December 14th-16th, 2019
December 14th was pretty much a travel day. From Lake Hawea I deked into Wanaka for one more
round of disc golf. I didn’t play nearly
as I did the day before with Oscar but it was still fun. I got on the road around 12:30 and retraced
my steps, passing near Mount Cook, through Lake Tekapo and then further north
on the inland scenic highway stopping around 5:30 at a Freedom Camp at a spot called
Taylor’s Stream.
Taylor's Stream campsite:
The next day I hopped onto Highway 73 which is also known as
Arthur’s Pass. The highlight stop of the
day was Castle Hill Limestone. Strewn
across a couple of hillsides were these massive prehistoric looking limestones,
some bigger than a house that seemed to jut out of the ground. It was almost like Stonehenge meets Easter
Island but no humans were involved. Rain
clouds were threatening but luckily it held off for the half hour that I wandered
around.
Two different ways to make bridges:
The limestones:
That's a person standing on the top:
That's the path I walked along to get to the stones, you can just make out the parking lot.
Not a bad timer shot with the phone propped up by my backpack.
Soon the precipitation did start to fall from the heavens
and it was only mid-afternoon. I decided
not to press on to the coast as the cloud level had dropped and I was sure I
would miss some good scenery so I drove to a free camping spot known as Andrew’s
Shelter. It was about 10km off of the
highway, across a small bridge and along a gravel road. It was the starting point for some hiking
trails so there was a building with just some benches inside but big enough
that hikers could sleep and cook in it if they had too during inclement weather. There was no one else around but the spot
looked good to me for the night. Later
another van did show up with a couple of younger women. By this time, thanks to the combination of
rain and the bigger factor of a swarm of sandflies, I didn’t exit Betty 2.0
until the following morning so I never did meet them.
The weather was definitely nicer in the morning so I was pleased
with my decision to stop the previous day.
Nice mountains, rivers and forests to enjoy as I cruised down the highway. I stopped for a short half hour hike to a
river just after the small hamlet of Arthur’s Pass, the highest point of the
road.
Looking good Betty 2.0!
Look out for the Kea!
Never did see one of these illusive Kiwis.
A view on the hike:
Shortly after that was what CamperMate called “Death Corner”
but I think the real name is the Otira Viaduct which was constructed in 1999. There was a nice viewpoint of this
engineering masterpiece before I drove over it.
Ten minutes down the road was a small hotel, an art gallery and a few
houses. Not surprisingly, since this
country is the land of Lord of the Rings, Golam was perched on the roof of the
hotel with the ring dangling down. A
statue of Gandolf was nearby too. I’m
not a fan of the story or the movies but they were cool to see.
The Otira Viaduct:
A rock tunnel:
Pretty cool horse mostly made out of driftwood:
Awesome steel cutout:
Oh precious...
They were almost like pandas!
Reaching the coast I stopped for an hour in Hokitika, the
biggest town in the area, to stock up on some supplies, have lunch by the beach
in overcast and slightly rainy weather and decide where to spend the
night. It was a toss up between two
hotels that allowed camping next door to their establishments. One was free, provided you had something to
eat or drink and it was pizza special night which I love and it’s been a while
since I’ve had pizza… The other was $10 per night but had showers, a kitchen
and laundry facilities. It also had
character being over 100 years old with a fireplace in the bar. I decided on the latter.
Unfortunately the sock factory was closed.
When I arrived in the small town of Ross, population 300, it
was a torrential downpour. I ran into
the tavern where not surprisingly a table of 6-8 locals, both men and women,
most of whom looked like they had just come from work, were sitting around a
tall table on stools enjoying the warmth from the fire along with a cold
beer. The lady behind the bar, Sarah, braved
the rain and came outside to show me the camping next door in the parking lot
of a fairly rundown looking motel which I assume was under the same
ownership. However the showers had been
recently renovated and the kitchen was decent.
Later on, after having a shower, doing my laundry and having
a bite to eat, I ventured into the pub for a few beers and worked on my blog on
my laptop. There were still a few of the
locals in the same spot. A little later
I had to giggle when I heard one man in his late 30s or early 40s wearing a
high visibility vest ponder “Two ways to go now…do I get sauced or get
semi-sauced?”.
I bid Sarah and the other patrons good night around 9:30 and
headed out to the van. A few minutes
after being inside, there was a knock on my side door and then it immediately
opened up. It was this large man with
his pitbullish looking dog whom I’d met earlier. Earlier in the evening I saw him and his dog getting
dropped off by a van that was for some kind of pet business and noticed that he
walked with a limp. He seemed to be the
only one staying in a motel room and I had met him and petted the dog as I was
back and forth with my laundry. “Oh sorry,”
he said, “I thought you were a friend of mine.”
Well okay, but I was the only one staying there in a campervan and he
saw me get into it earlier so that seemed a bit weird. I closed the door and was a bit perturbed
that my bedroom now stunk from his cigarette smoke that had wafted in. Regardless I got ready for bed, read my book
and dozed off.
Bang bang bang! I awoke
to somebody knocking on my door having no idea what time it was, but it was
still dark out. I remained silent at
first but the person was insistent with more knocks. “I’m sleeping in here” I stated. I heard the person try to open the sliding
door. What the hell. I remained quiet again. Then I heard them try to open the back hatch
which was right by my head, luckily it was all locked. I stayed quiet hoping they’d go away, and
they did. I was a bit on edge at this
point but tried to fall back asleep.
Five minutes later: CRASH! I heard the sound of a window breaking. My first thought was that the person or
persons were breaking into the tavern.
There was more smashing of glass, as if the person was finishing off the
bits of window still stuck in the frame.
Okay, not cool. Whoever it is
could easily smash one of my windows. It’s
time to get out of here.
I quietly put on my clothes in the dark. Took my wallet and stashed most of the money thinking
that if they try to rob me, they’ll see that I don’t have too much. Now the challenge. I can’t get into the front seat of Betty 2.0
from the back without exiting the side door, going around the front and getting
back in. Luckily the van has tinted
windows in the back so I checked the parking lot and it looked clear. I hopped out, unlocked the driver door,
hopped in, started her up and pulled out before even turning on the
headlights. I did notice a curtain
blowing out of one of the motel room windows which might have been where the
guy was staying, so that was likely the window that had been shattered. Maybe he’d just locked himself out, or maybe
someone was looking for him…I didn’t care, I’m outta here!
My adrenaline was pumping as I started down the highway in
the rain back towards Hokitika. I recalled
seeing a campground at a lake halfway back to town, about 10 kilometres
away. I pulled into the site which was
pitch black. I could see one other
vehicle but didn’t know where the camp registration stand was and decided not
to bother…at least until the morning. Needless
to say it took a little time for me to calm down and fall asleep. Well that was fun…
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