Lee, the voice in our Garmin GPS System, was not happy. We were carefully driving up and over the densely forest covered 420m Karamea Bluff, slowly going around tight corners, and it appeared that the GPS system kept losing sight of the satellite. Our Garmin screen showed the little car symbol “falling off the road”. “Recalculating, recalculating”, Lee’s disembodied voice told us over and over, “Please drive to highlighted route”. Sorry Lee, but we really are on the road. Just as well he wasn’t calling out “Danger, danger, you’ve fallen down the cliff”, that would have been a worry. Our cat Muffy didn’t appear to be very happy about all those sharp corners up and over the Bluff. She was laying across my knees, with her head hanging down, and her little paws on the centre consul to help keep her balance as we went around one corner after another.
Once safely down the hill we crossed the Mokihinui River over a bridge which looked suspiciously like it had been constructed with giant meccano pieces. We were backtracking from Karamea and returning to the Seddonville Hotel for the next few nights, a campsite on a lovely rural property with very friendly hosts.
One of the hens had escaped from the adjacent enclosure and was having a great time giving herself a dust bath in the garden. She wriggled around and made herself a hollow, flapped her wings madly to flip the dry soil over herself, then decided she might as well lie there and have a snooze in the afternoon sunshine. The other chooks who were still under house arrest got a bit of a treat when I tossed some veggie scraps over the fence for them.
Seddonville was a much busier place in earlier years when mining and saw milling were local industries. These days it is a sleepy little place, and we walked along the empty streets with houses dotted here and there. We noticed quite a few old caravans on the properties, no doubt used as extra bedrooms. Locals have strong views here, and this house holder was making his view known with a sign painted on his roof about a proposed dam on the Mokihinui River.
The old Library building and Rural Fire station have been flooded several times and a proposal has been made to move these vintage buildings to higher ground. The library is run by volunteers and only opens once a week – here are Geoff and Robin caught peeping through the windows.
We wondered if someone was living in this container, as it has windows set along one side. A low priced house, perhaps?
We have several things planned while we are staying at Seddonville – so watch this space!
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