JAFAS again

I must apologise to my regular readers for the time between blogs but we are now in Auckland which means less of interest to travellers. I will keep up the blog spasmodically until we are on the road again later in the year.
After stopping at the Blenheim Railway Station to look for stickers and showing the bus off to some very envious campers in a Hi Ace we drove up to Picton where we had lunch on the foreshore near the Yacht club. As the batteries were low we ran the engine for an hour: a huge waste of fuel! We joined the queue for the ferry at 4pm and walked round to Subway to purchase tea. After we were loaded we discovered that Bluebridge could not receive television so we could not watch the Hurricanes v Waratahs Super 14 semifinal. The crossing was very calm and as soon as we drove off there were heaps of Wellingtonians ready to inform us that the Hurricanes had won. We drove to Parematta and spent the night at the domain there. On Saturday we visited Greg and Kate
Crow and their children Sarah and Emma. We went to swimming and saw Sarah have her lesson. Next night we spent at the Levin Motor Camp; a very tidy and clean spot for a reasonable cost - not cheap. Sunday morning it was on up the centre of the island through the desert road. There were just a few dirty bits of snow in sheltered areas. That night we stopped at the Tokaanu boat ramp. Monday we drove on to Te Awamutu to spend the night with Jan and Al. Next morning it was over to Morrinsville to Frank and Rita’s where we spent the night and reunited with our trailer. Wednesday we joined the rat race in the big smoke and stayed the night at Phil and Erin’s. She is looking really well. On Thursday I went across to Browns Bay and spent the day training at Ron’s business. Lorna was absolutely bored spending the whole day in the bus out the back of the group of shops. That night we spent at Long Bay Regional Park. I had to spend 40 minutes standing at the emergency intercom while the after hours operator tried to contact a ranger to give us permission to stay. Memo – make bookings in office hours!
Friday Mike went on the rum race with Maurice and had a ball in winds gusting up towards 30 knots. Saturday we shopped around a bit and visited Dave Robinson and Jean. Dave had had a forgettable few weeks; falling off a scaffold and breaking his leg badly so that he has not been able to work and then not being able to drive for a while. Mike will be helping him for the next few months. We then went back to the yacht club to watch the foggy football. On Sunday we moved in to the Takapuna Motor Camp so that Mike could look after North Harbour Hire for a week. I would love some feedback from anyone who is reading this as to whether they would be interested in further ramblings.

Towards the Ferry

The Photo is Kaiteriteri Beach.
From Kina Beach our travels took us into Brightwater, just out of Richmond where Mike had a meeting with the local measurer for Nelson. We ate lunch on the banks of the Brightwater River before heading in to Nelson where we had arranged to stay at the Nelson Yacht Club again. That evening we met up with a couple of people and “stamped our visa” Wednesday we drove on in to Blenheim where we have camped at the racecourse. This is a really good place to stay $5 per night for a level grassy area and we were made most welcome by the secretary and the other movanners. Today we walked in to the centre of Blemheim and did a little bit of shopping. Tomorrow we are booked to sail on Bluebridge at 7pm which will finish this trip to the island of suicidal bugs, generally yuppy free roads and DB on tap in most pubs.

Back over the hill

Well we are back in Motueka doing laundry once again. Last Thursday, after a quiet night at the trailer park we fronted up fro our tour of Farewell Spit. Six passengers and the driver set off in a small van at the appointed time of 10 am. Two kilometres down the road the Hi Ace refused to go into gear, so it was back to the depot. We then set out –still six passengers and the driver - in a 35 seater bus. The trip was excellent. We saw seals and many birds which our driver, Tim identified for us. His commentary was really good. The trip up the beach was not very exciting although I could feel the bus slow down a couple of times in soft sand. After eating our sandwiches at the Lighthouse we returned. The wind had picked up to about 25 knots and the sand blowing along the beach made a half metre high sand storm. The spit is extending with all this sand movement. Look out North Island the Southern Alps are coming to take over. As it was late when we arrived back we ate hamburgers at the Collingwood Café before bedding down again at Sollys’ trailer park. Next morning we drove over to Whanganui Inlet. This should be the port for the West Coast, but no, that would spoil a beautiful harbour. Friday night was spent at the Golden Bay Motor Camp at Tukurua Beach Charging batteries and doing laundry. A pretty camp with very good facilities but expensive. On Saturday we fed geese and chooks and donkeys and a yak and lamas and pig and of course the eels at the Bencarri animal park. Then we went next door to the Anatoki Salmon Farm where Mike caught two salmon which were hot smoked and eaten – Yum! Last night we parked behind the Junction Hotel in Takaka. This is another good spot to stay; a grassy area well away from the pub. This morning we drove back over the Takaka Hill to Motueka. This is a steep windy drive of 25 kilometres, but a good road and no real effort. We are now camped at the Kina beach reserve where we will probably spend a couple of nights. The internet is not good so this will be sent when we get good coverage.

Golden Bay

Monday was spent in Motueka with registering the bus etc. Mike was annoyed that NZ Post will not accepy Visa for registrations, but VTNZ do. One more reason to avoid Post shops. As the batteries had become severely depleted we checked in to Marchwood Park for the afternoon and evening. There was a Pony Club event on at the park and we had horses galloping round us on a cross country course. Tuesday morning we drove to Kaiteriteri to see the golden beach (really beautiful) and then on to Takaka wghere we spent the night at the Pohara Boating Club. A really good place - on the seaside. After moving on we drove out to Wainui bay and then to The Grove just out of Takaka. This is a reserve in an outcrop of limestone. The walk through the native bush is outstanding, and the rock formations are out of this world. Someone had told us that it was real "Lord of the Rings" scenery - they were right! Today we went to Pupu springs. This is the largest fesh water spring in New Zealand - interesting but not Wow. We then came up to Collingwood where we have booked to go on the Farewell spit trip tomorrow. we are spending the night at Solly's trailer park. Solly's are the local carrrier and this is where they sometimes park their truck trailers.

West Coast on.

In the last blog I forgot to mention the sandflies. When we left Lewis pass we had a multitude of hitch hikers to whom we dealt with the fly spray. We did not realise how many until Lorna vacuumed the bus. The little bodies were everywhere! From Reefton we drove through the morning fog for about half an hour and then on to Greymouth. In this town we found a really good facility behind the Caltex service station. The public dump station has been taken over by a car yard/motor home park/laundrettte/showers/toilet. The dump station is free if you use the facilities. The laundrette/toilets/showers are really clean and reasonably priced and it is a short walk in to the town centre. After making use of this amenity we lunched at the mouth of the Grey river before setting off North to look for a place to stay the night. Nothing appealed, and after visiting the pancake rocks at Punakaiki we drove on to Westport. The Workingmens Club POP was a comfortable stay. Next day, after refuelling, we drove out to Cape Foulwind where we walked to the lighthouse and elected not to walk to the seal clony. While we were having a big clean up a weka hopped in to the bus and investigated the back window shelf. Tauranga Bay was the scene of our lunch before we headed off towards Murchison. Ice creams provided the sustenance needed to get us to the Owen River Reserve. This is a delightful big grass reserve at the confluence of the Buller and Owen rivers. In the morning an attempt to have two showers for the price of one did not work - the water went cold on Lorna! Next we headed up to the Nelson Lakes, stopping for morning tea at a gliding club strip and watching a very old Slingsby glider winch launch. Lake Rotoiti is a beautiful lake in the midst of mountains and the accompanying village of St. Arnaud is quaint. Then it was on to Motueka through even more interesting farm land. the Hop fields look really strange with the big frames and no plants. The Motueka Beach Reserve is a good spot to spend two nights and do some washing. The little washing machine and the wringer work well along withthe tent pole washing line. Morning cloud has burnt off and we are in brilliant sunshine for the second day in a row. Tomorrow we will probably move further up towards Farewell Spit.

North and West

We left Timaru in drizzling rain and headed inland through Geraldine to Methven where an ex ag pilot, Jim Doyle lives on a farm. A quick phone call established that he was home and we spent an afternoon and evening on more reminiscences. Sunday morning we set off towards Christchurch via Rakaia Gorge, Windwhistle, Glentunnel and Darfield. Once again we were struck by the variety of the scenery in this country of ours. We spent the afternoon with Aunty Gwynneth at Redcliffs. She is keeping remarkably well and those of her family in Christchurch called round for afternoon tea. The night was spent at the Mt. Pleasant Yacht Club. Monday morning was taken up with renewing the COF for the bus and then we went to the Cross's home to return the key to the Wanaka house. There was much talk into the evening and we spent the night on their front drive. Tuesday was again overcast with occaisional drizzle as we headed north and west stopping for the night in the Balmoral State Forest. This is a large camping ground with minimal but adequate facicilies for $5 a night. A really good place, but somewhere to avoid in the holidays unless you like crowds. Next morning we set off in rain which cleared up as we drove towards Hamner Springs. This gives the impression of being an alpine village geared for tourists - very clean and quaint but ankle deep in campervans. After lunch we headed off and decided that we would continue over to the West Coast. We stopped at the Lewis Pass car park for afternoon tea. There is a delightful little mountain tarn 30 metres from the car park. From there we drove on to Reefton where the Workingmens Club welcomed us to stay in thgeir car park.