Having sweltered and scorched through the day yesterday we woke this morning to discover that someone had removed the sun and very soon the mountains had disappeared as well. The cloud rolled over us and covered the surrounding scenery, driven on by winds blasting in from the south.
We shouldn't be surprised, living as we do in a country where you can have every season in the same day – but when you are on holiday you are inclined to think that it will be otherwise.
The reason for all this inclementness is obvious when you think about it. Yesterday was a bank holiday (Waitangi Day) which has not yet been, in the words of the local paper, Mondayised. However it would appear that no one has told the weather about this aberration and so it has performed in its usual way for Bank Holiday Mondays.
It rained all the way on our journey from Kaikoura to Hamner Springs today (we hope you are all looking these places up on Google maps to see exactly where we are) but finally exhausted itself as we arrived. The temperatures, which had been well over 30C yesterday went down to 12.5C at one time on our journey! It has been dry-ish for the last two or three hours but the sun is still absent. Ah well, there is always tomorrow.
Well, enough of the weather rant! What did we do today, not a great deal to be honest. We went first thing down to the Whaleway Station at Kaikoura and bought ourselves some commemorative t-shirts. We left heading south; the road runs along the side of the sea for quite some distance and we could see large waves crashing against the shore.
It was so windy that even the seagulls and a few gannets had gathered on the beaches in quite large groups to shelter from its force. Not something that either of us can remember seeing before.
Before long we turned away from the coast and headed further inland. The gale force winds gradually eased, which made for much more comfortable driving of our “bus”. I should perhaps add a note here about the number and range of campervans that inhabit NZ's roads. Owning, or more likely renting, one is a hugely popular thing to do here, both with Kiwis and tourists. Caravans are around but are more unusual and are more likely to be seen left on holiday parks to be returned to on a regular basis by their owners. Families of all shapes and sizes head out to any and every destination in their home on wheels; we are a bit of a monster in terms of size and parked next to us last night was a young Dutch couple and their rather disgruntled baby, all squeezed into a van that we could easily have swallowed twice over and that seemed to require the complete dismantling of beds before you could even think of sitting down. However, they seemed to have everything to hand, including the electric kettle, although you wondered how they managed to open any doors without losing all their worldly goods.
One of the things that some Kiwis aspire to is to own a “house-bus.” This is a previously owned vehicle (or may be new) of the bus variety that is then converted into a house on wheels. Many Kiwis like to build their own – this is very much a “can do – will do” culture here. We were treated to the sight of one of these beauties yesterday, when a much older couple than us, sailed past us on the campsite in a canary coloured single decker bus. We have to say we think the whole thing is rather a triumph of hope over experience; having crept nervously up some of the mountain roads with their hairpins and 90 degree bends, we have no wish to repeat the experience in anything larger than we are.
The road to Hanmer Springs was fairly unremarkable after our recent drives. Low cloud and rain kept the mountains from view and these were not yet the fully fledged Southern Alps but mile after mile of pale ochre coloured hills. There were sheep, though. South Island could be defined by sheep; we even stopped for coffee at a village called Cheviot. North Island seemed to be about lovely little herds of Jersey cows but South Island is definitely, indubitably about sheep.
We stopped at Waipara, the southernmost tip of the Alpine-Pacific Triangle, to pile yet more diesel into the bus and chatted to the owner about the likelihood of taking our vehicle over Arthur's Pass. This road goes over the Southern Alps and reputedly has fantastic views and is also fantastically high. Given the van's propensity to roam alarmingly all over the road at the slightest whiff of a breeze and our slightly nervous disposition about hairpin bends, we have been taking soundings as to the wisdom of travelling this road ever since we hit South Island. He said we'd be fine, as they had upgraded the goat track recently. Not quite knowing whether to laugh or take him seriously, we paid our money and departed.
Hanmer Springs is the third point in the Alpine-Pacific Triangle (Kaikoura being the first) and is here because of its hot springs and pools. It is a top destination for Kiwis, rather like Rotorua on a minor scale.We are off to the pools tomorrow to try them out. The tiny town seems to be composed of eating places, activity centres and expensive clothes shops. There do look to be some good walks though.
No comments:
Post a Comment