Farm life

Fresh farm poached eggs on toasted bagels cooked on a proper cooker on a proper farm, what could be better?

After breakfast we took advantage of the home comforts and had another shower and shave.  Ben turned up and we headed off for a day at the coast.

Donuts down the beach

As we were in Ben’s Toyota Hilux pick-up, and town would have been heaving with traffic, we took the back road through the sand dunes and came out on the beach.  This route would bypass the town completely.   A beautiful sandy beach over 10km long presented itself.  This was littered with driftwood, seaweed and rocks which Ben navigated like Lewis Hamilton navigating Monaco.  We were then presented with an open flat sand spot.  Not going to waste the opportunity Ben dropped the gears, turned the steering wheel, hit the accelerator and released the clutch to do a series of perfect donuts with a sprinkle of sugar on – sweet!

Spin straight into the graveyard

On our way, and off the beach, killing at least twenty minutes off our journey, we headed for our next desination.  We parked up and walked across the railway track, down the boardwalk and out on to the Ship Graveyard.  Another attraction that would have cost an arm and a leg to visit back in the UK, but parking and the activity cost nowt here.  There were no health and safety restrictions either. If you hurt yourself it’s your fault for not adhering to the danger signs.  I wonder if any of the eleven sunken vessel captains tried to sue New Zealand for having rocks in the ocean. 

Caution was aired as we explored these maritime disasters, especially when near the mud flats that had marooned them.

We were just walking the one kilometre back to the car park when the heavens opened.  Thunder, lightning and hailstones with strong winds assisted us back to the truck.  Absolutely drenched,  not for the first time on this trip.

How low can you go?

We were in Bluff, of which the most southerly point on the mainland, is Stirling Point.  The rains had stopped.  Being tourists we had to have our ‘Land’s End’ moment.  Though this had a more interesting outlook: look left – South America; look right – South America; look south – Antarctica; look north – the car park.

Although Tasmania is geographically further south than New Zealand there is still nothing in the way from this point.

Sterling View

We walked up to Stirling Viewpoint, which like our other destinations was in Bluff.  Now we felt like we were on top of the world.  On a clear day you can see for miles.  What is it with the viewpoints in New Zealand, they promise you one thing and deliver something totally different.  The sea mist had rolled in on all directions so we headed back down the spiral hill only to be absolutely drenched again.  The south of South Island has its own climate, wet and cold, yet somehow it is plagued by sandflies.

You fat bar steward

With the heating on full it took us no time at all to start drying out.  We headed into Invercargill, a stop we hadn’t intended doing, but a nice one as Ben’s schedule had changed so we were able to spend the whole day with him. Apparently you cannot go to Invercargill without having one of their famous pies.  The owner probably came up with the name whilst watching an English football match and there was the usual chorus from the away fans whenever a larger player touched the ball.  This is nearly always followed by ‘who ate all the pies’.  Genius, combine the two and away you go. 

Gotta say though, if you had these everyday you would soon be a fat bar steward, they were delicious.  Sarah had the ‘Big Nude’ pie which was seafood and Ben and myself had the ‘Lucifers Peppered Steak Pie’ – WOW.  They were packed to the rafters, the steak ones must have had 8oz of prime beef steak in them and were seasoned to perfection.  The seafood one had a selection of seafood including hake, prawns and mussels.  There was a queue out of the door and considering we were served really quickly, there must be some turnover of pies in a day.  Most people were ordering hot for themselves, but lots were ordering boxes of twelve cold pies which was their special deal.  I even heard a couple of people ordering a mix, so that they could have some there and then and some at home.  The menu was extensive, not only for pies but for rolls as well (the sausage roll varieties) and they also had a wide selection of handmade cakes.  Good choice Ben, who by the way also had a sausage roll and cake to eat later).

Milking Maid Easy

Returning to the farm after our feast we went to see ‘The Ladies of the Meadow’ being milked which is a big part of Ben’s job.  Today though, as the 600 strong herd were being milked, there was a new Milk Maid in town.  Ben very kindly thrust Sarah the milking unit and asked her to crack on.  Confidently (or maybe not) Sarah attached the teatcup shells to the teats on the udders and let out a screech as the automatic suction took hold.  The cow didn’t know what to make of it and neither did the ones leaving the shed on the other side.  One cow slightly slipped sending a bombardment of exocet missles of cow sh*t in our general direction.  Yours truly took the blunt of the assault, and I’m sure I saw the cow laughing all the way over the moon as it exited.  More washing to do, lol.

Food for thought

After our little fun time in the milking shed we packed up the Sandd Van and got ready for the main adventure of the day.  Ben loaded our fridge with fresh farm meat and his essentials for two days camping.  While he went to pack his gear and pick up Kaitlin and Carter we loaded the van with all our clean clothes and dry walking boots and took the slow drive up to the campsite about one and a half hours away.  With our habit of stopping whenever we saw anything interesting along the route, we had given ourselves a three hour journey.  Whereas we knew with Ben would not be leaving til two hours later so would arrive not long after.

Our Van stickers that were meant to be with us on the first day we hired the van, had been forwarded to the farm so we now had these.

Bullsh*t

We stopped to take a photo of an enormous bull at the very back of a field.  Obviously,  we hadn’t cleaned all the milk and cow sh*te off of us as well as we thought, as he could obviously smell it.  He got very aroused and was pulling some very loving faces in our direction.  With his growing interest we decided to hot-foot it and moove on, no bull.

Musical buildings

We arrived at Piano Flats Campground after a few little viewpoints on the way.  Finding a lovely spot near the river we set base point and proceeded to erect Ben’s Gazebo in the pouring rain.   Ben and the gang timed their arrival perfectly just as the last pegs were going in.  This meant we all had somewhere dry to sit chat and play some games that we had got Carter.  For a three-year- old he is really good at snakes n ladders, counting games,  nursery rhymes and being a typical toddler. 

Belt up

Carter told us all about the different planets and their rings and moons.  He had with him his night light which shone the milky way on a ceiling.  Very tired from his exciting day and his first ever camping trip he retired to their tent which was up a ladder at the back of the truck.

The evening had been a mixed bag of jellybeans.  We had rain, sun, heavy winds, but now the clouds just seemed to disperse and the first thing we noticed was Orion’s Belt. We quickly all left the gazebo and there above us was the milky way galaxy surrounded by millions of stars.  With practically no moon in the sky, it was an absolute magical sight to behold.  We have had some good nights under the stars but this topped it all.  There was even talk of waking up young Carter but he was left to sleep, which was definitely for the best.  He has many more moons to see the wonders here with zero light pollution.