Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Wednesday 22nd January- Te Anau awaits us

The Germans in the Rotel were up at 0630 and the babe next door started crying and so by 0710 we were getting edgy and although it rained a little bit overnight it had also been windy which had dried off the tent and so by 0730 and after a cup of tea we were in full clear up mode.
The weather was still rather grey but this turned out to be only on the peninsular as the nearer we got to Dunedin on the road alongside the sea etc the town was lit up by the sun and shining of the waterfront warehouses so not a good photo to take. We stopped in a little shop for some batteries for the airbed pump and then headed South on Route 1 in the direction of Invercargill. We stopped for a coffee in a rundown old town called Clinton which they called a ‘three horse town’ as they had a statues of three horses pulling and cart. The on to Gove where we stopped for a Subway, Gove is a bustling little town with loads of cafes, restuarants and even has a McDonalds and Pizza hut.
We then continued West across the lower half of the South island and about 70 miles from Te Anau it started to spit with rain and it got steadily worse thereafter and when we arrived at the site it was chucking it down and there was no way either of wanted to put up a tent. So we changed our booking and now have a little hut complete with a double bed a kettle and toaster and not much else and you still have to use the communal loos and it is costing us an extra £ 15.00 per night. Lo and behold not long after we arrived so did the Germans with the Rotel cattle box on wheels and they were setting up the table under the tarpaulin again in the pouring rain, good luck. We were planning to do our lamb chops tonight but even the small distance from the hut to the cooking area would have meant that everything would have been saturated. So we remembered that there was not a bad Chinese Restaurant in town that we have previously used and opted for that and the food was very good but the size of portion has also increased significantly and there was to much for us to eat. Te Anau is a lovely place when its not raining, we do have to bear in mind that it does rain 300 days per year and so to get  the weather right is more luck than judgement. The little town has some smashing little shops and all based on the shores of this very large lake and in the sun is a perfect place to stay. So we have decided to review the position tomorrow as the ground is pretty much waterlogged in the camping areas and although we don’t mind a wet ground sheet we do not want a very wet tent that we cannot dry out for several days as it could go mouldy and then we are in real trouble. So we may opt to stay in the cabin for the small amount of extra required.
After dinner we spent time on the internet and the notebook pc is now running much better thank heavens so the giuys in Dunedin did a good job.

Let’s see what the weather brings tomorrow but on Friday we are on the Doubtful Sound full day outing and the weather promises at least for Friday to be good, so let’s wait and see what happens.