New Zealand by Camper Van Day 1

So we got our camper van, we bought some groceries, we picked up the rest of Gen's items at the American Antartic Center, and off we go. Our first night's goal is Picton and Queen Charlotte Sound. WE dont make it... but not because of anything bad, but because it is just soo good!

The road is very western. It is nothing like driving around in Thailand or Indonesia. There are rules of the road that people observe. There are speed limits that people observe. People stay in their lanes, the lane lines mean this is a lane, there aren't scooters and motorcycles cutting around traffic. Hell, there aint much traffic! The landscape is sort of a mix of europe -- small fields filled with sheep or cows or goats or deer defined by hedge rows, or nice neat lines of trees. in other words, manicured countryside -- and America -- not very populated, low homes that are similar to rural american homes, etc.

We started up the highway traveling up the Canterbury plain -- mountains on the left, sea to the right, and I am snapping pictures of the mountains (still covered in a good amount of snow-- they look like the mountains of home). It is all very spring green, and unlike the regimented 12 hour day in the tropics, the days are long -- it is spring.

After a while, I am like, lets go look at the coast. So we take a detour down a "tourist drive" to "Gore's Bay" Now if I want to retire in New Zealand this would be a good choice. The mountains come right down to the coast, and the town is teeny tiny -- makes CB look like a sprawling metropolis. Above the town we passed an inviting gateway that said "Ëlliot's Garden" we go in and it looks like someone's private home (and a super nice home it is with gorgeous views of the pacific from up high on the hill), but there is a box with a slot in it with a sign, "donations welcome". It looks to be about 3 acres or so in size above the bluff/cliff to the sea, but who knows how far down the cliff it goes -- it is hundreds of feet above the ocean, yet right on the coast.

Quite a bit of the three acres is a steep sided, wide bottom gulley planted with the most beautiful flowering plants, trees, short cropped grasses, etc., with a bog/retained water feature or two. It is idyllic, the birds are singing merrily, a well groomed long haired cat comes up and welcomes us. It is nice to get out of the car and enjoy this quiet garden -- I have never seen an "english garden" but i imagine that this is what it is like. This is what I was wanting... out of the city, beautiful pastoral setting, the scent of flowers in bloom, peace, relaxation -- nice. We leave a donation and a note, and continue on.

Later we take another detour off the main highway to Claverly, and it is not so scenic. Claverly show as another town on the map, but it consists of about 9 houses along the coast, along with some farms on a rather flatter portion of the coast.

We then get to Kaikoura and stop in South bay and we get out of the car and take a little walk out this peninsula to a place that one might see (and Gen's friends had seen a few days earlier) sperm whales, dolphins, seals, etc. We see seals, red-billed gulls, cows (there are farms that we cross on this walk on the peninsula), but no whales. There is a great breeze (gale?) coming off the sea and it is cold and grey. It is cold, the windchill is a big factor. I am wearing basically every layer I brought, including rain gear. It does indeed rain on us, and even hail. But not too hard, and we get back to the car about 2 hours after we left it. We then drove around to the other side to the town proper -- about 3500 residents, and have a splendidly good seafood meal. Wondering if we should go back to the campground we passed or if there is another place to park our minivan (we were a little worried about protocol as Trudy had warned about campervan tourists who stay in the wrong places, dumping their greywater tanks just wherever, and peeing all over peoples front yards, etc. -- so we were wondering what to do). Anyway, I decide to ask the wait staff at the restaurant if there was another place we can park overnight up the coast since that is the way we are heading. they recomend a place to turn off on a "sandy beach"about 20 KM north and we can get off the highway and have the sea, and etc. We went about 20 KM and backtracked a little until we did happen upon the place they must have been talking about. We only found it because it is the only place on the road where the sea wasn't just right on the highway, and we could drive back aways to a spot. We pass another campervan and a tent, so we know this is going to be Kosher. The piece de la resistance is an outhouse, and we know this has to be the place.

We set ourselves up for the night, and bang it storms on us. It rains off and on overnight, but morning is gorgeous. The mountains are very close and there is new snow on them just a few hundred vertical feet above sea level... it all melts off in the morning sunshine. We are having our breakfast while a group of four guys in their 20s or 30s pull up and get this . . . go surfing! Here i am wishing i had brought long underwear and these Kiwis are surfing in the 3 - 4 foot surf! granted with wetsuits, but still, they are jumping up and down to get warm before going in and running down the beach i am sure to stay warm before getting into what must be pretty damn near ice cold water. These Kiwis are frickin crazy! They are all very good surfers, and we finish our breakfast, and pack up the van while watching them surf.

We are now still heading for Pitcon, and have stopped in Blenheim where I am now pretty caught up on pictures and blog... so maybe we make Picton for tonight, and then tomorrow?????

until next time

Newo out.