Day out with SLG Friends

 It was a lovely day out with our Super Leisure Group friends.  A real "Blue Sky" day, lovely warm Spring weather, what could be better.  We drove down to Lower Hutt, my old home town where I was born, did my schooling, grew up, and lived for quite some years.  It always feels like coming home to me when we travel to the Hutt Valley.

Five of us met at the Bluebird Eatery, the cafe at the Dowse Art Gallery.  We had a nice lunch, but commiserated about paying for parking.  (Most of the parking is free where we live, except for the main street, and I always park behind the library and walk through the mall to get to the shops.)  Some dishes on the menu were a little different, I chose roast mushrooms on toasted focaccia, very tasty indeed, and Robin had delicious fish and chips.

My mushrooms are under this salad

Sadly the photo of our lunch group turned out rather dark, and my computer will not let me alter it.  Never mind, here we all are, having a fine old time together.  The young woman manager of the cafe used to board with Trish some years ago when she came to New Zealand as an overseas student.  So she was very attentive to Trish and our group.

Helen, Trish, Jenny, Robin and Calvin

After lunch we visited the adjacent Dowse Art Museum.

The jewel in the crown at the museum is the pataka whakairo (carved storehouse), known as one of the Hutt Valley's greatest treasures.  Commissioned by Wiremu Tako Ngatata and built in 1856 under the guidance  of carver Te Heuheu Tukino, it is one of several buildings created in support of the Maori King movement, and the only one that survives intact.  The storehouse, known as Nuku Tewhatewha has had several homes in the care of a pakeha family, first in  in Lower Hutt, then Thorndon (Wellington) before being carried over the Remutaka Range to Masterton in 1912.  The passing years and the weather were taking its toll on the building, and it was returned into the care of the Dowse in 1982.

Nuku Tewhatewha

We then went back to Trish's home for a chat, followed by afternoon tea.  She had reminded us at lunch not to have any desserts as she had been baking for our arrival in the afternoon.  And goodness me, were we spoilt, she had made one of her famous lemon meringue pies!

So yummy

Our mutual friend Pauline popped in for afternoon tea too, so it was great to catch up with her again. 

Pauline, Jenny and Robin

 Pauline and her late husband Geoff joined us on our epic 3 month South Island trip with two other couples way back in 2012.  The four of us had done lots of research for this trip, and had a long list of places to go and things to see, to make the most of our journey.  Here we all are at  Hakatere Conservation Park at the foot of Mount Sommers.  The DOC hut was just the place for us to sit and eat our picnic lunch after a trip to Staverley to try some of their famous sausage rolls I had read about.  

Geoff C, Pauline, Eileen, Geoff T, Robin, Jenny, Derek and Dot

On our 2012 South Island trip

Many thanks to Trish for organising such a lovely day out, we had a great time indeed.

South island, here we come.

 Our van was packed, including the winter woolies, and we were heading south.  Just a short 10 day trip, to visit my son Michael and celebrate his 60th birthday with him.

We left home on a chilly Tuesday morning, driving along Transmission Highway to arrive at the Bluebridge Ferry Terminal in good time.  Handing the paper work over to the girl in the kiosk, she handed over the boarding pass, and asked us, could we  manage 5 flights of stairs, or she could park us close to the lifts.   We must have been really looking our age, we thought, as we replied, close to the lifts please.  We were guided into the correct line, and sat and waited till the ship berthed.  We were travelling on Cook Strait Feronia.

Here she is, coming into berth

We waited patiently while the northern bound travelers disembarked, then the trucks drove on board.  Finally cars, campervans, our caravan and a couple of motorbikes were waved on board.  And yes, we were parked quite close to the lifts, thanks to the thoughtful check-in girl.

Gemma is hiding away in our van, no doubt wondering what on earth is going on

Everyone seems to make a bee-line to the cafe on these trips, including us.  It was a late lunch for us, so we purchased some sandwhiches, and a drink, sitting in the cafe for a while.  A little way into the trip,  the ship was starting to roll and we decided to leave the cafe and go and sit in the Quiet Room which we had spotted.  Oh dear me, just walking up the corridor was an effort, holding on to whatever was handy, as we tried to keep on our feet.  I'm sure we looked just like a couple of rather drunken OAPs as we stumbled about, it was not easy at all.  We curled up on a couch in the Quiet Room, waiting for the rolling ship to quieten down.  Eventually it did, and we went out on the deck as the ship glided through the beautiful Marlborough Sounds.

Gliding through the Sounds

We made good time, and arrived in Picton a little early.  Our first overnight stop in the South Island was just a short 8kms away at Koromiko.  There were only a couple of other vans in attendance, so there was plenty of room.  This is a lovely place, surrounded by beautiful mature Totara trees.  The custodian came to get our fees, and remembered us from our previous stay.  She used to have a Birman, so was particularly taken with Gemma.

We awoke to fog the next morning, no sign of the other two vans, they must have  left bright and early.

A foggy morning

After a leisurely breakfast there were just a few whisps of fog around, and we got ready to move on.

Overnight at Koromiko

Next stop, Kaikoura, we decided.  After a chilly night, the weather was lovely and getting warmer as we drove along.  We passed through Blenheim, and drove past many, many vineyards, this is certainly the area for fine New Zealand wines.  Oh look, there's some snow on the mountain tops, away in the distance, always a lovely sight to see.

There's snow in the distance

Driving along the coastline, we were looking for a nice place to pull off for a lunch break.  How about this, with a great view of sea.  It was such a pleasant place to relax and eat our sandwhiches, watching the waves rippling ashore, and smelling the salty sea air.

Not a bad spot to stop for lunch

We were only 20kms or so from Kaikoura so got on our way, and soon pulled into the Kaikoura NZMCA Park.

This camp consists of several bays, so after checking them out, decided on the lower one.  Not too full, so plenty of room again.  It was such a nice day we sat outside for a while, making the most of the warm South Island sunshine.  But once the sun started going down, we could tell we would be in for another chilly night.  Just as well we have an efficient diesel heater to keep us warm and toasty.

Staying at Kaikoura tonight.

Just staying the one night here, then moving on again in the morning.  Next stop, Christchurch.

Looking Back

Now we have been back for a couple of weeks from our South Island Odyssey, it’s time to look back at some facts and figures.  We were away for 10 weeks and traveled 5220km, 3019km was towing the caravan.  All this travel cost us $1582 for diesel.  As well, we spent $226 on LPG (6 fills) to run the fridge, stove and hot water cylinder when we were parked on non power sites.  In fact, we were only on power at three of our stops.

First stop – Koromiko

We were away for 77 nights and the average cost was $9.50 per night.  It was interesting to look back at the variety of places we stayed at, 36 in all for the 77 nights.  Of the 36 sites we stayed at, 21 were “new to us”.

NZMCA Sites                17

POPs                             11

Hotel car parks               4

Clubs                              2

Motor Camp                   1

Private Home                 1

Overlooking the West Coast at Barrytown

Spending Christmas with Robin’s sister Kay and hubby Jan was a real highlight, and we spent 6 days on their life style property, enjoying the wonderful Nelson sunshine. 

Christmas at Nelson

New Year was spent at the Star Tavern, Cape Foulwind, where we met up with fellow bloggers Irene and Ian,  all the way from UK, who were spending several months traveling  around New Zealand.  

Happy New Year!

While in Christchurch we met up with more bloggers, Dave and Nancy, who came for a visit.  Always nice to catch up with them and have such interesting conversations.

Dave and Nancy in Christchurch

Son Michael lives in Christchurch and we managed several visits with him, including two café lunches at the very interesting former “Rest Houses”, now cafes, on the Christchurch Hills. 

Michael and his Mum

And we couldn't tour the South Island and not go to Dunedin to visit my old school friend Merilyn, we go back such a long way. 

 

Old friends, Merilyn and Colin

There’s no doubt that we had a marvelous time, saw wonderful scenery, especially on the West Coast, Southern Alps and Central Otago.  Highlights would be the Milford Sounds and Underwater Observatory Trip, the Tree Top Walkway and Hokitika Gorge.  We met so many interesting people in camps, including a gold fossicker who came and showed us his box of special treasures.

Just love those mountains

You may remember that while we stayed at the brand new NZMCA camp at Kaiapoi we were interviewed by a journalist for the local weekly newspaper.  And look, we are famous!  Our photo appeared and we are quoted in the newspaper as travelers from Levin, giving our good opinion of this lovely new camp.

We made the news

The only downsides were Robin having an issue with his leg, so we came home a couple of weeks early.  And the never ending ferry problems which affected so many people.  On our trip down our afternoon  ferry was cancelled and we were rebooked on one leaving at 2.00am, take it or leave it, we were told.  Weeks and weeks of ferry problems followed, break downs, trouble with getting bookings, and by the time we were due to return home again, once again, the ferry was cancelled.  But, we were offered a life line when we were placed on standby with no guarantees, a little scary, not knowing if we would manage to get aboard.  Thank goodness we did, although now we are home the news items continue with stories of customers stranded for weeks, or boarding as foot passengers and having to leave their cars behind.  We certainly were lucky indeed.

Inter Island Ferry

Settling down at home we are catching up with friends again, and looking forward to caravan club rallies, after all, you cant have too much of a good thing, can you.  We had a mountain of mail waiting for us, including the very important Census Forms to complete.  Many thanks to Dot and Derek for keeping an eye on our home for us, all those weeks we were away, we certainly appreciated that.

Koromiko and Ferry Concerns

Just a short 23km drive from Blenheim to Koromiko – this is where our South Island Odyssey started back in mid December, all those weeks ago.  This is a beautiful place, surrounded by totara trees, and the cicadas were having a fine old time, making plenty of noise in the trees while looking for mates.  We were to stay here for two nights while we waited to board the Inter Island Ferry on Thursday.

Koromiko POP

It’s no secret that both ferry companies have been having maintenance problems.  We received a text telling us our trip the following day had been cancelled, costs would be refunded, and clients had to get on to the web site and rebook themselves.  We had heard of campers waiting several weeks before they could get another booking and cross Cook Strait. What to do?  We decided to drive down to the ferry office and front up to a real person.    The staff confirmed that our booking for the next day was cancelled, perhaps we would like to go on the standby list for a sailing later in the day?  No guarantees that we would get on board of course, but better than waiting weeks. 

So back we went to Koromiko, hooked up the caravan and returned to the ferry terminal.  The sailing on the Kaiarahi was pushed back later and later, and we were in the queue for seven hours, waiting and waiting…… At least we had the comfort of our caravan to rest, have a light meal, and a toilet on board, not like the few cars behind us in the standby queue.  Eventually the queues of cars, caravans and motorhomes started moving forward and then it was the turn of the standby group.  Oh no, we were almost turned back at the last minute but that was overruled, and we were sent up a steep ramp and parked up.  We had made it!

On board the Kaiarahi

Because we were one of the last vehicles to board, we had a little trouble finding a couple of seats together, but a kind couple moved along and made two seats available for us.  We settled down in the lounge in rather comfy seats,  and our sailing got underway at 11.00pm.  The captain made an announcement apologising for all the delays, and assuring us he had four engines all working – a reference to earlier problems when engines failed and the ships were drifting towards rocks!  Everyone settled down in the lounge, some reading, some watching TV, others chatting quietly, and a few snores were heard around the room.  The crossing was relatively smooth, just a bit choppy in Cook Strait which left some feeing a little queasy.

Whiling away the hours

Finally, the announcement came to go to our cars, we had arrived in port.   We waited our turn, in this case last on certainly meant last off.  The rain was falling, the temperatures had dropped dramatically, welcome to Wellington.

Last to leave the ship

We had decided to spend the night at Plimmerton NZMCA Park, and off we went, up the Ngauranga Gorge in heavy rain in the dead of night.  At 4.00am we pulled into the park, left the car looked up to the van, opened the caravan door and collapsed into bed.  It had been a long day, but we were so relieved to be back in the North Island.

Back in Blenheim

Here we are, back in Blenheim again.  Before we left, our  Sunday morning started with a cooked breakfast, must admit that we haven't had one of these for a while.  Bacon, egg, tomato and a little black pudding, cooked by Robin, certainly was a great start to the day.

Nothing beats a Sunday Breakfast

It was a beautiful morning and promised to go on to be a rather hot day as we said goodbye to Kaikoura and set up along SH1.  The Seaward Kaikoura Range was looking crisp and clear in the morning sunshine, I must admit I rather like the South Island mountains.

Mountain range in the distance

Driving along the now repaired coastal highway, we reflected on how it was during our last trip to the South island when the road was still being repaired after the 2016 Kaikoura Earthquake.  This tore through fault lines, demolishing houses, ripping up roads and railway lines and causing massive landslides.  Kaikoura was cut off and isolated.  1700 engineers and workers toiled for over a year before Kaikoura was finally reconnected.  Two years later on  our South Island trip in 2018 we remember how the road on the hill side was lined with long lines of containers to keep further rock fall at bay, so work was still ongoing then.  There was not a container in sight this time as we drove along. 

Blenheim is a prime wine growing area and 30km out from the town the first few vineyards started popping up beside the road, nothing major, just a few paddocks here and there.  The closer go to Blenheim, the more we saw.  Just across the road from where we were staying there were rows of grapevines everywhere.

Just across the road from our CAP

On this return trip to Blenheim we decided to stay somewhere different, and booked in at Reta Tuckerman’s CAP (charges apply parking).  We had heard of this place, but had never stayed here before.  We parked up in a nice grassy area, very reasonable at $5 a night per van, and very close to town.  Power sites ($15) are along the fence line, but we decided we didn't need power in such glorious weather, so parked on the other side.  It was not too crowded so there was plenty of room.

Our site at Blenheim

Gemma wasn’t the only cat in camp, there were two others.  A white cat with black markings was nicely behaved on his harness and lead.  And the van next to us had a “catio”, I had only ever seen this before on an American blog, so went to check it out.  The older tabby cat enjoying the fresh air in safely has only recently been caravanning and hated the harness and lead.  So the owners decided that the catio was a great idea for their cat, and made one themselves which hooks on to the side of their motorhome.  The cat is free to hop in and out of the motorhome through the window, and really enjoys his room with a view, I was told.

Puss in the catio

Last time we were in Blenheim, goodness me, that was back in mid December, we discovered Burleigh Gourmet Pies.  Gourmet means expensive, Robin always says.  So we popped back to stock up on frozen pies, two creamy chicken and leek, and two steak and bacon.  They will be handy for future meals.  Plus two fresh pork belly pies for lunch, one of their top sellers.

Getting a pie fix

After two very hot days in Blenheim it was time to move on again, this time back to Koromiko just out of Picton for our ferry trip on Thursday, all going well.  Both ferry companies are having problems, so we have our fingers and toes crossed our sailing goes ahead as planned.

Moving on to Kaikoura

After a quick trip to Hellers Factory Shop, we stowed our bargains away in the fridge and freezer and hooked up the caravan, stopping at the dump station and we were finally on our way heading up SH1.  Our first stop was at Amberley to see the statue of  Charles Upham VC and Bar.   Born in  Christchurch in 1908, he gained  a Diploma in Agriculture and his working life began in the high country and hills of the Hurunui District where he was a shepherd.  Charles Hazlitt Upham is probably New Zealand's most famous soldier. He became one of only three people ever to win the Victoria Cross twice for his actions in Crete in 1941 and Egypt in 1942. He is the only person to have achieved this as a combat soldier.  In 1953, Upham was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal. In 1992, he was presented with the Order of Honour by the Government of Greece, in recognition of his service in the Battles of Greece and Crete.

Charles Upham VC and Bar

We stopped for lunch at the Parnassus  NZMCA Park – only one other van was in residence.  It’s always good to stop, stretch your back and legs and have a little walk around after traveling a while.  Parnassus must have had quite a lot of rainfall, as a sign stated “Park on the grass at your own risk”.  We stayed on the hard while we had our lunch break.

Lunch at Parnassus

Well fed and rested we were on our way again, driving along as the road hugged the coast.  Oh look – tunnels.  There are two sets of these tunnels, carved through the rock.  They may look tiny but plenty of large heavy trucks pass through them on a daily basis, so there was no problem that we would fit.

Driving through the tunnels

This looked interesting, obviously erected as protection from rock fall onto the road and passing vehicles.

Protection from rock fall

We have arrived

170km later we rolled into Kaikoura NZMCA Park, the second one in this area.  This park has been open for three years and just like the Kaiapoi Park, has been developed on red zoned earthquake land.  Quite large, it is made up of five separate “blocks” with one set aside for those campers who want to use generators, and caters for about 100 vans.  We soon found a space and settled in.

Parked up in Kaikoura for the next two nights

The next day we went out exploring.  Kaikoura township was buzzing with cars and campervans, the tourists had certainly come calling.  The car park at the Whale Watch encounter was packed with vehicles as the customers had climbed onboard the boats for a thrilling trip.  Down at the coastline the bleached white uplifted rocks from the big earthquake were ghostly white in the sunshine – all this coastline was originally under water.  There were several seals basking in the sun – some people walked over the rocks and got alarmingly close to them. 

Uplifted costal rocks by the earthquake

The lookout high on the hill was calling to us, so up and up we drove.  Lovely views, but it was a matter of “hang onto your hats” while we were up there.

Views from the lookout

We were wondering how many campers were staying at the original NZMCA Park by the Trotting Club so drove around to check it out.  There were a few there, about a dozen we thought.  Guess the new camp is more popular these days.  We finished off our outing with an ice-cream.  Not a real ice-cream, the vendor was selling either Gelato or Sorbet.  We chose a gelato each and sat down in the sunshine trying to consume them before they melted in the sunshine and dripped all over our fingers.  It was a nice finish to our afternoon.

Gelatos for two please

Our South Island Trip is being cut back a couple of weeks as Robin is having issues with his leg.  After two lots of antibiotics it is still not right so we decided to cut short our trip and the earliest return sailing we could get is next week, 23rd February.  Sadly, we had to miss out on several places we wanted to visit, including Hanmer Springs, not possible with Robin’s leg problem.  Never mind, we can always come back to the South Island again, and I’m sure we will.