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The first of May - where has the time gone? Today is the first day of the duck shooting season and apparently the sound of shotguns was resounding round the valley. We didn’t notice, any more than we noticed the trucks or the trains - we had a lovely sound sleep!
What a difference a day makes - the sun was shining brightly this morning and the mountains were crystal clear - there was snow on many of them, which Alan says is the first time since September. We could even see Mount Cook in the distance. How many times can I say absolutely stunning?!
We spent quite a while on the site this morning, still washing and drying - and chatting to Alan and Jos about sites. Annoyingly, if we’d joined the NZ equivalent of the caravan club, we would have got a mapbook and guide similar to the revered Camps 5, giving details of free or cheap sites. We’d recommend anyone coming over should join! Alan also kindly offered to help any of our friends coming over in future with an itinerary and suggestions of where to stay (how kind is that!). As we’ve said several times,
freedom camping is really being stamped on - there have been numerous discussions on the radio - and a recent article in the paper was referring to a couple who were caught dumping their ‘waste’ in the middle of a supermarket carpark - they are liable to get a hefty fine and maybe even a year in clink! I think the Kiwis are getting a little fed up with those who don’t respect their country, but the only problem is that it isn’t always the foreigners who are causing the trouble.
We also had a good look at the inside of their 5 wheeler palace - it really was spectacular - almost like a small apartment. We’re still not sure if we’d like the itinerant life, but they seem to love it - they have properties in the North Island and Alan is 70, but they’d rather be ‘on the road’ - good on them!
Oh for a Cheapa Camper! I think I may have mentioned before that the van that we’ve got is basic. Our main complaint has been that there is absolutely no storage, which means we’re still using our suitcases, which John has to hoof
up onto the bed every day for us to get to our clothes. We’ve got used to it and adapted, and as we pass similar vans with Britz or Maui or similar stickers, we all give each other knowing nods (we wave enthusiastically to other Backpackers vans of course!) (occasionally they wave back!). But twice now we’ve seen a Cheapa Camper ... identical van to ours, but with cupboards, everywhere. I know this, because I stand with my nose stuck on their window looking in enviously - they even have a little nook for shoes!
And another thing - our van goes with a crash, bang, wallop - everything rattles and rolls! We’ve tried wedging things in, we’ve wrapped them in tea towels, we wrapped them in kitchen roll, we’ve laid them on their sides, we’ve stood them up, we’ve layered items with J clothes, but as soon as we set off, something starts knocking ... its driving us mad! If John puts his foot on the brake sharply, the cases come sliding down the aisle. And it’s so noisy, our conversations are normally held at shouting level before we relapse into silence ... well, as silent as the
knocking and banging will allow. We do, of course, have the radio - for the few minutes a day that we have reception between the mountains. Oh, I bet its better in a Cheapa Camper!!
Having said all that - we’d still rather be doing what we’re doing than not - noisy, basic van notwithstanding ... we even regard it with a certain amount of affection and will probably miss it when we’re sleeping in a proper bed ... !! (Yeah, right!!)
So a quick visit to Hokitika to finish the tumble drying, grab some shopping and upload another couple of blogs, and we were finally off on our way to the glaciers. Unfortunately we didn’t have time to visit Sock World and see the world’s largest collection of antique sock knitting machines! (surprising really, because entrance was free!) The sun was really hot, and the blue sky made the scenery so attractive - although I have to say that the rivers are still ‘grey’ - they are just more of a slate blue grey! A really lovely colour. We stopped at Lake Ianthe for lunch - really pretty blue lake surrounded by green mountains.
And then the glaciers came into view and oh wow! This is what we came to NZ to see - can I use that word ‘stunning’ again?! We drove into Franz Josef village and visited a couple of helicopter companies before decided on which to use tomorrow for our airborn trip over the glacier which has been one of my ‘musts’ of the holiday. We booked into a site, took a walk round the village (2 minutes) and I’m now ensconced in the TV room of the site while John cooks the dinner in the kitchen ... this is getting to be quite a perk!
Today’s Creek offerings: Donnelly and Red Jacks (for April and Jo!), Hercules (for all Steptoe & Son fans) and my favourite: Duffers Creek. I did say to John that the day I see Bones Creek we’ll have to stop and take a photo ... he asked why! So there’s obviously no hope for Hips Creek or Doors Creek ... I’m wasted, I really am!
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