Donuts, Pies and The Willows

There wasn't too much rush to leave Bealey Hotel, our next stop was a 73km away, and most of the difficult driving was behind us.  We still had Porter’s Pass to drive over, and plenty of small hills and valleys to negotiate, but it seemed that we were over the worst on this road.

We drove down yet another steep hill to see the Waimakariri River, one of the braided rivers found in this part of the country.

Waimakariri River

The land was opening up, but the mountains hadn't quite given up on us yet, there were still plenty of interesting views as we drove along.

More mountain views

Our plan was to spend the night at Kowai Pass Domain Campground, Springfield, a “new to us camp”, very reasonably priced at $22.00 a night for a powered site on the Camper Saver Scheme.  The friendly caretaker lives in a large bus on site, warmly welcomed us when we arrived, guided Robin into place, turned the power box on for us, and we were soon set up in time for lunch.  He mentioned how good the NZMCA was to the business during lockdown, helping stranded travelers find somewhere to stay, including his camp ground, when travel restrictions were in place.

Camp sign and caretakers bus

The camp is nicely maintained, with good amenities, and a laundry.  On went another load, which was hung up on an old fashioned line with a centre pole.   As the camp is part of the Domain, there is a tennis court, children’s playground, and we noticed that the council trucks use part of the grounds to park up at night.

Two of us, later joined by several other vans

Springfield is famous for a large pink donut, but where did it come from?   The Simpsons cartoon has been around for more than 30 years, and on July 27, 2007, The Simpsons Movie premiered across the globe.  The  movie studio 20th Century Fox presented a giant pink donut to the town of Springfield, New Zealand,  in 2007  to promote the premiere of The Simpsons Movie.  We are not really Simpson fans, but even we know that Homer Simpson loves donuts. And no, we couldn’t find him anywhere.

The famous Springfield donut

Springfield has a famous son, and the  Rewi  Alley Memorial honours his life and work for 60 years in China.

The story boards inside tell of his birth in Springfield, his childhood and early years, and his many years in China helping the ordinary Chinese people to improve their lives.  We also found a plaque honouring his mother, Clara Alley.  She was one of the leaders of the Women's Suffrage Movement.

Rewi Alley Memorial

It was just one night here in Springfield and we were on the road again.  Just 10km down the road was Sheffield, home of the world famous Sheffield Pies.  The number of cars, trucks and motor homes parked outside the shop was unbelievable, on both sides of the road – seems the rumour was true, the pies certainly must be famous indeed!  Robin had to drive around the block to find room to park our rig. Just look at all those people munching away on their Sheffield pies on the veranda, and there were plenty more customers inside.

 

Happy customers

There were plenty of choices in the hot cabinet and we each chose a hot pie for lunch, plus I ordered two cold bacon and egg pies for a future meal.  A coke for Robin and a coffee for me – could this be a more quintessential Kiwi lunch?

I’ll try some of that

Another 30km or so, turning off the main road and heading towards the Waimakariri River took us to The Willows NZMCA Park, another new to us stop on our trip.  There is plenty of gravel areas to park in, more than enough room for just the three vans on site, but no facilities available here. 

The Willows NZMCA park

We had only just arrived, wound the legs down, when the rain came down.  This looks like a good place to while the afternoon away and enjoy some R&R.