Sometimes I feel like I’m missing something. We arrived to an uninspiring campsite in the middle of nowhere, and found it to be surprisingly busy. What’s more, looking at the set-ups some of the campers had been there for a long time. What drew them there? Was it the lake full of toxic algae that we couldn’t enter? The smelly toilets that had been entirely taken over by mayflies - to the point that if you entered after dark it could be aa scene straight from a horror film? Or its location near no tourist spots or amenities? I just didn’t get it, but we ended up staying, so perhaps others also just saw it as a convenient stopping point on the way south even though it wasn’t ideal.
We only stayed at Lake Ellesmere for the one night before we journeyed to Timaru to see some penguins. Really, the entire reason we were going this far south was to see penguins before making our way back north for work.
Arriving around midday, we had an entire day to fill before the little blue penguins arrived but Luckily, we had some everyday mundanities to attend to. On our way to the supermarket we came across a rather impressive catholic church, and with nothing better to do we decided to have a wander around inside. The Sacred Heart Basilica was built in 1911, and according to wikipedia it is one of the "most noteworthy examples of ecclesiastical architecture" in New Zealand. What caught our eye the most was the impressive stained glass windows as we’d yet to see a church adorned in this more traditional style in NZ. Most churches here are cute wooden slatted buildings that for some reason bring to mind the southern states of America.
As the sun dipped beyond the horizon and twilight filled the sky, there Ben and I stood overlooking Caroline bay waiting for the little blue penguins to appear...and we waited and we waited then waited some more. While it was amazing to see the penguins when they finally made their way out of the sea and to the rocks near the beach, they weren’t quite as numerous as I’d imagined. In total there was only three of them spotted in the entire two hours we spent in the darkness waiting for them. One was a delightfully aggressive baby penguin who seemed to be bullying their minder which was fun, but I was just expecting more and from the amount of people gathered there maybe we were just unlucky in this instance. I don't think I'd recommend Timaru for penguin-ing(?) at least I wouldn't go out of my way to venture there just for that.
One place I would go out of my way to visit - and as it’s set fifteen kilometres down a rutted gravel track that’s saying something - is Lake camp. Initially we headed to the nearby Lake clearwater, but once we found its very popular and cramped camp ground we decided to go freecamping on Lake camp instead. Despite the constant hum of jet-skis on the water, it was one of the most idyllic and peaceful locations I’d ever ventured to. We fished, we swam, we walked and as the skies darkened we lay back and watched the stars emerge in the vast New Zealand sky. Far away from light population so many stars were visible it was almost hard to pick out the constellations we knew, it was stunning. Without access to internet, it was easy to get lost in nature, watching how the light changed the shapes of the mountains across the lake every time I looked up from my book.
Before we headed back the way we came we had one more location to visit. Fifteen kilometres further down the bone shuddering dirt track sits Mount Sunday, the filming location for Edoras (Lord of the Rings). I've got to admit, the drive was unpleasant but the views along it were spectacular and the trek at the end made it worth it. Mount Sunday is a small hill sitting in a great basin surrounded by giants, coarse grasses and meadow-flowers lined our route and rivulets of crystal clear glacial runoff diverted our tracks. I huffed and puffed my way to the top (Ben seemed to have far less problems) to be met with stunning views of the mountains towering around us and the Rangitata River flowing in the valley far below. It was humbling, to have put in so much effort climbing, to have lungs burning for oxygen and to look around and see how small we still were, how the peaks of distant mountains still towered above us.
Buoyed by our newfound insights and feeling recharged, we made sure to stop more on our travels. On the way to our last campsite before heading along Arthurs Pass, crossing the mountains in the middle of NZ's South Island, we stopped at Rakaia Gorge. The waters of the Rakaia gorge river are stunningly blue, somehow due to glacial sediment floating in the water reflecting the sky above, I won't pretend to understand it but I did admire its effects. We didn't realise until we arrived that we could have camped here however we'd already booked a night somewhere else! The campsite we stayed at in Springfield was cute but in the reviews mentioned the very busy rail line it sits beside. The roaring of the trains interrupted our sleep, making us miss those quiet nights in the middle of nowhere. Although we were in prime position to start tackling the pass we decided to backtrack a little. We needed to grab some cash, petrol and two new back tyres - we’d passed many warning signs about being prepared for the steep ascent and our pretty worn back tyres were probably not ideal for it. Feeling ready and considerably poorer, it was time to go.
I can understand why there was warnings, it was steep and it was long. Ninety Kilometres per hour swiftly fell to eighty, then sixty then fifty; fifth gear was quickly changed for third and still our engine whined, trying its hardest as the temperature gauge slowly creeped past the half way mark. It wasn’t just us, we didn’t sit at the front of the line holding traffic up but was part of the train of huffing and wheezing cars limping their way forever uphill. I was grateful for a sharp bend if only so I could slow down to twenty five and second gear to give the poor excelerator pedal a rest from its position tightly held against the floor. As the gauge continued to eek its way to the danger zone, on came the heating in a last ditch effort to cool the poor engine - despite the summer sun blaring down. Was the road finally levelling out? Was the end in sight?
Who knows? Well I do, but you'll have to wait for the next blog.
Trip date : Jan 2023
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