Advertisement
Published: February 11th 2007
Clifden Suspension Bridge
Looks much bigger here than it really is.This morning, we just weren't motivated to get moving even though we knew we couldn't afford to pay for another night in the comfortable campsite. When we did muster the energy to leave, we drove just a short distance to nearby Riverton where we found what looked like a free camping area right by the sea with toilets on hand too but both of us had a nagging doubt about the place that made us decide to keep looking.
At Colac Bay we drew a blank so we picked up Scenic Route 99 and followed the road up to Clifden, where our German friends Susi and Steffen had told us about a free campsite by the bridge. We found the right place easily but alas the campsite had been chained off and access to it was no longer possible. We couldn't help but wonder what could have happened in the space of a month to make the authorities close down the site and it was pity as the area was really nice. We spent some time walking across the old suspension bridge which creaked ominously beneath our feet but offered lovely views of the river and some lopsided cliffs crumbling
Cable View
A nice arty shot from Glynn's camera. on its banks.
Back in the van, we spotted a sign pointing to a nearby system of caves that sounded exciting and made a beeline for it. We kitted ourselves out with torches, spare batteries and decent footwear and made our way inside. We were fully prepared for a good scramble over the rocks to get deep into the cave system but due to the recent rains, it was quite muddy just 20 metres inside the cave and we would have had to crawl right through it to reach the next chamber. We just don't have enough clothes on this trip to spare for a full-scale caving adventure so we reluctantly turned back. Just as we did so though, something green and shiny caught my eye high on the cave roof. It was a glowworm! We only spotted 2 others in that first bit of cave we were in but it definitely stopped us from feeling quite so disappointed.
Off again in search of a campsite, we decided to try a place called Lake Monowai, deep in the Fjordland in the south-west of South Island. It was a long drive to get there, the road taking us deep
Jazz Hands
Glynn practises his lastest dance routine on the bridge. As you do. into the woods where we passed lakes so clear and still that reflections of the surrounding mountains were perfectly mirrored on their surface. When we arrived, we found a free DOC campsite with toilet facilities. We set up camp for the night and got dinner on the go only to be swarmed by New Zealand's least friendly inhabitants - sandflies. Within the space of about 30 minutes, we had both been bitten at least 10 times and Glynn was getting the brunt of their hunger with bites all over his hands and wrists - it seemed like we were the main course rather than our meager pasta dish! By the time we had finished eating, we couldn't stand it any more and felt we had no choice but to find somewhere else to camp for the night. We packed up at 8.30pm and just kept driving. There was nowhere free to camp at pretty Manapouri and the DOC site at Horseshoe Bay was also full of sandflies. It was too late to move on again, so we locked ourselves inside the van and killed anything that moved. Needless to say, it wasn't one of the best nights we've had in
Tomb Raider
Could this be the new Lara Croft in action? No, it's just Jude. the campervan.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.459s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 22; qc: 83; dbt: 0.3653s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
