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Published: February 12th 2007
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Robin Hood Bay
Gotta love these landscapes :-) We had no idea what to expect from our latest location at Robin Hood Bay as we had arrived so very late last night when it was so very dark. In the moonlight we could at least see a rocky looking beach and we could hear the roar of the waves as they lashed the shore all through the night. It was much calmer when we woke up this morning so we couldn't resist a stroll around the bay.
With barely a grain of sand in sight, the beach was really nothing more than a big collection of chunky stones. The stones were banked so deep and so steeply on the shore that we had difficulty walking along without sliding around everywhere but it made for good exercise! Along the way, we found a few out of place looking rocks harbouring white crystals inside them. Glynn vented some of his pent up frustration from all the recent driving he's done by dropping heavy rocks onto the crystalline rocks to see if he could break them open. Alas we didn't find any worthwhile crystal formations in any of them but I think Glynn felt better for trying! Aside from the masses
Rock Fan
Glynn scours the beach for some rocks to smash. of tortured lookign driftwood strewn about the bay, the only things that caught our eye was a few very pretty but sadly damaged paua shells and the carcass of a recently deceased goat lying intact on the beach, stiff with rigor mortis. We wondered if he was washed up in the stormy seas during the night perhaps. It was kind of stomach churning and morbidly fascinating at the same time but we kept our distance to be on the safe side and let the poor creature be.
Leaving the beach, we headed over to a sign telling us all about a historic cottage hidden behind an overgrown paddock. As we were reading about the cottage, a friendly and handsome horse trotted over to say hello to us. He was tame enough to be petted and happily followed us along the paddock as we continued along the road back to the campsite. He looked to be in good health although I couldn't shake the feeling that he was a lonely old soul, bless. We also passed a cluster of cows as we walked on who watched us with avid curiosity as we went by. While there may have been no
Drifter and Driftwood
How's this for a big bit of driftwood? bugs and no fees to pay, the whole drama of trying to find somewhere to camp every night has totally tainted the last week of our road trip. At least we only have a few days to go now until the van has to go back...
By the time we returned to the campsite, we were surprised to find a huge tent had sprung up in our absence. It turned out to be a father and his two teenage sons and they had all the gear with them for a full-on fishing weekend including motorboat, pick-up truck, gas barbecue and enough kit to land themselves some serious catches. They pretty much took up two thirds of the small campsite and it felt a little too crowded all of a sudden. We hadn't planned on moving on today as Glynn really needed a break from driving but we also didn't fancy hanging around with our new neighbours. Unhappily, we packed up our stuff and hit the road again.
The road north was just as awful as the one that led us to Robin Hood Bay last night and we didn't pass a single free camping area the entire way.
Shelling Out
Jish finds himself a shell that's almost as big as he is :-) Driving along the gravel road today was even more periloud than before due to the sheer stupidity and recklessness of other road users. Car drivers coming the other way wouldn't move over forcing us into the many small rockslides on the edge of the track. How we avoided colliding with some cars is a miracle as they just wouldn't slow down to allow us time to get by safely. It was scary. Again, hats off to Glynn for keeping his cool. By the time we hit tarmac road again, we had made a vow to steer clear of all gravel roads from now on.
We drove on to Picton where we stopped to take a break. The sun was beating down again so we decided to treat ourselves to an ice cream. Rather than pay $2.50 for a single scoop on a cone, we had the cunning idea of nipping into the supermarket where we got a 2 litre tub of strawberry rocky road ice cream for just $2.79 (about £1). We took our treasure back to the van and endulged in some ice cream sandwiches that were very delicious :-)
After a couple of hours in Picton,
Mister Ed
Glynn finds himself a new ride ;-) we made our way south again via Blenheim and joining up with the east coast once more. Every picnic area we found on the way declared that camping was prohibited, so we kept driving and kept driving until eventually we passed the salt plains that we had seen from the train when we first arrived on the South Island. We knew there was a DOC campsite nearby at Marfells Beach and turned off onto yet another gravel road to find it. We spotted a couple of campervans just parked up on the side of the road which should ahve made us suspicious about the DOC site wewere heading to and sure enough, when we arrived we found it would cost $12 for us to camp overnight and the only facility avaiable was the toilet block, as usual. The site was right next to the sea and the wind was whipping up a storm. It was much colder there than it had been just a couple of kms away on the main road and when a woman started walking towards the van wielding an official-looking clipboard, we climbed back in the van and left again.
As dusk descended upon us, I spotted a small group of campervans parked in what looked liek an unoffical campsite near a silver-grey beach. There were no signs saying that we couldn't join the other campers so we parked up in some tall grass, cooked dinner and hunkered down for the night.
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