The day the journey started

Thursday 14 June 

Stephen planing the door.

Serving up dessert

The evening was spent with our friends Julianne and Jim out at Lorneville. It was like our first WOOFING assignment as Stephen had a small list of things to do - planing a door that has been sticking, fixing a door-handle and putting up some hooks for clothes.  Julianne cooked us a beautiful meal which was enjoyed with a wine or two and good conversation. We actually stayed in the house as I took the opportunity to do the washing and that included the sheets. At 11pm at night I didn’t have much desire for making up the bed.

Friday 15 June 

We had lunch with Mavis and Maurice at Nichol’s Garden Centre and then popped into town to do a few last minute jobs like getting a few groceries.  Then with a fuel stop on Elles Road we headed out along the Scenic Southern Route to Fortrose. A park on the foreshore was secured, the fire lit and it was time to batten down the hatches for the night. The sunset over the estuary was beautiful but didn’t last long and by the time the camera was located the best of it had past.  With a clear sky it was easy to see that there was going to be a frost in the morning.

Tea had been locally sourced albeit in a roundabout way. Our friends the Birches had given us some whitebait (caught in the Mataura river just across the estuary) when we were up in Clyde last week. It made a lovely first meal away.

Sunset over Fortrose Estuary

 Saturday 16 June

Mrs Thomas's house on the hill in Fortrose

 We woke to a rather chilly morning with signs of a good frost. We weren’t in any hurry to move. The wee fire was lit but in those cold conditions it struggles to bring the temperature up. The bus heater is a great supplement. Breakfast over it was time for a walk. We started off along the estuary and then it was up the hill to the shop and past the Bennett’s wee house.  My friend Bronwyn lives in Mrs Thomas’s house (Andrew’s grandma’s place) so we thought we would walk on up and see if she was out from town for the weekend. Luck was with us and she invited us in for a cuppa. We took several photos for Andrew and I would think that even after 20 years some parts of the wee place hadn’t changed much. Bronwyn showed us all the things they had done to it - a real ‘crib’ for the extended family.
Our next destination was the Niagara/Waikawa area and we headed off mid afternoon in that direction. A stop at Tokonui was made at the public dump station and the Saturday paper was bought.

Southland's own Niagara Falls!!

The NZMCA has a campsite at Niagara so we decided to have a look at it. The afternoon was getting on so it wasn’t hard to make the decision to camp here. At this time of the year it is important to make camp before the sun goes down as the temperature in the bus drops very quickly. All that glass - a bonus when the sun is shining but not so on a cold night.  And this one looked like it was going to be colder than the last. 

Sunday 17 June

A frosty start to the day!

We were right about the cold night. We woke to -4°C in the bus, all the windows were iced, and our water and pump were frozen. It was very picturesque but this was not the start we had planned all those months ago, envisaging more temperate times. However we weren’t the only ones in the camp that night. Our neighbours were a couple in their 80s who lived permanently on the road. They too were without water.  The one thing that we do have is a very warm bed and we never felt cold during the night. Our sheets are polar fleece and while tucked up in bed with them, along with our feather duvet and mattress topper we are always toastie warm.

A walk to warm up was in order so we set out along the road towards Waikawa. Out in the sun it was very pleasant and so we kept going as far as the Waikawa cemetery where many of Stephen’s relatives are resting including his great-grandmother. Stephen’s mum’s family all came from around the area and included both the Bennett and the Weir families.
Our next campsite was at Owaka. Stephen’s niece now lives there and we were keen to see her new house. We also had birthday presents to deliver for Shelby’s 3rd birthday.  There was plenty of room on the section for the bus and Lisa had cooked us a lovely roast meal.
We headed off to bed to the sound of light drizzle which (can you believe it coming from Southland) that we were pleased to hear.