I took full advantage of the shower, kitchen and bathrooms at this holiday park. I was up and ready to roll at 6am. It was a weekday and as I drove along the southern edge of the continent I was surprised that I was literally the only person on the road. I was just on the outskirts of Dunedin, a popular town. Where is the work ethic people?!
I continued on to a place called Tunnel Beach. I parked the car and hiked down to the rocks and sat out looking to the East as the sun rose upon the day
It was called Tunnel Beach because they actually blew a hole through the rock down to the beach
I sat for a bit and then made my way back up to the car. The plan was to continue around the south end of the island and start up the West Coast towards a town called Te Anu. There I would make camp for the night and set preparations for some hiking the following day.
I was able to check my email through Wifi at the campsite and found that my credit card had been compromised. This was the second time with the same card in the last 2 months. The last time someone had hacked a grocery store computer and ran up 30 charges at grocery stores all over Detroit. This time the person was using my information to buy cigarettes and beer in Virginia Beach. Fortunately I had a spare card, but since it was American Express it was not always taken as AMEX is a screwy company and hard to deal with as a vendor.
The next stop along the coast was Nugget Point
It was a long and winding road to get to the point. I guess this is as good a time as any to cover the driving in NZ. This is not America. There are no 4 lanes going each way. No 70mph freeways, they don’t even know what mph means. There are about 3 or 4 major roads on the island, and when I say 'major", I mean paved 2 lane roads, with the occasional passing lane. Outside of these 4 roads you got gravel. Oh, and when I say 2 lane roads I really mean 1 and 1/2. And on the gravel I mean 1. If you are on a gravel road and it is 20 km away you can assume about 1-2 hours if you are out near any sort of hill. The turns these roads make would not pass code in the US. I am frequently doing 180 degree turns that require the full turning capabilities of my campervan. If you don’t have your eyes on the wheel you will be in the ditch (stay tuned for that one). There are also no guardrails on these hairpin turns up and down the mountains. The guardrails that do exist are meant to stop sheep, not a 2000lb car. I am talking some wire strung across with a wood stake. So it took a long frustrating time to get out to Nugget Point, but I would learn to deal with this over the coming days. Fortunately it was worth the trip….and don’t get me started on what happens when you get stuck behind slow traffic.
So far on this trip I had seen some interesting things and been mightily impressed with the icebergs and glaciers, but I spent some time thinking about how far I had traveled for this view. Was it worth voyaging around the world? A lot of this reminded me of Canada, specifically the Vancouver Islands and the mountains of Canadian Rockies. Was I here just to say I was here or was it really better than what we had back in North America. I would challenge people to ask themselves, "Can I experience this back home, or am I going just to say I went to NZ." If you admit that you are going for the adventure, that is fine, but I would argue that if so, then really immerse yourself. Head to a foreign culture where they don’t speak English and you are really challenging your comfort zone. That being said, by the end of this trip, due to the geography, I was able to compact so much of the beauty of North America into a few thousand miles.
The next stop was the Cathedral Caves
One can only access the caves at 2 times each day when the tide goes out. By my watch I only had 40 minutes before they locked the gates. I ran down the trail and into the caves for a few pictures. And then rushed back up the 1 mile trail to my car. At the gate I told the ranger, "there is no way that all those people are gunna be out in time". She told me my clock was wrong and that they had daylight savings a couple days ago. Now it makes a little more sense why the streets were so quiet at 5AM local time this morning.
The next stop was Porpoise Bay. I was told I might spot some penguins here but no dice. I stopped for a bit while the wind was whipping, took a few shots and kept heading West
Working my way back North near the West coast I begin to hit serious sheep country
I begin to wonder why are there so many sheep down here? Why NZ and why was this not farm land. Was the land so bad that nothing would grow and sheep were like slow lawn mowers that also produced some export in the way of wool? I mean there are roughly 50 million sheep here!
Sheep were introduced into New Zealand between 1773 and 1777 with credit to James Cook, the British explorer. Samuel Marsden, a missionary, introduced some flocks of sheep to the Bay of Islands, and then also farmed in Mana Island close to Wellington for the purpose of feeding the whalers. The answer for why they flourished here? I have not a clue. I understand that the rocky pasture and grasses were ideal for sheep but I don’t know if was because nothing else worked or because it was actually the most profitable venture with or without government subsidies.
I pulled in the town of Te Anau. It is a gateway city to the outdoor adventures. People use it has a base for exploring Milford Sound, Queenstown, and the West Coast. I stopped at the Visitors Center to try and book campsite for a hike on the following day. They were booked solid, but fortunately had a spot the day after that. I reserved a spot and then booked a boat shuttle to the start and a bus shuttle from the end back to my car. After sorting out the logistics I stopped in town for a beer at a bar along the water
By 5pm I was just outside of town at my car park for the night. I cooked some food and sat along the water.
Tomorrow I would hit Milford Sound, one of NZs most famous nature spots.
Until Tomorrow
Darren
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