Friday 31 March 2017

Arrowtown and Lowburn.

IMG_1179Roaring Meg power station in the Kawarau Gorge.

IMG_1188Old cottage in Arrowtown.

IMG_1199Autumnal colours starting to appear on the tree’s.

IMG_1202Arrowtown’s old Police station.

IMG_1208A long drop dunny in the remains of a Chinese mining settlement.

IMG_1210Chinese store and bank in Arrowtown’s Chinese mining settlement.

IMG_1212Chinese miners home from home in the Central Otago gold fields.

IMG_1218Another Chinaman’s home and store on the hill beyond.

IMG_1233Stone wall reminiscent of walls in the North of England.

IMG_1236Lolly shop in the centre of Arrowtown reminding me of the Sweet shop in my old home town in the UK.

IMG_1244Parked up at Lowburn near Cromwell. What a wonderful spot.

Thursday 30 March 2017

Lumsden.

Leaving Te Anau and Lake Manapouri after a beautiful day we headed for Lumsden for the night.

IMG_1119Another Central Otago Railway Station cut off by the Clyde Dam.

IMG_1110The station is now the site for back packers and the like who sleep in cars and vans. Apparently it deters the vandals so the local’s encourage the tourists.

IMG_1114A Drewery Diesel Shunter with some old goods wagons. How long before they rust away to nothing?

IMG_1115A huge piece of machinery posing as a load.

IMG_1116Another Drewery loco with an1896 “A” class carriage awaiting restoration.

IMG_1117The railway water tower for the old steam loco’s.

IMG_1118A last remaining memory of the train that used to run through here.

IMG_1105Sunset over Lumsden from the NZMCA site.

Wednesday 29 March 2017

Manapouri and Te Anau.

IMG_1070Low cloud over lake Manapouri.

IMG_1065A worn out impellor from one of the turbines. Amazing what water damage can do.

IMG_1072The same (Autotrails) but different (models) Tracker on the left Savannah on the right.

IMG_1073Novel use of an old bath tub.

IMG_1084Quintin Mackinnon 1851-92 was the early explorer along with friend Mitchell who found the Te Anau to Milford Sound track now known as the Milford Track.

IMG_1093Quiet reflections. Eat your heart out Tony!

IMG_1096Could not be any simpler than this no matter what language you speak.

Clifden Suspension Bridge at Tuatapere.

Not the famous Brunel Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol in the United Kingdom, but New Zealand style. We freedom parked here with several others.

IMG_1038This used to be the main highway originally but now a cycle/walkway.

IMG_1022Once a single lane roadway.

IMG_1024 The bridge has recently been restored with new timber and metal work.

IMG_1025Fascinating rock formation.

IMG_1026Rock formation even in the river bed.

IMG_1028A credit to the original builders that it’s still in use.

IMG_1030  Here comes Elizabeth.

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This lovely  old Country church was saved by a local florist. Now used as his storeroom. He grows Gentians which grow very well in the cooler climate. Once all grown for the export market it now all stays in NZ.

Tuesday 28 March 2017

Invercargill

IMG_0983You have to be in the know about this park over property because they don’t advertise.

IMG_0984Powered sites overlooking the race track.

IMG-20170326-WA0000Bill Richardson’s Transport World. Invercargill. You must visit this and Bill’s Motorcycle collection if you are in Invercargill.

IMG-20170326-WA0001World class display of truck’s, ute’s, and cars.

IMG-20170326-WA0002Most of the vehicles had a full history of ownership except those imported from overseas, even a rare old one like this.

IMG-20170326-WA0003This magnificent restoration was used in America as shown. It then became a water carrier until it was left to rust away in a shed. Bill imported it and took 4 years to restore it. The American’s came knocking with an open cheque book to buy it back only to be told it’s NOT FOR SALE.

IMG_0996Parked up for lunch at Monkey Island on a beautiful still day.

IMG_0992Monkey Island. You can walk out there at low tide.

IMG_0989The beach at Monkey Island on the southern coast.  We could see why the place was so popular with the campers on a glorious day.

Sunday 26 March 2017

Fortrose and Niagra Falls

IMG_0962Niagra Falls NZ really a play on words, not even worth a photo.

The NZMCA park looked a bit better than when we had been here 5 years ago.  A new meeting room had been built with a walking track in the bush behind. 

Leaving in the morning we headed for Slope and Waipapa Points.  The road to Slope was so bad we gave it a miss.  The road to Waipapa was also bad but only 5 kms but very very corrugated and Gypsy Rover was not impressed.  Neither were we. We managed to view a three sea lions on the beach having play fights before having lunch and heading to Fortrose to spend the night freedom parking. Sorry no photos of the sea lions, flat battery in the camera.

IMG_0963

IMG_0969Parked up at Fortrose head into the strong winds.

IMG_0970Lovely views across the inlet.

IMG_0971Looking South.

IMG_0972Looking north.

Next stop Ascot Park in Invercargill.

Saturday 25 March 2017

Curio Bay in the Catlins

IMG_0946View from Florence Hill lookout heading for Curio Bay.

We had arranged our arrival at Curio Bay to view the penguins arriving home for the night. They come home after a busy day fishing around dusk. 

IMG_0952Tide going out at Curio Bay.

IMG_0953Looks calm enough!

IMG_0954Interesting backdrops to Curio Bay Beach.IMG_0957

After a couple of hours and freezing temperatures we decided to give the game away.  Luckily we had managed to view the penguins on an earlier visit in 2012.

IMG_0955The seas were steadily getting stronger.

IMG_0958Time to give up we thought, what a shame, we were frozen to the bone.

We headed off to the NZMCA property at Niagara Falls for the night after a meal of freshly caught blue cod and chips.