Oamaru & Lower Waitaki Golf Club

The blue cod & chips with salad in the Hampden Tavern were delicious and afterwards we settled in for a quiet night in the carpark being the only motorhomers. No Internet coverage for us here but we were able to use the Tavern's Wifi whilst dining.

Saturday morning, before heading north, we drove down the road to Hampden Beach just to look - a nice sunny day but we weren't  at all tempted to have a swim with it only being 10°! Hampden is a tiny town but has a 4 Square, church, a merino shop and maybe a couple of other shops. Oamaru isn't too far away and when we arrived there were lots of vintage cars in the car park for a short time as well as a lot of motorhomes. Oamaru, known for being the Steampunk Capital of the World, and which we spent some time in on our last trip, is a cool town.  It is seemingly large with magnificent old buildings made of Oamaru stone, especially in the Victoria precinct, and a very very wide main street boasting 4 lanes but the population, surprisingly, is only around 14,000.
Steampunk is a term that was coined in the 1980's and is based on imagining inventions the Victorians might have created for the modern world.

T and big P!

Always up for a challenge!

The main tourist attraction is the little blue penguin colony around the harbour and the yellow eyed penguins at Bushy Creek, just south of the town. We walked from the town carpark by the Victorian area through the excellent playground, where I had a play, along the edge of the harbour to the penguin colony which we didn't go into as we have seen them before but there were some big fur seals basking on the rocks beyond to view. 

A real seal.

A fake penguin!

Not many people about which seemed strange. After a wander around the old buildings and through the wide main street which seems to stretch forever we managed to get back to the bus just before the showers started. Rain and gales are predicted for the next couple of days.

We had planned to stay at the A&P showgrounds but it happened to be the weekend of their annual show so instead we drove out to the Lower Waitaki Golf Club where you can play and stay or just pay a fee to stay. We were thinking we would just hunker down because of the bad weather coming in and it was already 4.30pm by the time we arrived, the Saturday competition players just finishing. However the sky didn't yet look too black so we made a quick decision to play before the gales started knowing that the weather would be worse the next day.

Some tiny light showers came soon after we started but they soon eased and it was a nice flat course to play. 

Get in the hole!

We were the only ones on it by that time and felt pleased that we managed to avoid all the bunkers and ponds. By the time we finished the only other motorhome in the carpark had been joined by a second one making 3 of us overnighting but we didn't meet up with the others having parked our bus on the grass at the far end of the carpark. They both moved even further away to snuggle into the hedge for protection from the wind.

As predicted it was very windy overnight but fortunately we must have parked facing into it and so weren't bothered by any shaking. Being a southerly it was very cold making it hard to get out of bed in the morning! And then we had to pile on the layers before slowly moving on to the Waitaki river mouth where the wild sea was sweeping up the coast from the south and at 90° to the land, the beach itself being covered with large grey pebbles as is typical of the beaches in this area. The fishing is meant to be great here but not today!!

Coming up State Highway 1 however we did stop again at the rest area by the bridge going over the Waitaki river and, although it was still blowing a hooley, Len tried spinning under the bridge for a short time, unsuccessfully sad to say, before continuing on to Waimate.

Karitane, Waikouaiti, Hampden

After our quiet night overlooking the estuary at the Warrington Beach POP we walked down to the ocean beach, 

Wide Warrington sandy beach.

where there were lots of freedom campers and bus loads of school students doing activities, before continuing north on the scenic Coastal Road, past Seacliffe, to Karitane, a spot we fell in love with on our travels 6 years ago.

The road is rather bumpy and windy with lots of railway crossings but it's a good scenic trip especially with it being a sunny, although hazy, day. Karitane has the sea on one side and the Waikouaiti river around the headland on the other. 

Waikouaiti river mouth - T has positive feeling that I'll catch a fish here!

It looked like the fishing might be good off the wharf and being close to low tide Len tried both his spinner and squid bait along with several other hopefuls. 

I have a negative feeling at this point!

Only one kahawai caught and that was by a lucky local fisherman who considered that the river is a bit dirty at present. Nil to everyone else!

Never mind I have some salmon in the fridge!

The NZMCA CAP site at the Waikouaiti Beach Camp was our stopover for the night. Just $10 for members which allowed us to use the dump station but no other facilities. The camp was quiet with about 4-5 other members in our area and not many in the main camp although there were many unoccupied caravans. We had to be careful in our area to keep to the edges as the ground gets boggy. People would have had fun watching us park as, having decided that we wanted to get TV, we moved 4 times before being successful!

Waikouaiti beach. 

After settling we had a walk down through the trees to the beach and along it - a beautiful spot but not hot enough to tempt us to swim.

The next morning we emptied the tanks and filled up with water which had such a horrible taste that we soon had to empty our bottles of that drinking water - luckily we still had some good drinking water on board.

A gentle saunter beckons!

We then drove around to the Hawksbury Lagoon which is a wildlife refuge for large numbers of different birds although breeding numbers are very low due to lack of safe nesting areas.

Some beautiful bird's rest at this lagoon!

Trish off track again!

The lagoon itself is very shallow, being only half a metre deep, and they are having difficulty improving the water quality meaning that it can be smelly but there were no odours today and it was a peaceful walk around the pools and crossing the causeways for probably a bit over an hour.

Waikouaiti beach looking north. 

Waikouaiti beach looking south.

We had a coffee overlooking the very blue sea before setting off for Hampden, passing the handful of shops on the main road at Waikouaiti and stopping for a wee walk through little Palmerston, where there is a very high hill to the east with the Puketapu monument on top, before turning off to Shag Point, thinking of the possibility of fishing.

Shag Head - a good find!

Once we arrived at the end of the fairly narrow road however we soon realised that it is a very popular spot for tourists to view the huge fur seals which are either lazing on the rocks below or frolicking virtually in one spot in the water.

What a stressless life looks like!

An unexpected good find!

By later afternoon we arrived in little Hampden having passed the turn off to the Moeraki Boulders which we have visited a couple of times before. We are now parked out the back of the Hampden Tavern, a free spot for NZMCA members, but we'll treat ourselves to some fish and chips for dinner in the Tavern as some kind of payment.

Port Chalmers & Warrington

Wednesday morning, after some of many vehicles had moved off site making the dump station more accessible, we emptied and filled and then set off for the golf course at Port Chalmers.  We had planned to do a  shop at New World first but parking our bus anywhere near was impossible so the groceries had to wait until we got to the 4 Square at Port Chalmers after golf. 

Phew! Top of the hill at last!

The 9 hole course is in quite a rural setting with a few houses on either side of the road leading up to it. Hilly as, so exhausting, but with good views out to the harbour from some holes, just a couple of bunkers from memory and an awkward stream fairly close to the green on the 8th, a Par 3.

Pull back. Don't put it in the sea!

Len played well but my game wasn't that great, not being in love with these, what I call, strenuous courses! At least my wrist was better and although I could still feel my bee sting I can't blame that!

View from the top. 

After buying the groceries we drove on up the steep, windy Blueskin Road with it's magnificent views out over the harbour to the free POP at Warrington for NZMCA members, past the freedom camping area for "commoners"(as we have fun calling them, tongue in cheek!), and overlooking the Warrington estuary. Only one other couple there in their caravan so a nice, quiet spot with a good view, just a little hazy, over the estuary. Time for The Chase on 1+1 and dinner when we arrived so we didn't walk down to the beach until the next morning.

Dunedin

Monday morning saw us on the road again after 2 relaxing nights at Taieri Mouth- not often that we spend 2 nights somewhere so I think we are still racing! We crossed over the Taieri bridge and continued on the scenic coastal road route with it's abundant flaxes, toi toi, still flowering agapanthus, little nooks for freedom camping so probably lots of poo in the bushes and sea views. Coming into Dunedin we stopped at the Island Park Golf club at Waldronville but didn't play as my left wrist was still pretty sore from I know not what the previous day and my bee sting was still creating a bit of a limp. What a temporary wreck!

Anyway not playing meant that we got to the very busy Woodhaugh NZMCA  park in Dunedin before all the spaces were taken. They say there is room for 40 vehicles but you'd be lucky to fit more than 30 in with space needed for the extra cars pulling the caravans. It's a handy location and parking areas are few and far between in Dunedin.

Alongside the Leith!

Once settled in we wandered down the really nice Leith Valley walkway, following the stream, into town where I reminisced, once again, on my life there 50 years ago. By the time we got back to our NZMCA park, after an early Indian dinner, it was packed!

The usherette, 50yrs on!

The next morning we walked into town again to meet up with Rob, a Physio classmate, who has always lived in Dunedin, for coffee at The Good Oil on George Street.

Reminiscing physios. 

A good catch up on the last few years before she had to dash to see a patient. I'm not envious fortunately!

After climbing up steep Pitt Street  (in student days we never particularly liked going to parties up there) we did a guided tour of Olveston Historic Home, something that I have been meaning to do for many years, with it being one of Dunedin's main attractions.

T at Olveston.

It is a large, opulent home built in 1907 for the Theomin family with many interesting features, fine art and original furnishings and artefacts collected from all over the world. Everything in the house is as it was when gifted to the City of Dunedin in 1966 a carpet and a bedroom wallpaper that needed replacing being replicated to be exactly like the original. It's important that visitors aren't tempted to touch anything which is why you can only see the house with a guide. It was good to have visited it at last.

Ready to go!

Lunch was back at The Good Oil before walking on to the beautiful, much photographed, Dunedin Railway Station to join the Taieri Gorge Rail excursion,

Low speed Taieri train. 

a 4 hour return trip up to Pukerangi, crossing the Taieri Plains, passing the Wingatui Racecourse, thoroughbred racehorses, going through several tunnels and crossing the Wingatui Viaduct.

Race horse breeding farm.

Typical view from the carriage window. 

It is nice scenery and you feel as though you are in the middle of nowhere but I think we have been spoilt by all our road travels around this area seeing similar views. It was good to hear a fellow passenger enthuse about how much there was to take in. The train was no more than a third full so it meant we could easily change seats to the side of the carriage with the views.

Our turnaround point.

At the outward destination of Pukerangi, which means " the hill of Heaven", we were able to get out for a leg stretch while passengers about to cycle the Otago Rail Trail disembarked.

After the train trip we had an excellent and good value pizza slab and beer for dinner at Ratbags, on the lower corner of the Octagon, Tuesday being their half price pizza special night.

A satisfied look!

A jug of beer for $14 and plenty of pizza slab to share for $15! And very good!

This time we caught the bus back to our campsite, another bargain, being free for gold card holders at off peak times.

Lawrence & Taieri Mouth

The showers stopped overnight and Friday morning, after Len tried another fish in the pond, we headed on to the little historical town of Lawrence, initially passing through the town, to play golf on the local 9 hole course. I'm loving the stands of red hot pokers that we are seeing everywhere on our travels at the moment- just beautiful.

Better chips than  McKains!

Only $10 each to play at the Lawrence course which is nice and flat with just a couple of the men's tees being up a little rise and one of the tees being under repair. There were drains, mainly dry, across some of the fairways and I managed to land my ball in one of the wet ones, twice. There was also a cute pond on one of the par threes which wasn't so cute after I landed in that twice as well.

A Reed Warbler fossicking for balls!

So the course had its challenges! It was a sunny day but not as hot as at Roxburgh and we were able to use our umbrellas for shade without them being blown inside out. Only one other couple, who were also on holiday, played while we were there.

After golf we drove back into Lawrence where we appreciated seeing some of the sign boards throughout the village telling us about the old buildings and the gold history of the town.

Lawrence main street is Whitehaven Street!

We also had a look through the museum, bought a little old eggcup and a wee knife, to help with nibbles at Happy Hour, at the jam packed bric a brac shop, and then relaxed with a beer and chips at the Coach & Horses Inn.
Many of the early gold miners came from Cornwall and Northern England and the main street of Lawrence is called Whitehaven Street. Unfortunately the lady in the museum didn't know if there was a connection with our Whitehaven.
Gabriel's Gully DOC camp by a little lake and not far out of town was our stopover place for the night.

Gray's Dam

A peaceful area with about 7-8 motorhomes there, probably only one little vehicle not having an NZMCA sticker. Light showers started in the evening and continued through part of the night with the temperature going down to about 6° - a rapid fall from the hot days and nights we have had recently.

It was only 9° when we set off in drizzle this morning to walk the 2-3 hour return track to the Otago Dam. A nice track firstly round the lake and then through the trees beside a gurgling stream.

Wet feet this way methinks 

However there were some slippery boggy patches resulting from the rain and by the time we got to the first stream crossing in which the stones looked very slippery we decided to head back and just do the 80 minute Gabriel's Gully Interpretive Track instead.

That's the end of my shift thank goodness!

This  one looks interesting!

A choice we were pleased with  being a bit of a climb up, similar to the Mount, but an easier return with good information panels along the way telling us the history of the site and how the gold was extracted as well as giving an insight into the lives of the miners and their families.

After having lunch, refilling with water and dumping in Lawrence as well as making use of the free town Wifi, we drove through towards the coast leaving behind  the schist outcrops which were replaced by rolling hills with sheep and borders of flax. After stopping in Milton to have a walk through the town, we continued on until Len suddenly saw a golf course sign leading us down what became a gravelly road to the right. It was a course we haven't yet played on - Toko - but unfortunately Saturday afternoon is their club day and, because of this, we wouldn't have been able to get on the 9 hole course until about 5.00pm. So we carried on to the CAP  ( charges apply parking for NZMCA members) on the Taieri river mouth, just south of Dunedin, our destination for a night or two.

Taieri Mouth. 

A beautiful spot close to the water, a friendly owner, Keith and his little white dog Charlie, and only two other vehicles here apart from about 5 old boats, a couple of rusted out old buses and an old digger belonging to the owner!

Beautiful place and scrapyard!

One end of this property is a total junkyard but at least our end is clear! The afternoon saw us doing a bit of a walk to get orientated and a bit of fishing for Len.

No cellphone coverage or Internet in these areas so you just hope no-one needs to contact us urgently. Wierd feeling isolated like that when 20 - 30 years ago we had to wait 3 weeks for a postcard to know family was safe!

After a very quiet night we decided we needed to pause and not rush off to play golf or do any bigger walks like the one up the river gorge. Instead Len joined several others who were fishing along the river towards the mouth while I did a couple of loads of washing which had been mounting up. Good to have a long line under the deck of the house to hang it on. Whilst I was relaxing in the deck chair making vague plans for the next week or two Diane and Paul, a friendly couple from Worcester in England, arrived in their motorhome. As we were chatting I stood on a nasty bumblebee which gave my barefoot a good sting - ouch!

Then for Len to have a break from fishing, at which no one on the river bank was having any luck, we had a good walk down to the bridge and then down to the mouth of the river round to the very wide beach where we met up with Diane and Paul before returning back along the road to our bus, passing the Taieri Mouth motorcamp on the way.

Diane,  Trish  and an elephant?

Happy Hour was outside our bus where we were joined by Diane & Paul and Denise & Richard from Ashburton who were on their first trip away in their new caravan. A good craic!

Roxburgh & Pinders Pond

From Butchers Dam we drove on towards Roxburgh, passing the odd quaint little old miners cottage and the many rocky outcrops of layered schist

Typical view down this rocky road. 

which is such a special feature of this area. After buying some roadside fruit - the Moorpark  apricots are big and delicious - the Roxburgh Dam was a good stopping point to see the water gushing forcefully and spectacularly  through the gates into the Clutha River.

The I-site in the little town of Roxburgh  (population 500)  provided us with information about the cycle rides in the area, namely the Clutha Gold Trail which looks good to do, and the friendly lady on the desk gave us a nice hessian shopping bag for being responsible campers after we talked about the poo problems at Butcher's Dam. We also popped into the Pharmacy to pick up a faxed prescription - ongoing medical care is pretty easy when you're on the road!

The next crazy stop was The Roxburgh Golf Club situated just on the other side of town - crazy ( mad dogs and English men!!) because at 30 ° it was about the hottest day of the year and there was not a cloud in the sky! Boy it was hot. We had a chat to the Secretary who was there briefly but we were the only idiots on the course. The sun scorched down and the hot wind gusted through the rises and hollows meaning we couldn't use our umbrellas for shade.

Aftermath of letting trundler find its own way!

The tee is the other side of the canyon!

Golf bagatelle!

However, what an interesting but challenging course this is - unique really with the abundance of schist rocks everywhere, narrow entries to some fairways, a stoney creek in 2 fairway gullies, bunkers and so many exhausting ups and downs from one tee to the next that I would have liked an escalator! But I'm sure I would have managed better on a cooler day. Let this be a lesson!

A good place for reflection. 

We could have stayed overnight at the course but instead chose to drive to Pinders Pond, a beautiful free spot on the other side of the river with plenty of room and a toilet for non self contained vehicles! We parked almost right on the edge of the lake with the forceful Clutha River, just beyond the cycle track and trees, behind. On arriving we jumped straight into the Pond for a swim, needing to cool off from the golf - bliss even though there are funny tiny particles in the water.

Chris & Steve from Papamoa, whom we were parked next to at Molyneux Park 2 nights ago,  joined us for drinks and chat before dinner which was good. Len had a fish in the pond while dinner was cooking and then in the river after dinner but sadly the fish won again although he did get a perch to throw back and a couple of bites. He might be able to blame his gear as with the warm water on top of the lakes he may need something that takes his hook a bit deeper!
What a knackering day! I didn't even have the energy to read my book when I got into bed.

Thursday morning was cloudy with the promise of a shower or two but at 9.30 we  took my pet spider, who comes from Whakatane and lives in the handlebars of my bike, for a spin down the Clutha Gold Cycle Trail to Millers Flat, 14 km away. 

Great bike track alongside the Clutha.

This is a great, undulating but easy, track running alongside the powerful, rushing greeny Clutha with occasional views of cattle, sheep and fields of spinach. The whole track runs from just north of  Roxburgh to Lawrence being about 73 km long. It joins up with the Roxburgh Gorge Trail through to Alexandra and to us would make a good alternative to the Otago Rail Trail which can be a bit of a slog at times. Going out we met about 10 fit male cyclists racing towards us plus an older couple. On the return journey we saw no one else at all which made all the bends safe!

Delicious carrot cake,  second only to Trish's!

In tiny Miller's Flat we had a coffee and a delicious slice of carrot cake each in Faigin's cafe whilst enjoying using their Wifi as we caught up with all things Internet not having been able to connect for 2-3 days. The cafe is cosy with quite a lot of paintings and interesting memorabilia displayed on the surrounding shelves. We arrived back at Pinders Pond just after 1.00pm, the wind having started to suddenly drive into us 2 km from 'home'.  5 minutes later the showers started and a new plan was forged! We are now going to stay here another night to have a little rest before leaving for Lawrence tomorrow.

Alexandra & Butchers Dam

No matter how long we spend in Central Otago, every day we are in awe of the dramatic scenery in this area and as we drove from Omakau to Alexandra in cloud, passing through Chatto Creek with it's historical Tavern and nothing else, we loved the inspiring views of the crusty dry brown hills with the occasional poplars, willows, dotted shrubs and visual "pop outs" of green pivot-irrigated pasture.

We parked down by the river in Alexandra while we had a "catch-up" day - I did the last blog and Len had a fish - didn't actually catch one but at least he saw one! From there we moved on to Molyneux Park, close to the swimming pool, where NZMCA members can park for no charge at present. Quite a lot of other vans already there by the time we arrived.

The next day we played golf at the Alexandra course - 

Nice landscaping by the members. 

18 holes, flat and well looked after being irrigated, with bunkers on the edges of some fairways as well as protecting the greens. 

3 pairs of sturdy legs!

An attractive pond with a couple of sturdy legged white herons nestles near the clubhouse. It was ladies day and we met many friendly ones who made us feel welcome and made sure the facilities were kept open so we could shower, it being a very hot perspiration inducing day.

Peaceful before the "slider" invasion!

After golf we drove south east to Butchers Dam, quite a nice place to stay the night being right by the lake. By nightfall there were probably 10 vehicles there, half being tourists in their various small vehicles or cars which they have somehow found a self contained sticker from somewhere to attach to their boots.  In the morning it was shocking to see what was left behind - a couple of girls who parked their station wagon right on the lakeside in front of us drove off leaving soiled tissues where their vehicle had been and when we started on our walk around the lake there was well soiled toilet paper with excrement on the track.

Yuk!! Something needs to be done about this by the local councils.  If they are going to allow people to park for free they should make sure they put a toilet there.  Better still there should be a charge for these spots - say $5 per vehicle and maybe a meter that gives you a ticket to display to show that you've paid. In the very least these vehicles should carry spades and at least dig themselves a decent hole! It's both disgusting and alarming to see what people are leaving behind in these beautiful areas. I think I'm going to write a letter to the paper although I'm sure I won't be the first.

Is that a bird or a teapot?

Anyway before leaving, under the already hot sun, we did the hour long loop track with information boards across the dam and around to the top of the lake which is no longer used for drinking water. 

No damn luck fishing here for me!

Len had tried some spinning the evening before but again the fish were elusive. There was a lot of weed in the lake which made it not very attractive to swim in.