Our trip South

 

Snow on the Hope saddle

What an adventure. We decided to head south in our Motorhome on Monday 24th May instead of waiting for our scheduled crossing on Tuesday due to weather conditions.

That went well, smooth crossing, but then the drama's started. It rained so much we decided to spend the night in Blenheim instead of heading further south.

Next morning it was still raining so had a slight change of plan and headed for Nelson to spend a few days with family. On Thursday afternoon heard that their were adverse weather conditions approaching so got moving towards Murchison.

At the top of Hope saddle

It was still raining and blowing and as we went over the Hope Saddle (just out of Nelson) it started to snow. This was so bad at times we could hardly see in front of the bus, it made for a slow tortuous crawl into Springs Junction. By this time it was dark (although only 5pm) and after checking with the petrol station owner decided to stay in his carpark for the night. According to him it was chains if you wanted to go over Lewis Pass.

Going up Lewis Pass

Next morning after a lovely healthy breakfast of bacon, eggs and hash browns,(well we did need warming up), we set off across the pass. It had been snowing most of the night but the road was clear and passable. Once off the pass we got more rain, then snow again and as we turned on to SH1 along came the wind which we had until we were through Christchurch.

Knowing that the weather was meant to turn really nasty we decided to go as far as Oamaru and spend the night there. Well it was a good decision but as we went through the flooded roads and the detours involved we did have second thoughts. Boy the people living in this area of the South Island have had it really bad. As far as the eye could see there was water, water and more water. And it was still raining so there was going to be no let up for them.

Water across the road north of Oamaru

Next morning bright and early we set off once more, stopping for petrol on the way to be told that there was flooding at Milton and if we wanted to get through today we would have to hurry.
Arriving at Waihola disaster struck. A long queue of cars was ahead of us and we could see fireman walking back and stopping to talk to each individual driver. When he got to us we found out that we wouldn't be going down SH1 any time soon. There was flooding in several places and the small town of Milton was isolated. Like everyone else we turned around and sat waiting for news. After an hour it was very clear that it was not going to be good news.

This was scarey, didn't know how deep it was going to be.

Out came the maps and a route via Ranfurly, Alexandra and Gore was plotted. So back we went along the route we had formerly travelled to turn off by the Dunedin airport. We had hardly gone 5kms down this road when we came across more flooding. This was so deep that it came up to the hubs of the wheels on the bus. But we got through safely.

Then began the arduous and long journey through Central Otago. Again we had snow, this time not falling but very thick on the side of the road. We also had fog, wind and rain.

This snow was really deep on SH85

And then there was fog.

What a relief to finally get to Gore and know that we were only an hour and a bit away from our destination.

By now it was dark, cold and we were over all sorts of weather. Just to add to the drama's one of the headlights on the bus went out and so we had to drive with only one headlight which was a bit disconcerting in the weather conditions.

Finally we arrived at our friends at 8pm, tired but so glad to be there.

They have had none of the weather bombs that the towns just a few kms up the road have had. In fact today is brilliantly fine but just a little cool.

Lets hope that the trip home is not filled with so many drama's.

Our First Motor Home Trip.

We have just done our first trip in our motor home. I have diaryed our progress over the ten days we were away.
We left Wellington at 8pm on Friday and arrived at 11.00pm in Picton we drove to the motor camp in Blenheim under the SH1 Bridge After a good first sleep in the comfortable beds we drove down to Ward Beach (see picture below) for our second nights stay. Motorhome was going really well.



This is at a POP [Park over Property --- exclusive for Motor caravan club members] site at Ward Beach it costs a donation to park in the site which is high above the beach and very sheltered from the wind. A small river comes out down by the rocks in the background. There were white baiters netting in the river and a number of divers out off the beach gathering crayfish, paua and kina. We walked down to the river mouth which is only about half a metre wide.

On day three we left about 11.30 and stopped off at one of the crayfish shops on the roadside before Kaikoura. Lunch was fresh crayfish and buns. Yummy.

Night Three was spent in Boat Harbour Camp just south of Kaikoura before the road turns inland. Nice camp and despite being just off the main road very quiet, sheltered and with good hot showers and excellent clothes washing facilities which we used as we weren’t sure when we would be able to do this further down the line.

There were a lot of seals right close to us as well the one in the photo has a badly gashed flipper!



On Day Four we drove further south into a howling gale which made driving very interesting. We visited a great site at Gore Bay – just look at the Cathedral Pipe Cliffs. They are absolutely magnificent and a scary drop from where we were standing.




Our bus is the first in the line. Other than Friday night when it blew so hard we were worried about the trees falling on the buses we were very cosy.



That was our first adventure in our motor home. A most enjoyable trip and one we want to repeat again very soon.

Our First Motorhome trip

November 2009.

We left Wellington at 8pm on Friday and arrived at 11.00pm in Picton we drove to the motor camp in Blenheim under the SH1 Bridge After a good first sleep in the comfortable beds we went into Blenheim and called into a couple of shops to get some better drinking glasses and some bread and goodies. We then drove down to Ward Beach (see picture below) for our second nights stay. Motorhome was going really well

Our Ward Beach Camping Spot

This is at a POP [Park over Property --- exclusive for Motor caravan club members] site at Ward Beach it costs a donation to park in the site which is high above the beach and very sheltered from the wind. A small river comes out down by the rocks in the background. There were white baiters netting in the river and a number of divers out off the beach gathering crayfish, paua and kina. We walked down to the river mouth which is only about half a metre wide.

The next photo is the view from the little river mouth. Looking back to our motorhome in the pop site.

On day three we left about 11.30 and stopped off at one of the crayfish shops on the roadside before Kaikoura. Lunch was fresh crayfish and buns. Yummy.


Night Three was spent in Boat Harbour Camp just south of Kaikoura before the road turns inland. Nice camp and despite being just off the main road very quiet, sheltered and with good hot showers and excellent clothes washing facilities which we used as we weren’t sure when we would be able to do this further down the line.

There were a lot of seals right close to us as well the one in the photo has a badly gashed flipper!
Large Seal asleep on the rocks with gashed flipper


On Day Four we drove further south into a howling gale which made driving very interesting. We visited a great site at Gore Bay – just look at the Cathedral Pipe Cliffs. They are absolutely magnificent and a scary drop from where we were standing. From here we moved onto the mouth of the Hurunui River but it was too windy and too dusty to camp there so after a great lunch in the motorhomes we moved on to Amberley where we parked up at a friends house This house was originally built in 1884 as a girls school. It has since been added to and remodernised by the present owners.]

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Cathedral Pipes
Hurunui River Mouth

Amberley House

See if you can spot the rabbit in the middle of this picture above



Amberley House Gardens


On Tuesday we left Amberley and went to Ruapuna. For the first few days it was brilliantly fine and hot but on Saturday afternoon it started raining and continued raining right through until we left on Monday morning. We had a nice spot under the trees just inside the pit gates and spent a lot of the time reading instead of watching the racing on Saturday as the rain never seemed to stop.

Buses under the trees.

Our bus is the first in the line. Other than Friday night when it blew so hard we were worried about the trees falling on the buses we were very cosy.



We were due to come back to the North Island on the Wednesday lunch time, but decided as the weather was terrible that we would leave Ruapuna on Monday and head up to Blenheim in the hope that we would be able to catch the afternoon ferry on Tuesday.

We stayed the night in the same camp in Blenheim and then on Tuesday morning headed for Picton.

That was our first adventure in our motor home. A most enjoyable trip and one we want to repeat again very soon.

Winter

I have written before about Winter but this year it has been colder and wetter than we have ever known.
My heart goes out to those farmers who are struggling with calving and lambing. This was us two years ago, so I know exactly what they are going through.
But the down sides are definitely offset by the up sides. The sight of a new born lamb racing around the paddock. A cow and her calf sunning themselves - when we get sun that is.
Life in the country is marvellous. Hard work but marvellous. To see new life, to be part of that new life, is an experience that I would not have missed for the world.
Here in suburbia life goes on, each day bringing a new challenge. What has challenged you today.
Was it getting the children off to school. Getting the housework up to date. Or the challenge of making ends meet in these tough economic times. It you are struggling with the price of food I can really recommend a website that will give you some great ideas on saving money and how to get back to basics. Go to http://www.simplesavings.co.nz/ I thoroughly recommend it.
Meanwhile keep warm and dry and think positive.

Gardening and Writing

Do the two things go together. For me they do. Both are creative pastimes, one more hands on than the other.

Writing is hard work. No doubt about that. But if you love writing as much as I do when you can't write you feel like your hands have been cut off. When you type THE END what a thrill it is to know that you have written a whole book. Mind you there is still heaps of work to do before it is truly finished. Editing for one. Yuk! Editing is the one thing about writing that I do not like. If I could have someone to do it for me I would grab them with both hands.


To me Gardening gives me the same kind of rush. I love my garden. Love the way it looks when everything is in flower, love knowing that all my efforts have produce displays like in the photo above. But I love my vegetable garden as well, knowing that I can feed my family with something that I have produced.

So for me gardening and writing do go together. They both give me satisfaction and are both something that I love doing.

For more information on my books and my interests go to: http://www.annpatrick.com

Does anyone else have a to-be-read-list that reads like a grocery list. I currently have a pile of books beside my bed that I desperately want to read. But life has the habit of getting in the way.
Amongst that list is the latest Nora Roberts "Black Hills" and a book by Lisa Jackson called 'Deep Freeze".
And don't get me started on My Wish list on Fishpond. Oh boy! If I was to move them all to the shopping cart my credit card would catch fire.
Does anyone else have that trouble. Do you have trouble deciding what book you would like to buy knowing that your book buying budget for the month is very low?
I'd love to hear how you overcome this problem. Do you close your eyes and take a stab in the dark or do you carefully select the one that appeals most. Let me know!

Readers and Writers Unite

Are you a reader? Are you a writer? Do you belong to a Writing group?
If you do this is the blog for you.
I love to hear from fellow writers and readers. To talk about books I have read. My favorite writers. Their books.
To talk about writing. The pros and cons of being a writer. The highs and lows.
So if you are interested in any of the above join me and we will discuss it all.