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Published: February 9th 2007
Kiwi Traffic Jam
Even more b-ewe-tiful scenery.The long fruitless drive around yesterday caught up with us this morning and we had a nice lie in and didn't end up leaving the campsite until midday.
Today's journey took us in search of a free campsite in Purakaunui that the campsite owner had told us about. On the way there we got stuck in a typical New Zealand traffic jam - behind a big flock of sheep! We watched the flock trotting slowly up the road being herded by a trio of working dogs and a couple of guys in a pick-up truck enjoying a beer as they 'worked'. It was totally like a scene out of a Foster's beer commercial, even if it wasn't quite Australia for the setting ;-)
Thankfully, it didn't take us too long to find the campsite we were looking for but it was actually a DOC site and not free to stay there though at $6, it wasn't about to break the bank. The camspite actally wasn't very good as there was no level ground to park up on and the only facility was a semi-flooded toilet block but the location was lovely - right next to the beach and the
Purakaunui Campsite
The Fellowship of the Frog (centre) about to be consumed by giant broccoli view was fab.
Glynn was exhausted from all the recent driving so he spent the afternoon lazing in the campervan watching the sea and the surfers trying to ride the waves. It rained on and off for most of the afternoon but when the sky finally began to clear a bit, I took myself off for a nice long walk along the beach. The sand banked around a tight curve where it gradually merged with some odd looking rocks jutting out at bizarre angles. Big chunks of seaweed lined the shore with scores of sandfleas hopping around each pile. Further down the coast I climbed up on to the more bulky rocks and watched the local surfers in action. Every now and then one of them would catch a really good wave and ride it to the shore but mostly they just kept falling off thier boards!
Over on the other side of the beach there was a little river running directly into the sea, just like the one we had seen at Le Bons Bay. It was too deep and wide to cross without taking my shoes off and it was a bit too cold to do
Beach Comb
It's like someone stole all the stones from the crazing paving! that today so I contented myself with watching a blue-grey heron (I think it was a heron but I know less about birds than I do about Quantum Physics) stalking insects along the banks of the river. I must have watched him for almost an hour and at times he ventured to within just a couple of feet of me which was kind of exciting. When the rain kicked in a again, I made for the van and joined Glynn for a quiet evening reading up on South America and getting myself all excited about the final leg of our big trip :-))
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