Making a quick buck

First awake again, this time at this ‘campervan hostel’.  The concept is fantastic.  Basically forty plus people bring their own room for the night and you charge them for the privilege because you own a car park attached to your guesthouse.  The beauty is that your campervan guests make their own beds, do their own cleaning and are gone the next day.  If they want to use your laundrette even better. The money from the pricey coin-metred washing machines and dryers covers any cooking facilities you offer as well as the cost of the showers provided – it’s a win win business.  In the small office, which is really the porch of your house, you sell items such as toiletries and souvenirs.  Knowing that people, especially those that are on short timescales, will not walk ten blocks to buy toothpaste or soap $2 cheaper.  There is even a market for selling your old B&B used towels.  $18 for 2 bath towels,  two face clothes, a hand towel and a bath mat – genius.  Not us though.  Getting stung for the fuel has put us in high alert for any over- the-top money making ‘scams’ and we’ll get our supplies at Pac n Save in a couple of days.

Again it’s the 3S amenities system before cooking the poached eggs.  Two days on the trot, heaven.  Pack up camp and hit the road jack.

Ten commandments of travelling

We had to make tracks early as we had spent quite a bit of time in the glacier area over the last few days. This had put ourselves just a little behind from our original schedule.  Not a set in stone set like  those in biblical times, more of an ‘if we are here by day three, here by day six and definitely here by day ten then all is good’ and we can sleep easy at night. So with day six here, and it’s a couple of hundred kilometres to our next point, it was time to skedaddle and get out of Dodge.  At the end of our adventure we might just write our own Ten Commandments of Travel based on our own experiences but for now we are still novices of New Zealand.

Stop start

Although we needed to make up time,  we weren’t going to waste a day driving.  You guessed it, we stopped at many a viewpoint to admire the beauty unfolding before us around every turn.  It’s was a leisurely stroll in the Sandd Van through the mountainous terrain. This landscape had also taken an age to unfold into the splendid spectacle it is today.  So every now and then we would courteously let our fellow journeymen and  woman past by pulling over.  Some of them obviously had very important business to attend to, as we would watch their tail-lights quickly disappear in the distance.

Billy don’t be a hero

Stopping at a couple of waterfalls on route to marvel at the sheer scale of the drops, we arrived at  Roaring Billy Falls. This was not the ‘Mother of all Falls’ like the Gocta Falls of Peru or the Niagara Falls of North America, infact it wasn’t even close.  The Thunder falls however, were pretty spectacular.  With the all the ‘trickle falls’ we had seen down the sides of mountains, this was a fast-flowing, rip-roaring, gushing projectile of water normally associated with water coming over a cliff’s edge.  The Thunder Creek Falls was very aptly named for the noise created.  The Fantail Fallswe visited was  also appropriately named as it reminded us of the little fantail bird from our tenting days back in Australia. Just before it hit the river the main falls fanned into a multitude of smaller falls spreading out like a schoolgirl’s pleated skirt. No idea why The Roaring Billy Falls was named as it definitely wasn’t the hero of the bunch.

Poxy coaches

As we pulled up at Fantail Falls a young Asain lad knocked on the window with a sign asking for epoxy glue.  Not something we were carrying on board with us so we apologised and said we couldn’t help.  As we got to the entrance of the walk we realised why they needed the glue.  The coach the party of thirty were travelling in had a split pipe and they had been stranded for an hour and a half already.  Being the organised campers that we are we did offer our roll of duct tape. You never know when you will need it.  A local gentleman offered to try to fix the problem and declined the offer of duct tape, especially as a mechanic had been called but was still nearly two hours away.

The not quite so blue pool

We had The Blue Pool, earmarked as one of our stop-offs and came upon it around lunchtime.  We wandered through the meadow- like terrain with occasional woods until we got to the first suspension bridge.  The place was packed, obviously a major attraction on the west coast as the brochure offered unparalleled turquoise-blue rivers. We had seen enough as it was nowhere near as stunning as Hokitika Gorge.  We did not continue the trek and headed back to the Sandd Van.

Knights of the Ground Table

We had also stopped at Knights Point  and other locations between our other destinations for small walks or photo opportunities.  On one of the walks through dense forestry we came across several interesting trees.  Many had their inner guts missing, leaving remarkable holes where anything could be living or hiding.  Some seemed to be tunnels deep into the ground.  Feeling super-ultra brave or a touch of insanity from the glacier glare we ventured down.  Again we are disappointed to find no Hobbits but relieved not to come across any Goblins or Orcs

Aspiring news and views

We took the scenic drive towards Queenstown through the Aspiring National Park with its awesome views and passing between Lake Wanaka and Lake Hawea.

Before driving further we checked to see the weather with some positive news.  During bad weather sections of the road are closed so basically you have to drive all the way back and around our sit it out. We were still some way from our desired campsite which was back in an area where Freedom Camping was permitted,  but getting late we were also on the lookout for a sneaky spot as well as some well needed amenities.

Overnight Cardrona

A field fuelled by rabbits

As researched, the fuel was much cheaper here so filled up the Sandd Van.  Being a we are on a wild adventure we poured for the more difficult passage to Queenstown which would also see is climb up and over the mountains.  Before we got to the peaks we came across a quaint little ‘oldy-worldy’ village that looked like it had been forgotten about since the 1940s.  However, looks can be deceiving and this was alive with life.  The hotel and café looked full but the dainty amenities were not only empty but open.  We obliged the community by using their free facilities which was within a white picket-post fence with two other buildings straight out of ‘Little House on the Prairie with the ground full of bunnies hopping around’.  On exiting the gate we noticed a field opposite with a tree and overhanging branches.  As it was adjacent to the café, we waited for that to empty and the one car (staff probably) to leave them pulled in and settled for the night.  Who said no Freedom Camping. We’d also read a long as you were at least ten metres from the road you were okay.  Besides from one direction of the road we were hidden, and from the other side you would have had to be looking in to see us.  We half expected to be joined by other campers looking for a spot as it was nearly an acre of space,  but to our surprise we were all alone for the night.