Round Southland

On Thursday we left Invercargill after going to see Bluff, meeting Foster Price from the Invercargill Optimist Group and drove to Riverton for lunch. This is a very appealing town with a lot of nice houses beside a very big river - not surprising! After lunch we drove on round the South coast, passing through Colac Bay where there were 7 motorhomes on the foreshore reserve. This looks like a good place to stop. We had been directed to Cosy Nook some 12ks further on. This tiny harbour reminded me of pictures of an English fishing village in miniature. There are 4 or 5 cribs and 4 slipways withtwo small fishing boats pulled up out of the tide. We spent an evening with a real character, Bob Blackwell. He and Mike did a lot of reminiscing. Next morning we drove on, calling at Monkey Island Reserve where ther were 11 motor homes and looks like a very good place to stay. The weather was beautiful so we set out to drive to Lake Manapouri. After a short look round the township and marina we went on to Lake Te Anau for lunch. Now that was beautiful! We then set off back towards Invercargill looking for a P.O.P. to stay. The Winton Golf Club wanted $12 to stay so we carried on finally stopping on the outskirts of Invercargill at Brian and Sharon Kirker's P.O.P. cost $3! 330 kilometres for the day! The next morning was spent having morning tea with the hosts and doing laundry. We drove out to Oreti Beach looking for a place to have lunch, but becaause Mike would not drive on the beach the meal was eaten at the entrance to the Invercargill dog club grounds. After lunch we headed round to Foster and Shelley Price's at Otatara, south of Invercargill where we were made most welcome. On Saturday evening Mike measured a wooden Optimist which had been built in the scheme started by Chris Buckley. The builder hadmade a really great job. The evenings were spent socialising with Foster, Shelley and their neighbours plus an Irishman called John. Sunday and Monday Mike did some coaching at the Bluff Yacht Club. After lunch on Monday we moved on to Gore where we are spending the night at the showgrounds in the company of 6 NZMCA members and about the same number of gypsy fair vans.