, as they say, the rest is history! Anyway, we're off somewhere - anywhere - away from the low cloud, fog, gloomy days! Our bedroom is all ready for when the wallpaper arrives (on back order) and we don't have to rip up the old carpet until next week, seeing as the new carpet won't get laid until 10 June, so we are allowed to have a bit of R&R, we thought! The weather is ok at the moment - at least it isn't raining (been very, very wet here and all around Otago these last few days)! We're not sure if the weather is going to be nice to us over the next few days (forecast says not, it's supposed to be wet), but we are really hoping to get away from this depressing low cloud. The odometer won't match with the "end of last trip reading" as we took Maggie to Cromwell yesterday to have a wheel alignment done, as the front left tyre was cutting in. Turns out there is nothing wrong with the alignment, it's just what happens with our set-up and the only option is to religiously rotate the tyres. Ok, so now we know. So then we went to Beaurepairs in Alexandra (after getting prices everywhere else too) where we got the best deal for 2 new tyres, so Maggie now has 2 new front feet! Filled up in Cromwell while we were there because we had a 20 cent per litre discount voucher, but it still didn't take away the pain - 65.51L at $1.47 - OMG!!!!
Anyway, back to today's trip! Stopped at the Clyde Garage to mail the DVD's Marielle spent the last couple of weeks making for Kirsty and Cody (home movies off video onto computer and then onto DVD) and then headed into Alexandra to drop the wallpaper sample we've had for the last week (to make sure we picked the right carpet!) off back to Resene and then we carried on to see where we'd end up. Will have to take extreme care choosing a spot by the look of all the bog holes in every paddock and on every grassy bit - don't want to get stuck. Stopped at our normal stopping-place in the Pig Root for a stretch at 13:30 and then we stopped in Palmerston for a treat at 14:35 - a 1/2 dozen oysters and a piece of Elephant fish for afternoon tea! Stopped and ate them at Shag Point, but everything so wet and muddy that poor old Roxie was most upset at only being able to see the birds on the beach - and not chase them! And, much to our disgust, it seems that we just can't get away from bloody fog and low cloud!! Had thought it would be better on the coast, but no such luck as it was painfully obvious when we were approaching Palmerston that the sea fog had rolled in. BUGGER. Checked out the Wainakarua Mouth but there was no way we were ever going to get in - the road was just a complete bog.
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| Gemmells Crossing |
11 May 2011
Up at 08:05 (we were awake earlier but it was just too nice and snuggly in bed!), 7.5°C and high cloud. Weather forecast is for rain everywhere today, but it's still dry at the moment. 09:04, have had a couple of coffees and decided we'd find somewhere nice for brunch later on, so we are now rollling. Put some diesel in the tank at Weston, then we checked out Kaik Camp (saw the sign so headed off down the road!) but not really our cup of tea. Now 10:25 and heading off to Glenavy Fishing Camp to have a look as we've never been here, and sounds promising as it's on the Waitaki River Mouth. Couldn't get to the mouth as the road was closed due to tree felling (why didn't they put the sign at the start of the track so that we didn't have to back all the way back to the turn-off!?!) and the camp is a little like Lake Clearwater and Heron - NO DOGS signs everywhere.
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| Morven Beach |
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| Weird rock formations near McCullough Bridge |
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| Lunch stop |
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| Sunset at Orari River Mouth |
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| NZ Fur Seal |
12 May 2011
Up at 07:37, 16°C (!!!!) and blowing a NW - suns' about to come up so it might be the nice day that was forecast - certainly warm enough already! At 10:30 it was 18.5°C and a glorious, glorious day. A bit of a NW blowing, but not enough to annoy you. Took Roxie for a walk along the beach (too hot for her with all her fur!) and had muesli for breakfast, showers and now deciding what we are going to do for the rest of the day. Ended up doing nothing - too nice to spend the day inside, so decided to stay put. Did all the normal relaxing things - sitting outside, in T-shirts, wishing we'd bought shorts! Middle of May!! Took Roxie for numerous walks down to the water to cool her off! And then the wind turned to an on-shore breeze which cooled things dramatically. So Marielle moved inside, had chip sandwiches for lunch and went for a walk to check out the Katipo Spiders further up the beach, by the lagoon. Saw a couple. And on the way back we saw Hector's Dolphins! These things are supposed to be rare as hen's teeth, but it seems to us that we can't go to either coast without seeing them! Not that we're complaining because we both think they are awesome creatures. And then, as we were reading/x-stitching on Maggie, a falcon flew by. What a trip for wildlife this is! Watched TV, and then the wind went from nothing to a mean southerly with a vengeance - even the G3 shocks on the satellite dish had trouble keeping the dish still! Had chicken breast and 4 bean mix (to which we add chopped spring onion, finely chopped red pepper, finely chopped tomato and also a handful of crunchy combo - absolutely delicious!) for tea - YUM! Can't remember what time we went to bed, but it was definitely after 22:00.
13 May 2011
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| Rangitata Huts |
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| Wakanui Beach |
14 May 2011
Up at 08:10, 4.5°C and sunny. Such a gorgeous spot - apart from the smells! We did notice it a bit yesterday, there's a field full of chowmolia behind us, but this morning it's mixed with definite cowshit smells! Such a shame, as it's not a bad spot, but it might explain why there's no-one else here. Did have a couple of boy-racers scream up during the night, but they left pretty quickly again too, so no hassles. 09:56 - have had showers etc, ready to get away from the smell. Did what we're getting good at this trip - just drive and see where you end up. To be fair though, we always aim to end up on a beach somewhere, and it quickly became apparent that, once again, the map and reality are two different things - we are after all, in Canterbury! and when we got to an intersection where neither road took us in what felt like the right direction, we finally (why haven't we done this earlier!) turned Mike's phone into a GPS guidance system - comes with the phone for free - and asked it to take us to the Rakaia Mouth.
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| Beautiful day at South Rakaia Huts |
The South Rakaia Huts is another huge settlement with 74 cribs, not in the book, with $5 per night camping ground behind a massive macrocarpa hedge. Which means it could be very sheltered, but not needed on a day like today - it's absolutely beautiful weather (was meant to be NW gales today) and this place is stunning.
And one of us (or maybe all of us together) is a dolphin magnet - because we saw another couple of Hector's - much to the delight of the people from Tutukaka we spent well over and hour talking to - they'd never seen them before! We had brunch parked on the beach - the usual bacon, eggs and mushie mix! Walked around all the time here in T-shirts - not a breath of wind and just gorgeous! Left at 13:10 to dump, which we did in Rakaia, and it was 21°C. Now heading south along SH1 to put some more diesel in the tank in Ashburton at the truckstop as that's the cheapest with our RD card (17L, so that's what we've used just tiki-touring round here!) and then intending to head inland as we do have to start heading home at some stage.
Did check out the south side of the Hakatere - glad we didn't do it yesterday as it's yuck - bog holes cut up by 4WD's and motorcycles and no view of the sea, so carried on a little further and now (15:30) parked up at the end of Williams Road, right on the beach (well, on a decent ledge well above high tide mark!). 
Another lovely spot, awesome views and sheltered from the NW that is starting to pick up. Best spot so far, we reckon! Did the normal routine for the rest of the afternoon, had Tuscan pork, broccoli and mashed spuds (mashed with some sour cream and chives dip - YUM!) for tea, watched TV and hit the pit at the end of the film (about 11-ish?).
15 May 2011
Up at 08:00, 9.5°C, after a somewhat restless night because the southerly arrived much, much earlier than forecast (like about 12 hours!) with a vengeance and made a racket at 06:00, which woke both of us up. The sea had crashed on shore all night, which occasionally woke Marielle up during the night, so not the bestest sleep! Had muesli for breakfast and showers and now 10am and rolling, and letting the GPS guide us outta here! 11:10, just done some shopping at Temuka New World. And then, because the GPS is guiding us home, and didn't send us inland where we thought it would, we ended up in Timaru again, so guess what we're having for lunch and dinner?!? Put some more fuel in at the Truckstop (13L, 290514) and washed all the poop and salt off Maggie there too. Ate Noodles (garlic prawn, combination noddles and combination soup) at the Beach at Caroline Bay. Walked Roxie along the beach, watched a big container ship leave and now (13:20) we are on our way again - letting the pommie girl on Mike's phone tell us where to go! :) She sent us onwards via the backstreets of the industrial area of Timaru (we'd never been there before either!). We have set it to the "shortest route" home, and we are currently a bit puzzled as we're still heading south along SH1, and have not turned inland at either Geraldine or Cave. So where is she sending us? Well, we finally turned inland at Waitaki, just below the bridge, onto McPherson's Road! And then, along several dirt roads and numerous turns, we ended up back on the main road to Kurow.
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| Coming back to ground level! |
