Browns & Invercargill

Catch-up

From the Matangi Station Rally in Little Valley near Alexandra, we headed south, out of Central and into Southland via Raes Junction for a change. We had an appointment the next day with a company in Browns, Harper Engineering, who specialize in building very flash horse floats. They also do RV work and repairs, especially RVs with slide-outs. We needed a little bit of maintenance done on our slide-out. 

Sunset- New River Estuary, Invercargill

I wonder how many know where Browns is, or even know that there is a place called Browns? It's a tiny wee village on SH96 between Mataura/Gore & Winton. We know it well because it's just eight kilometres from Winton where our Southland family live and we pass through it regularly if we are coming from the east to visit them. 

But this time our family are away in Christchurch, where they'd been since before Christmas and where we'd caught up with them over the holiday period. Not that we needed to stay with them this time because we had a much closer contact where we could stay. At the former Browns Hotel. Which is just across the road from Harpers. 

The old Browns Hotel has been purchased by a couple that many NZMCA members will know well. Fay & Murray Simpson were custodians of the NZMCA Weedons Park in Christchurch for many years. They have now shifted to Browns after purchasing the hotel which they are renovating and turning into their home and a POP (park over property). 

And what a great POP it will be too, there's a large area at the back to park and they are turning the old public bar into an comfortable area for campers to meet & enjoy Happy Hour. The bar is being left with many of the original features & furniture and will be a welcome retreat from the cooler climate of Southland. 

Murray & Fay have done a magic job of renovating and reconfiguring the inside of the old hotel and I'm sure, once they are open, this will be a very popular POP to stay at in Southland. Good luck guys and we look forward to checking back in when we're next down south. 

In true Southland summer style, the weather turned to custard the day after we arrived at Browns, and it didn't get much better for the next two weeks! With the job finished at Harpers & with the family still away, we decided to head into Invercargill and stay at the newly opened NZMCA Park on Bond Street.

It's a large park with hard stand & grassed areas out in the open and in under the trees. Once the plantings around the outside mature and the grass grows it'll be a welcome retreat for members. It's also very central with the city centre close by, Sandy Point Domain, the Bluff highway and Oreti Beach not too far away either. 

The park's  'piece de resistance' has to be the information & sign in shed. It's a flybridge from an old Sanfords fishing trawler surrounded by the shells of the locally harvested delicacy; the Bluff oyster. I think there's a bit of competition going on between some of the NZMCA Branches as to who can supply the whackiest or most unusual park shed, we've seen a few beauties on our travels.

The park also backs on to the New River Estuary. How spoilt are we with this view of the estuary and sunset over the back fence.

With appalling weather (gale force winds & rain) and not much else to do but sit it out, we, along with several dozen other members, spent the next week parked up waiting for a break in the weather. Although a few of our neighbours came & went, travellers on a tighter time schedule than those of us that have no plans from one day to the next. The only good thing the weather gave us were some amazing sunrises and some spectacular sunsets.

Just through the gate in the back fence is the historic Stead Street Wharf. The first jetty was built in 1860 to serve the newly established township. A replica of Lady Barkly, New Zealand's first steam powered locomotive & the Southern Light fishing cutter, both part of the old working wharf, are on display in the reserve.

Access to the Invercargill Estuary Walkway/Boardwalk & Cycle Track is from the Stead Street Wharf or further down Bond Street, both very convenient for members staying in the park. 

The bird life in and around the estuary is fantastic too. A flock of Royal Spoonbills were feeding in the tidal stream right below the wharf, herons, godwits & oystercatchers just a little further on. 

And if you're in the park when an aurora is forecast, you couldn't be in a better place to see and photograph the Southern Lights. The Stead Street road bridge is one of the top spots to shoot the aurora from and especially if the tide is in. The water provides the perfect reflection of the Aurora Australis which would be playing directly down the harbour on the horizon.

Of course you have to have a clear night & a forecast aurora to strike it lucky. All I got was heavy cloud with lots of opportunities to shoot the sunset. I'm not complaining but heck, I would have given my eye teeth....

The old wharf pilings made perfect foreground subjects to shoot the sunsets.

The family came home to Winton but we'd gotten used to our new parking space & they were coming and going, catching up on everything themselves after being away from home for over four weeks so we left them to it, visited for dinner a couple of times and also saw them when they came into the city on errands. 

This one looks like a lightening bolt but it's the edge of the cloud

The weather slowly came right, right in that it rained every second day instead of every day but it was still very cold with a brisk southerly wind blowing much of the time. I don't think we've had our diesel heater on so many times during January then we did this year. 

I recall answering a query on Facebook before Christmas from some North Island visitors regarding what to wear during summer in Southland. I answered, tongue in cheek but truthfully, "One January in Southland I wore summer clothes for 3 days only" 

Make that two Januaries now!

Cromwell- Fog, Dogs & Winter Scenery

Catch-up

Our next stop is at one of our most visited towns in Central Otago; Cromwell, the fruit bowl of the South. Cromwell is a service town for the surrounding farm stations, vineyards and orchards, it also caters for the visitor overload from Queenstown & Wanaka. 

And while it still does service the local industries it's also becoming a great little town in it's own right with it's historic 'Old Town' precinct, Lake Dunstan for water sports & the renowned Highland Motorsport Park which attracts both international & domestic visitors alike. If only Cromwell could sort out it's small retail centre which is a hangover from a time when pedestrian malls were a priority, it's now a rabbit warren of cold alleyways, empty shops & real estate offices. 

Sunrise- Lake Dunstan

We usually find ourselves doing chores & resting up for a few days in Cromwell either at the NZMCA Park at Rotary Glen near the boat ramp or the freedom camping area at Lowburn on the shores of Lake Dunstan. But things have changed since our last visit.

Rotary Glen has always had a maximum stay of 3 nights which is fine, we would then shift to Lowburn if we needed to stay longer. Lowburn also has a minimum 3 night stay but now the powers that be have put up a low post and single wire fence right along the foreshore and through the long flat area beside the water. This now prevents all but the smallest of vans from parking along the edge of the water. I know this has been done because people were hogging the front row and parking side on (like us) and also blocking out the boaties in the summer but during the off season when there'd only be a handful of vans in each night it was never an issue. 

When you could park however you liked and had the whole place to yourself!

It's just as well that the latest NZMCA Park to open is also in Cromwell and just up the road from the freedom camping area at Lowburn. The Park is a large fenced area beside the lake and alongside the walking/biking track and will be a great asset for members especially during the summer. We were the only ones staying most nights and it wasn't until we left that I realised that this park also has a maximum 6 night stay unlike most other NZMCA Parks. Oops! (and no I'm not telling you how long we stayed though it wasn't the 21 nights you can in most other parks). 

You'll notice that there's a stand of large pines down the north side of the park. We chose our spot carefully, parking in the only corner that received the sun early in the day which worked well as we had some very heavy frosts while we were there. 

Although being in the sun didn't help much with our solar intake, the sun sits low on the horizon and is very weak down south during winter so we had to run the generator regularly. Luckily our only neighbours were rabbits! Dozens of them, including this warren on the fence line beside the van which I had fun watching from behind the tinted windows. How many rabbits can you see? Click on the photo to zoom in. 

Seven rabbits watch cautiously for any movement or noise from the van

It's just a short distance to the lakes edge, perfect for catching some stunning sunrises...

Two sunbursts, one from the sun and the other from it's reflection

...the mist rising...

...and beautiful reflections.

And on one morning I captured this amazing bank of fog covering Cromwell town...

...and then rolling up the lake towards me.

It was quite spooky how quickly it moved, I had visions of a tidal wave (and I felt the urge to run too).

At this point  I could feel the cold air being pushed ahead of it...

...and then suddenly it was over me and the temperature dropped sharply. It moved on up the lake pretty smartly and within 30 minutes or so was nowhere to be seen. I very weird experience, I must say.

I was writing a blog in the van one day and I could hear a dog barking on and off all day. By mid afternoon I thought I must check that out. I looked out and saw through the binoculars, a dog racing up the hill on the far side of the road. It was rounding up three sheep and I could hear the farmer whistling to it but couldn't see him. I decided he must be doing some dog trial training. 

It wasn't until the next day when David went out and then came back into camp to say there were dog trails going on right over the bank on the otherside of the road. I walked over to have a look and there they all were lined up in the paddock. When I spoke to a farmer he told me it was the huntaways yesterday (hence all the barking!). And today was the heading dogs turn. 

I stayed to watch for a time and used my camera to zoom in on the sheep, they're right up the top and were being brought down to the pen on the flat (click on the photo to enlarge).

Just in case you can't find them in the photo above, here they are. You can see the dog up behind, waiting for instructions. The sheep were being brought to the waiting area by a guy and a dog sitting out the day in the small hut you can see on the horizon in the photo above.

Half way down the hill and the sheep aren't happy. Look at all those rabbit holes too, it really is a major problem in Central. While we were at the NZMCA Park, there were several night time shoots happening over this hill and also across the lake on Northburn Station, gunshots during the night were a common occurrence.

Once down on the flat there was a bit of negotiation going on between the dog and the sheep- "Now, listen up ewe girls, I don't want no bovver, all you have to do is walk in the pen when the boss opens the gate, ok?"

I love the way this dog is carefully watching the proceedings, he's not tied up, and was walking around sniffing tyres and the the backs of utes but sat down and watched as soon as the other farmer started whistling.

Of course a visit to Cromwell for me isn't complete without a drive out to Bannockburn to check The Inlet- part of the Kawarau River- out for reflections, and in autumn for the stunning colours. 

And here's an autumn photo I prepared earlier...

This day the weather couldn't decide what it was doing, dark clouds loomed overhead and I was dodging rain showers one minute and then the sun would come out and warm everything up the next (still only about 5c though). Luckily there was not a whisper of wind though and The Inlet was a millpond.

And another autumn shot I prepared earlier (it looks like my processing has improved a little since these, although I blame my old laptop screen, I think I should have had it calibrated)

The surrounding hills are covered in vineyards with bare vines now of course, along with the willows, poplars and raupo (bulrush) around the waters edge.

Everytime I climb out of the ute to take a photo I'm surrounded by a very familiar fragrance, and one that speaks to me of Central Otago even when I'm not here. Much of the land around Central is smothered in thyme (a leftover from the gold mining days) and at this time of the year it's dry and brittle. The most amazing perfume fills the air even before I crunch over the plants which just intensifies the smell more. Thyme is one of the very first things I remember of Central Otago on our first visit to the region; the thyme aroma, the rocky tors and the rabbit proof fences!

I then drove out to the bottom of the Carrick Range and the road that climbs up, over and into the Nevis Valley to check on my 'special place', an old deserted pump shed.

How different does that look in autumn!

Then one last stop at the vineyards below the Bannockburn Sluicings to check on the vineyards...

...which certainly look a bit different to a summer shot I have of them. 

I've decided autumn is still my favourite time to visit Bannockburn.

A Wrap Update & Back to Napier

Real-time

Here's a question for those of you that visit dump stations while on your travels. What is the furtherest you've travelled to dump? (get rid of your black water/toilet waste for my followers that have no idea what the heck I'm talking about).

We've just done a 110km round trip which must be some sort of record. Well, it is for us!

We left Pyes Pa where we'd been staying in Tauranga and headed over the Tauranga Direct Road to Rotorua. We were planning on taking two or three days to travel down to Napier. We stopped in at the Ngongotaha NZMCA Park in Rotorua to dump, it was easier to do this than fight Tauranga's traffic to visit the dump stations there.

Rotorua NZMCA Park

We then had lunch parked on the bottom tier of the Park before either heading on or staying the night; we hadn't quite decided. While we were dumping David was wandering back and forward & I wondered what he was up to. While having lunch he walked around the rig again and then came back inside saying he wasn't happy.

You can't notice it here...

Uh-oh, I knew what was coming. He wasn't happy that the nose cone of the fifth-wheeler hadn't been wrapped. You might recall from the other blog post that it hadn't been done because it hadn't faded like the sides; it's fibreglass not the composite panels that are on the sides. The front either toned in with the wrap colour or looked the same colour depending on whether the rig was in the shade or not.

Rather than carry on south, we decided to head back to Tauranga and arrange to have the nose wrapped too. Hence the 110km round trip to dump!

I knew if we left it, it would bug David everytime he looked at it, which, lets face it would be every day! It was the Wednesday before Easter, with just one working day available before the holiday break but Craig at Wrap It Signs was happy to fit us in on Thursday morning for which we were extremely grateful.

...but you can here, from the other side (Whareroa Reserve)

Back in Tauranga we parked in the freedom camping area at Whareroa Reserve where six  CSC vehicles are permitted to stay each night.  The boat ramp's large carpark is beside Te Awanui Drive- the harbour bridge road that connects Tauranga to the Mount- the large sites are great for bigger rigs, we were able to stay hitched ready for an early start.

It was a lovely calm evening, two boys staying with their grandparents in a caravan next door were fishing along the shoreline...

David giving a few pointers

...and from the boat ramp jetty as the sun went down.

It was a little surreal watching the calm waters and beautiful sky while listening to the sound of bumper to bumper traffic heading home across the harbour just a few feet away. And with the reserve on the flight path to the airport, departing & incoming planes added to cacophony. Not to be outdone, around 4:30am the noise from multiple trucks heading our on their daily runs reached inside the van via the cold still morning air (including several that had parked up in the carpark overnight). A great place to spend a night but don't expect it to be too peaceful.

The next morning we arrived at Wrap It Signs and Craig & Dylan got to work, first removing the old graphics and then wrapping the front; the side sections first, followed by the middle.

The front hatch door and panel were also wrapped after David removed the hardware. Once the wrap was done, Craig had to print and add all the new graphics. The job took a little longer than expected but we were more than happy to wait, though poor Craig didn't have an early start to his long weekend. We left around 8:30pm and by the time we stopped for some takeaways in Rotorua...

...we didn't arrive at the Taupo NZMCA Park until 11:30pm. The Taupo Park is a large one but it was packed solid with members about to enjoy the long weekend. I had my fingers crossed we'd be able to slot ourselves in somewhere without having to unhitch as we'd be leaving for Napier early the next morning. I did a quiet walk (crunch, crunch on the scoria drive) around both sections of the Park looking for a gap. 

It was eerily quiet considering how many people were there. I did hear a few heaters purring away and two or three dogs barked from inside vans. There was nothing available that wouldn't involve a lot of noise getting to on one side, but luckily there was a clear space beside the clothes lines on the other. Perfect! We didn't put the slide out or the legs down (until the morning), both would have sounded very loud in the still night air. A motorhome arrived about 10 minutes after us, I could hear them debating where to go, so I directed them into the 'Garden Bar' just in front of us. 

We headed off to Napier the next morning, as half of Napier headed north. I have never seen the Napier-Taupo Road so busy, it was virtually bumper to bumper the whole 140km. We are now, once again, parked up at our own personal POP beside Mum & Dads'. And looking very smart indeed if I must say so myself! 

A Claytons Holiday- Dad reckons he doesn't have to go away for a break, he can sit in his chair in the 'orchard' looking at the back of our van and he feels like he's on holiday. I'm not sure if he thinks he's in the frosty MacKenzie Country or the citrus groves of the Mediterranean.

Just under 4 years after wrapping the 5th-wheeler we had the a black section added to the top of the nose, it was starting to show signs of wear from the constant bombardment of bugs & bits while travelling. Plus David reckoned it would look a lot better aesthetically- I think he was right! 

Conway Flat, North Canterbury