Year: 2018

Picton

Posted on by carotte
A pleasant ferry ride into Picton. Geoff and I enjoyed the scenery, the three had a brief look, but were otherwise engaged with the inferry entertainment. Spiderman and Sing. Both got mediocre reviews. Charlotte Sound was beautiful as we glided in, and Picton had a nice feel. We managed to wedge our tent in one of the last remaining spaces in a mainly boat owner filled campsite. Catching your own fish is the norm here, and no wonder. It’s cheaper in France.  The weather looks a bit dicey,  so we charge out in the morning to hire kayaks. Great fun!  Hoards of Moon Jelly fish. They are OK to pick up (and eat fresh from the water apparently! ) if a little slimy. Lovely to watch wafting through the water. We also spotted an 11 legged starfish and a Ray. O had his own kayak and did a great job. E and I shared. She did a bit. R and Paps shared. R got distracted by the jelly fish and I’m not sure I saw him do any. Absolutely poured all night. Luckily the tent held it together, and apart from the occasional hiss from M when some unfortunate family member dared to push the inner layer of the tent onto the outer layer (As everyone knows, this causes the already tenuous waterproofness of the tent to be put into jeopardy) everyone had a good night. We bundled the soggy tent up in a small break in the rain. After checking the forecast (rain and high winds pretty much all over the south Island,  but slightly less on the east side) we scrapped the idea of farewell spit and the able tasman. Ho for Kaikoura! On our way put of picton, we stopped at the cherry picking place we stopped at in 2003 and though the pyo had finished, one could purchase a punnet of a kilo for $20. A kilo was $8 back in the day. Geoff even noted it on the map! Ho hum. They were deliciouse. Unfortunately, the main road was badly damaged in the latest earthquake, and though nearly mended,  it is closed due to the heavy rain. We push on in the hope that it will be open on the morrow. We waste a bit of time trying to get as close along the road. Ward turns out to consist of two houses, a sheep and something claiming to be a campsite. Gale force winds outside, and as all the lady could offer was a bare pice of windswept ground, we scarpered back to Blenheim. An unremarkable night (lushsome coffah in the morning!) And onwards down the national highway number 1.

Wellinton

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So, after a rafreshing start to 2018, we head to Wellington. Big place, but it’s got a good feel. Bright sunny days help! Geoff and I have fond memories of Tepapa museum, so that is on our list. We are also keen for some sort of LOTR”s thing. Sadly it seems there is no huge studio where one can walk into middle earth. However, a good second is Weta Studios. Located at the end of a small street in the outskirts of town. ie in the middle of nowhere, the actual visitable but if the studio is small, but packed. The cave trolls are outside, lifesize, to greet us. Lurtz is inside, as is a goblin! Much exitment. Thus small studio has grown to be one of the main special effect places in the world. Sadly the tours were all based on ‘thunderbirds’ which we all have negative interest in, so we contended ourselves with wondering round the shop (where two pieces of Smaugs treasure were bought) round the little museum with orc/uruk hai weapons. Lots of helmets, including Merry”s. The lion the witch and the wardrobe was also represented by the snow queens wand and  Peters  armour. As the icing on the cake, they got to try on Gandalf’s hat and staff and an axe. Much fun had by all! Tepapa was not met with as much enthusiasm. Things were not helped by the fact that we had to park not as close as the trio would have liked. This involved an actual walk and plenty bleating. Despite themselves, they did like the museum, with giant squid and Maori war canoe! Back outside in the baking heat,  they got lucky with an impromptu icecream and we all had a wonderful swim in beautifully warm sea. Bliss.

Well, ho for south island

New Year

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The gardens we saw could have been national trust. Beautifully planted with a huge variety of plants and trees. The hydrangeas were my favourite. A huge range of different blues, some white but very little pink. They also grow in almost every garden, as do Agapanthus. These grow everywhere along this coast. Blue and white. Lining all the roads and dotted on the hillsides. Spectacular.

Just to clarify ‘stealth ‘ one equips oneself with a stick. This is either a sword/lightsaber. Then one legs it into the dunes, and creeps around trying to sneak up on the enemy. Much fun had by all!
So, after our extremely pleasant  Christmas interlude, we set off southwards once more, all a bit sad to say goodbye to our cabin. By some superhuman feat I managed to squeeze our belongings into pearl. She is bursting at the seems now, and Geoff gave up hope of a back windscreen view long ago! I blame the SUP. Ho for another DOC campsite. I am usually a fan as they tend to be in beautiful locations and have a nice wild feel to them. This one was heaving with a mutilated of humanity and all the dogs. We were lucky to get a pitch! Toilets provided, but no showers. I presume the DOC large cheeses decreed that the weary traveller would leap with joy at the prospect of a mountain stream dip instead. And so the traveller might have, if said stream was fit for human consumption. It was not. Though clear and enticing, it was so bone chillingly cold that it needed an effort of super human proportions to dip a toe in. This would have been my limit had it not been hot and sweaty on the journey. Not my favourite dip. Managed to defrost a little in my sleeping bag, but it got chilly in the night so frosted up again. Geoff always seems to have more than his fair share of the blanket on these nights.  Hmm mm.  Leaving that campsite without a pang or backward glance (the highlight had been some very friendly brothers who owned parakeets,  and bicycled around with them on their shoulders ) we headed on down. This campsite was worse. Long drop toilets. The large cheeses had obviously decided that the sea was near enough and left showers out again. Howling gale. We managed, with great difficulty, to put the tent up. However, Warehouses best is not made for the cut and thrust of rough living, and after a minute of two of watching it get buffeted practically flat, we all fell upon it to stop it being torn out and blown away. The 5 of us managed to wrestle it back into its bag. We decided to give it another go after the walk. Palliser pinacles were impressive and a bit eerie. Wind still up so we head to the seal colony at Cape Palliser. About as far south as you can get. The seals were one of my favourite thing so far. We could watch them from close up, and they had pups. Brilliant experience. Wind still doing its stuff. I make a half hearted joke about sleeping in the car. There is a huge cheer from the back! So that’s what we did on the 31st Dec 2017. New years eve in Pearl on a beach at what felt like the edge of the world! It was, as Elodie said, a squash and a squeeze! Geoff looked like a miserable camel hunched in his corner! Character building I say. Happy new year all!