A quick call in to the Winton Bakery to purchase a couple of their delicious meat pies for lunch, and we were on our way. The pretty town of Riverton was our next stop, originally known as Jacob’s River, and settlers started to arrive in the late 1830s. As the land was cleared flax milling, sawmilling, gold mining and boat building, together with farming and fishing all flourished. We stopped and ate our pies at “The Rocks”, a reserve along the coast from the Riverton township.
We watched the waves as they rolled into the beach, and a large flock of shags gathered on a nearby rock.
Our stop for the night was 30km further along to coast to the quaintly named “Monkey Island”, a free camping area, with toilets available.
Everybody knows that there are no monkeys in New Zealand, so how did it get it’s name? In the late 1860s this area had numerous homes, stores, a hotel and a butcher’s shop. Before the road from Riverton was formed, a slipway was built at the island so that the cargo from boats could be unloaded. A “Monkey Winch” was used to haul boats ashore and this is presumably the reason it is called Monkey Island.
There are only two of us staying at Monkey Island tonight. Dot and Derek are over-nighting in Invercargill and will rejoin us in a couple of days.
1 comment:
Hi you two
Interesting to see your parking arrangements tonight. Our neighbour here is the fifth wheeler from Gore:-)
Post a Comment