November 21st, 2019
Yesterday I had to return to Invercargill to print something
for the silly banks back home but my plan was to only go about another hour’s
drive further west along the south part of the island so no biggie. I checked out a couple of beaches for Freedom
Camping but damn it was windy. Betty 2.0
was rocking back and forth and I didn’t think I’d get a decent night’s sleep if
it didn’t calm down and it sure didn’t look like it was going to. According to CamperMate, my alternative was
to camp at a tavern…sure why not! Situated
in a little hamlet called Orepuki, the deal was that you paid $20 but that
could be used towards your bar tab.
There were showers too although they cost $4, but still worth it.
It was a Wednesday night and hence quite quiet in the establishment
although there was a young couple, a German and a Pole, sitting on a couch (I
had noticed their rented mini-van outside) and at the bar was a man about my
age and another woman seated on a barstool.
Running the place was Gaylene and she took my $20, gave me a receipt and
proceeded to pour me a small pitcher of Speight beer, a New Zealand product
brewed in Dunedin that I passed through last week.
I decided to sit at the bar and get fully immersed in the
local culture. The guy Allen used to live
on the north island but decided he would prefer a quieter lifestyle and raised
deer for their antlers which he sold to primarily the Japanese markets for
exorbitant prices (like $1200 each!). I
guess the Japanese like the taste and consider it an aphrodisiac. He showed me pictures of the deer (don’t
remember the exact type of deer) and I didn’t ask how long it took for the antlers
to grow back but he ensured me that it was all done humanely with local anaesthetic. The woman, Frances, a black woman in her
mid-50s I would guess, spent her time out catching these tiny minnow-like fish. I saw her pull into the tavern when I had
just arrived in Betty 2.0 and she had a square fishing net occupying most of
her back seat of her old sedan. Pretty
interesting characters and super friendly as was the hostess Gaylene. I’m glad I didn’t stay on the windy beach.
The next morning, I started on the road and just 10kms away
was a spot called McCracken’s Rest where Allen had told me that he had seen
someone paragliding in the past week. I
didn’t have high hopes as I figured the wind would already be howling even
though it was only mid-morning, however it was quite the opposite. For one of the first times in my trip it was
calm by the sea, too calm, there wasn’t enough wind to fly. Oh well, let’s move on.
I decided to go for a hike on the Waitutu Tracks. Wai means water in Maori so I wasn’t sure if
this was going to be some kind of ocean ballet…(groan). Just as I parked my van a helicopter flew in
and landed just 50 yards away where 4-5 people were waiting. They opened up the back door and out came
some backpacks. Huh. I wondered if these people had just completed
a multi-day hike but had walked out unencumbered by their gear and had the heli
bring the stuff out. All throughout my
hike I could hear and see the helicopter ferrying back and forth. Seemed a bit like cheating.
The drive to the hike:
The hike was decent and eventually descended towards the beach. There was a pedestrian suspension bridge spanning a fairly wide river to get onto the main beach. I was surprised to see some ramshackle houses on the other side of the bridge along with some dirt roads so obviously there must be another way to access this area. Most of the shacks looked vacant but I noticed one with three vehicles parked out in front and saw a man with long hair skinning what looked like some kind of deer but it was tough to tell at that distance. The beach was sandy and relatively untouched. I could see a few people a few kilometers down the beach which continued on for a number of kilometers after that. I decided to return as it made for a good 90 minute hike.
Steps down to the beach:
After the walk in the woods I stopped by Lake Hauroko, the
deepest lake in New Zealand at 462 meters deep! There was a
trail to hike on but I was happy with having a sandwich, checking out the view
for about 5 minutes and then running away from the sandflies.
A funny sign on the 20km of gravel road to the lake (look closely).
My next destination was a cave near a town, at least I think
there was some kind of community, called Clifden. It was free to enter and in fact there were 3
helmets available to be used at the entrance.
I tried one on, it felt uncomfortable but luckily the second one did fit
as the third one had a nice penis drawn on it so I didn’t really want to wear
that one! A German couple was right
behind me and I figured they could decide who got to wear it but they opted not
to wear them at all. The cave was about
300 meters long and it got narrow in parts.
There were reflectors placed on the wall at strategic locations so you
could find your way in and out again. We
did see a few glow worms but no where near the quantity I saw in Waitomo but it
was still a fun little adventure.
The entrance to the cave:
Inside the cave:
Finding the exit:
I returned about a kilometer down the road to see my second suspension bridge of the day. This was a big one, the biggest in its day and it was constructed over 100 years ago. It was also my Freedom Camping spot for the night. As mentioned in the comments in the CamperMate app about this spot, there was a very friendly welcoming party, a rooster and hen who came right up to the van to introduce themselves, well really looking for food.
They were inquisitive...
Later I did give them some
bread and granola, it was hard to resist.
Their presence did mean that there would be an early morning wake up
call though. Cock-a-doodle-doo! Thankfully I easily found my earplugs and
dozed off again.
No comments:
Post a Comment