Barnacle Bill

Never had Sal Darago had so many barnacles. She was covered in them. This was from two months in Whangarei Town Basin. Kathy and I set to scraping and, in an hour, most of the little beasts were off. A power wash by Keith removed much of the rest of the muck, but those barnacles had left their mark. By the time we were in our new and elevated position to the left of the slipway, it was late on Thursday. Kathy spent all day Friday packing and on Saturday she went shopping in the morning. I did not start any jobs on SD as there's not much space for all the tools etcetera and people's luggage.
At 1900 we set off for Auckland Airport. I dropped Kathy off at ten and she travelled for 27 hours to be successfully picked up by Emily at Heathrow. I continued driving south. At 0130 I stopped in a layby and slept until 0500. I continued, arriving in Levin at about noon and booked into Levin motor camp where I hired a cabin. Unlike the one Kathy I and had had at Tokoroa, this had four bunks and nothing else. In the morning I went to Buckingham Motors and packed Stan. I drove the hire car to Levin and caught a bus back to Levin. I now had the 700 mile drive back to Whangarei, after which I would start scrubbing off the remains of barnacles for a week.
The trip back took 24 hours including an idyllic evening camped at Lake Tirau (Chicken stirfry and white wine), where I met one man and his dog and a small JCB on a trailer? The traffic around Auckland was as bad as the Thelwall Viaduct on a bad day. Stan the Van got me home and is now for sale. - Any Takers!

Cylinder Head broken

We are safe. We were nowhere near Christchurch when the earthquake happened. We give our best wishes to those people who are involved in the aftermath.
This is Kathy on the ferry to the North Island. Stan made it to the ferry but, on the big hill out of Wellington, he boiled over yet again. Kathy and I decided to stay in the nearest campsite for two nights and set off on Monday morning for Whangarei. We did this, but had to fill up with water every 5 to 10 minutes. After 90 kms Kathy refused to go further without calling the AA. When the patrol manarrived, he led us to the nearest AA approved, Nissan garage. Dene of Buckingham Motors confirmed that either the cylinder head gasket or the cylinder head had failed. It could be fixed by Friday/Monday next week. We had Sal Darago to haul out on Thursday and Kathy had a flight to the UK on Saturday (check in 2200). We again phoned the AA and after a while, they found a hire car for us for three days from Palmerstone North. We were in Levin, but the AA had a chauffeur bring the car to us. We packed everything into the car and took the chauffeur back to Palmerstone North (52 kms). We arranged to keep the car until Monday. We then continued our 700kms journey back to Whangarei. At 1900 we pulled into a campsite in Tokoroa. We hired a cabin with a double bed, a bathroom and our own kitchen. Such luxury! By Tuesday afternoon we were back on SD. She started first time and we had confirmed we would haulout at Norsand boatyard on the Thursday. Dene from Buckingham Motors phoned to say that the cylinder head was cracked in several places and a fitted new one would be over $2000. We asked him to go ahead.

Farewell

The South Island was rapidly becoming circumnavigated by Stan. We hastened to the very end of the island and on a fabulous day walked a few hundred yards to Cape Farewell. The Tasman Sea is behind looking fairly aggressive.

To return to Picton ferry port we should have gone East, but we turned west to see the beautiful Whanganui Nature Reserve. At three o'clock we set off up Knuckle Hill for a 500 metre high, 360 degree view. It was a two hour climb with the last part a scramble. The views were spectacular. The following day we decided to buy two new tyres and book the ferry. First we had to climb the severe Takaka Hill. Stan boiled over and a water hose was found to have split. We had this replaced in Motueka. We bought tyres 40 kilometres on in Nelson and booked the ferry for the next day. 20 kms further on Stan boiled over again. We had many miles to cover before the ferry terminal, but fortunately we had a great deal of water. We used most of it and arrived in Picton in the dark. At least we should be able to catch the ferry the next day and be on the North Island.

Cobb Valley and Ridge

Here I am sitting outside the only house I could afford in NZ, also known as Chaffey's Hut. Access is via a 27 kilometre gravel road followed by a tramp (NZ word for hike) of one and a half hours. The accommodation inside is basic: a fireplace (collect and cut your own wood) a cooking area (bring your own Primus) and 2 bunk beds with dusty, foam mattresses. To be fair, this hut had not been in service since 1994, which is why it's in my price range.

Jeremy's house was renovated this century and had 4 bunk beds with plastic covered mattresses. Access is rather tricky, on foot through a disused asbestos mine.
The real name of the house is Asbestos Cottage and it was the home of Henry and Ann Chaffey for 40 years until 1953. He carried all the provisions here over the mountains and finally died carrying supplies home when he was in his 80's. On both days we saw the sun but the sandflies were worse than the Mull midges.

Moving to the North of the South Island

Following our foggy journey up the coast, we stopped at Lyell, a former gold mining town, which has completely disappeared. Kathy and I knew that we had been missing some equipment at Goldsborough so we walked the hour and a half to see some equipment left behind at the end of 1800s. Naturally I could see at a glance that I could not carry this quartz crushing machinery - or gold stamper to give it its correct name. The noise from this awesome machine must have been hideous and they did not even find much gold here.

Still on West Coast NZ

Our journey now took us up the beautiful west coast drive, which is lauded as one of the ten best coastal drives in the world by the Lonely Planet Guide Book. It rained so hard that we could see less than in Milford Sound. (Is there a pattern emerging here?) Stan had to have his lights on all day and at one point I was told to walk ahead with a red flag. However we were able to see these amazing pancake rocks. Nobody is quite sure how they were formed, but the district where they occur likes the tourist trap that they make.

Birthday Boy

Stan the Van was duly fixed by a garage and we set off for the next Glacier, Franz Joseph. This time we did not hire a guide, but walked from the carpark to the snout of the glacier. Kathy and I decided to cross the fence and climb some terminal morraine all the better to gain good photos. We were not arrested and we did not sink into the ice which was just beneath the surface of the rocks. By now it was Jeremy's birthday and we went to Goldsborough, where we had a lovely lunch in the rain on the site of an old gold mine. I think it is in the name don't you?
After Kathy had insisted, we went for an afternoon stroll up Goofy's Gully. It was up and up and up and up. At last we reached a ridge and following it for a little way to German's Gully, we went down.... In the crepuscular light we made our way to the river where we fossicked for an hour and found the gold indicated on the left. Sadly most of it was mica, but two dots on the upper part of the plate might just be the genuine article! Daddy Jim would know.

NZ West Coast South Island

Having driven miles to the world renowned Milford Sound, we saw nothing but mist and rain, very similar to the Sound of Mull on a bad day. The road was lined with spectacular waterfalls, one of which descended into an ice pool. We left the voracious sand flies behind and headed to Lake Moke near Queenstown. The next day we did a 5 hour walk to Lake Dispute. On our return, the sunshine lasted long enough for us to have hot solar showers followed by a swim in Lake Moke.
The gas ran out and the new bottle had a different thread for the regulator. Jeremy transferred enough gas for the day from the full bottle using the sink drain pipe. Stan started to misbehave and Jeremy decided the clutch slave cylinder was leaking fluid. This had been confusing because it shared the same reservoir with the brake fluid. Kathy discovered the weather would be good on the next morning, but wet for the next three days. We set off hell for leather for Fox Glacier, after filling the empty gas bottle at a depot. After spending a cold and sand fly infested night by Copland River we made it to Fox Glacier township and went to the garage. The last part was available in Greymouth and the garage could replace the slave cylinder
the following afternoon. We spent a marvellous 2 hours on the glacier wearing crampons and warm weather gear. Em - note Dad's new coat. At 2.00pm it began to rain and continued for 8 solid hours.

As far south as possible NZ

While at Curio Bay we were privileged to see at least 10 yellow eyed penguins returning after a day's fishing to feed their young. One nest was particularly close to our campsite and we could hear the cries of the chicks. The last penguin we saw had a problem walking and it was pathetic watching its strenuous attempts to climb the long, rocky beach to its young. Also at this wonderful place, we saw the rare Hector's dolphins playing in the surf with swimmers.

Here at Slope Point there really isn't anywhere further south to go on land except a couple of islands before Antarctica. And we have to say it can't be much colder. Moving swiftly to Invercargill, we both bought rain jackets and a bottle of whisky to keep our spirits up. We popped down the road to Bluff, often considered the most southerly point, and took a similar photograph. That night we camped next to a river on low ground. At 4.00am after continuous heavy rain, Jeremy got up and moved Stan to higher ground for fear of flooding.

NZ South Island, South Coast

Having had to spend a small fortune in Dunedin, on a rebuilt alternator for Stan The Van, we proceeded to the beautiful Catlins. This area is noted for its lack of civilisation, beautiful walks and abundant wildlife. Our DOC campsite was at the entrance to the Catlins River Walk. We completed an eight and a half hours' walk in 7 hours, but 5 of them were in the rain. At this stage we decided we both needed new rain jackets as we were soaked through. The path was in a poor shape with many steep detours from the river bank going up and down. It was so wet that Stan was in a pool of water when we returned.
In better weather we moved to Curio Bay and stayed in a council campsite on the headland where a crew were making a film. Look out for "Two Little Boys". In the bay next to the campsite was a world famous fossilised forest of trees. Eat your heart out McCulloch. It took all of 90 seconds from the car park to the first tree. Please note, Jamie et al! There were other surprises too...

NZ South Island still on East Coast

Very foolishly, we decided to walk up a hill. This hill was near Twizel and a lake called Ohau. Oh How is the pronounciation of the mountain named after the lake and the height was a mere 1522metres. The walk was supposed to take six hours up and down, but we took slightly longer having to stop for a bathe in a cooling stream on the way down. On the previous day we had stopped off for a piece of yummy cake and not so delicious hot chocolate at St John's Mountain near Lake Tekapo. This was even more
expensive than the cafe at Crinan Basin on the Crinan Canal.

We were happily travelling at 100 kph along thge SH1 when suddenly we were confronted with a house in the middle of the road. Having mildly recovered from this shock, within one kilometre we came to a narrow bridge complete with roadworks. How did they do that? Later we heard on the news that a house had fallen off its lorry and blocked the road for some time(!) near Auckland. So happily it was not "our" house.

NZ South Island East Coast

We walked round the peninsula at Kaikoura and a fur seal popped up from under the board walk. The town was once a thriving whaling outpost. People had fences around their properties made out of whale bones. Now tourist boats take people out to watch the whales. We stayed on an expensive holiday park site here but only for one night.



Wet feet were soon soaking on our walk beside Rakaia Gorge, just south of Christchurch. This had continued an unusual day which had started with an earthquake (5.2 on the Richter scale) which we felt at 6.00am on the Banks Peninsula. The path was "natural", which meant it was more difficult. However, portents came thick and fast with the discovery of two golf balls miles from any golf course, followed by white foxgloves, white convolvulus(SP?), a Peter Rabbit pencil and finally a little red plastic heart. Fortunately all these signs came to nothing - unless you know different!!!