Flat Tyre & Rush Hour Traffic!

WOW! What a wild night! It felt like someone was outside shaking the bus. As wind rocked us about, the rain hammered on the roof. However, it was actually a soothing sound to drift off to sleep to. But the cold woke me several times and each time I woke, I added another layer of clothing; thick socks, track pants, poly prop...if I had of had a beanie, that would have been plonked on my head too. No sexy lingerie happening that night! Haha. I was dressed for ski-season! 

The bus doesn't have any heating. Well, not yet - we had ordered a diesel heater but it hadn't arrived before I set off. I was sure I'd be fine without it, after all it was only May, not the middle of winter.

The next morning, a hot shower soon warmed me up. But I wondered why the water in the shower tray hadn't drained away as it usually does. And I was soon to find out why!

Dammit - a flat tyre! Well that explained why the water wasn't draining! 

And as the saying goes, 'Every cloud has a silver lining' - this little problem did too. Three days before leaving, I just happened to join the AA. How lucky was that! The AA was everything that they advertise themselves to be, I can't recommend them highly enough!

After a quick phone call, help was on the way. Within an hour someone from Kaikoura Bridgestone Tyres had turned up to repair the tyre. 

An hour later everything was ship shape and we were off.
Destination - Gore Bay
The turn off to Gore Bay is from Cheviot, and driving into Cheviot, I noticed a line of autumn trees, I just had to stop and get my first autumn photo with the bus.

Gore Bay is a small coastal settlement of mainly holiday homes 8kms southeast of Cheviot. It's a hidden gem with summer beach houses, a camping ground and a popular surfing beach. 

Looking north

And looking south

Selfie time!

Attached to the fence, above the beach were an assortment of stones, with different messages.

The road that runs along the beach continues up a hill - I was hoping it would lead to the Cathedral Cliffs that I'd seen photos of. The dogs and I were already on foot so we continued walking up the hill.

As it was getting steeper the views were getting better and better.

And around a bend and a little further on was a sign saying 'Cathedral Lookout 200m'....yay.

The view point to this unique natural wonder is just off the road. It's a great spot to admire the cliffs, which were formed by natural erosion. Rainwater has eroded areas of the soft rock, creating siltstone pillars. 

The view point also provides a bird's eye view over Gore Bay.

Walking down hill was much faster (and easier - haha) than our climb up had been, so in no time we were back at the bus. 
Christchurch was to be where we'd spend the night. But first, we made a detour into Rangiora, where I went to Briscoes and bought the biggest, snuggliest and warmest duvet in the store, plus two hotties! No way was I going to have another chilly night's sleep!

As the sun was setting we arrived in Christchurch. Another first, was negotiating rush hour traffic to get to Weedons (an NZMCA park near Rolleston). As long as I was in the right lane, all was good, and things went even smoother if I didn't have to completely stop at the many round-abouts. The bus isn't the quickest at gaining speed from stand still! But we made it!  And after the dogs had their walk we settled in for a cosy night.

A Couple of Firsts!

After a great sleep, we woke early as I wanted to get to Riverland's Truck stop so I could fuel up and empty (for my first time). I was keen to get there before anyone else so I wouldn't feel pressured to hurry.

And with relief, it did turn out to be as easy as Bernie said it would be. It probably seems silly to seasoned RVers and no doubt by the end of this trip I won't give a second's thought when it comes time to empty, but because I was on my own, I admit, I was a little apprehensive of how the procedure would pan out. Thank goodness it was simple, nothing splashed back up at me (phew - haha), and everything went as planned . It gave me a little boost of confidence.

So we were on the road again.

Destination - Kaikoura.

Our first stop was Kekerengu, a stony beach about 60kms north of Kaikoura. Its dog friendly, with a wonderfully wild foreshore and easy parking. There's a decent size area for self contained vehicles to camp, and close by is the popular Kekerungu Store, which is known for its delicious meals and fabulous views.

The dogs did what they always do - Oakly dug holes and Boo rolled in the sand!

And, I admired the many driftwood huts. I love how people create these!

Looking north, the weather wasn't looking promising. It's a good thing we left that behind!

The wind on the beach was icy-cold, so we walked through the shelter of some pine trees, which turned out to be much warmer.

I can imagine kids on holiday, would've enjoyed making and playing in this hut, which was nestled among the trees.

On our return to the bus, this classic motorhome, was about to leave, I would've liked to have chatted to the owners to find out more. It had such character.

Back on the road, I was reminded of the the 2016 earthquake that had struck the area, with the many roadworks we stopped at.

Eventually we arrived at Kaikoura. It'd be easy to be entertained for several hours, by the colonies of fur seals (kekeno). There were pups with their mums, seals basking in the sunshine, pups playing in the pools and many others just doing what seals do. So good to watch.

Our next stop was along the Esplanade. There, the dogs could get out and explore, while I sat back and soaked up Kaikoura's ambience.

After a tiki-tour of the water front we were ready to move on.

We set off to South Bay, which as the name suggests is a little south of Kaikoura, there's an NZMCA park, at the race course. Luckily, we found a spot to park (the last couple of times we'd tried staying, it had been full). After parking, I was keen to walk up the stairway beside the race-course before the weather turned against us.

The view was great.

At the top we had an option of heading towards Kaikoura township or to South Bay's Peninsula. We chose the Peninsula. 

The track followed a farm fence, along a grassy path, before meandering down through a pine forest. The dogs were forever hopeful a rabbit might appear and I was forever hoping that one wouldn't ! And luckily for me, no rabbits were seen (on this particular walk)! More about that scenario coming up, in future blogs!

Made my day, finding a toadstool.

Walking out from the shelter of the trees, I noticed a big drop in temperature. The wind had picked up and it was cold. Time for home/the bus.

After an hour or more of walking we found ourselves back at the bus. Both dogs found a cosy spot in the sun and settled in for a nap ... what a great idea - who was I to disagree?

It turned out to be the calm before the storm ...

An Overnight Stay in Kaikoura.

After leaving Ward Beach we decided to only travel one to two hours, which made Kaikoura our next stop. 
We planned to stay at an NZMCA park at the Kaikoura Trotting Club in South Bay, which is about five kilometres south of Kaikoura. However when we arrived it was full ... time for plan B. 
At the end of South Bay, there's a dump station, we headed there to dump our grey water and rubbish. While Bernie did that, I walked the dogs along the foreshore.

We parked beside South Bay foreshore, with the local bird-life entertaining us, while we discussed where we should stay. 

I'd heard lots of positive comments about "Donegal House" being a nice place to stay. It's an Irish Hotel and campervan park about 3kms north of Kaikoura and it's dog friendly. Perfect.

There was loads of space to park, one side have the powered sites and opposite is the unpowered area. We found an unpowered spot to park and settled in for the night. Our view was looking over a pond.

The next morning Bernie lifted the carpet tiles and put them along the fence to dry. I'd forgotten to mention that we hadn't remembered to put the water container into the shower as we left Ward Beach. We were traveling along the coastline, when we heard a bang! It happened at that time where there was nowhere to pull over (Murphy's law), so we continued driving for a few kilometres until we found somewhere to stop. And, you've guessed it - the water container  had fallen onto the floor and emptied out (all 20 odd litres) over the carpet. Luckily, it was an easy fix. The carpet tiles came up effortlessly. The weather was fine with a slight breeze, so in no time at all the carpet was dry and back in its rightful place. As the saying goes, 'Every cloud has a silver lining', we now had a nice, clean floor!

 Before we set off, Oakly, Boo and I went off to have a look around.

This huge gum tree growing beside Donegal House was brought over from Australia as a seed in someone's pocket. (see more info below).

Our first stop was back at South Bay to dump and fill up with water. Being such a scenic area we stopped along the beach for lunch.

The dogs didn't need asking twice when I suggested we go and explore.

I loved all the blue borage along the roadside and the red poppies growing in amongst it. I wasn't the only one who appreciated the blue borage - hundreds of bees were visiting too.

The crimson flowers of the pohutukawa tree were eye-catching.

There's so much to see around this area and I've got my eye on a couple of walks I'm keen to do. Plus there are the seals - I love seals! Although it was a brief trip, we still enjoyed our visit and next time we'll put aside more time to explore. Until next time ....