The Last Hurrah

Firstly, thank you so much once again for your kind messages and words of support.  I am one lucky lady to have so many wonderful caring friends, even though I have never met many of you!  And I apologise that so many of my posts have been health related lately on what is supposed to be a travel blog.  But we are real people, still living a real life.  Packing up one lifestyle and exchanging it for another, albeit simpler one doesn't stop things from happening or prevent fate from stepping in every now and then.  Anyone who lives on the road will tell you it's not perfect all the time.  But I reckon it's pretty bloody close.  Even with all its challenges, we live a truly blessed life.

Looking quite chuffed to be driving this beasty!

And one of the most brilliant things about living a mobile life is that even when the chips are down, you don't have to stop the adventures.  As long as you can still drive, or have someone to drive you, there is still no end to the exciting new places and beautiful views you can still visit and appreciate.  It doesn't matter if you have to stop and have a rest or a snooze if you feel a bit pooped, even for several days, when you have your whole house with you!  So when I got the chance recently to take a beautiful big motorhome for a whole day out, courtesy of our friend Murray at Southern Campers, I jumped at the opportunity.  My mission was simple, yet very enjoyable.  All I had to do was drive us around as much beautiful scenery as I could manage in a day, while Gareth concentrated on getting as much glorious footage as possible to make Murray some promotional videos.  That much I could do!  Even if it meant strapping my ever-present hot water bottle in tightly under my seatbelt with the rest of me.  It worked a treat and we set off excitedly.  

Our route was all planned out.  We would head off along the Southern Scenic Route, and explore Western Southland, ticking off several as yet unseen destinations along the way, then make our way up to one of our favourite parts of the country, Fiordland!  Western Southland is host to some of the most popular and well known freedom camping spots in the south and I couldn't wait to check them out.  All these months we had farewelled many a traveller off to the likes of Cosy Nook, Colac Bay and Monkey Island and at last it was our turn to follow in their footsteps.  

We travelled in style all across Western Southland

The road to Invercargill was characteristically grey as we set out, but the weather promised to improve and by the time we reached Riverton, known as the 'Riviera of the South', the sun was poking out from behind the clouds.  For me, driving a vehicle of this size was a big thing and it felt great to be finally facing one of my fears.  I had never driven anything bigger than Ken, and at 3.3 metres high and over 7 metres long, this four-berth motorhome was a heck of a lot bigger!  My newfound height was one of the first important things I was to become aware of when I casually went to park outside the local petrol station to get some supplies.  'Trees!'  Gareth made me almost jump out of my skin, mercifully in the nick of time!  Crikey, I wasn't used to having to worry about things like tree branches sticking out, or whether I could fit my vehicle underneath them!  After that I was incredibly mindful of every single twig that threatened to invade my precious aura.  And as a complete newbie at driving such a large vehicle, I could see at last why it is that motorhomers often don't pull over; even when they have queues of angry drivers behind them, who have been following them for miles.  You're so conscious of how much room you take up on the road and so busy making sure you're not too far over to the left, or to the right and that you're not going to hit anything sticking out of the roadside, you can become completely oblivious of the poor souls behind you, desperately wishing you would move over!  But once I realised I became more mindful of it, and determined not to be one of 'those' motorhomers, did my best to pull over and let others pass, earning myself many grateful beeps and waves as a result.  Not that I was going slow mind, as it turns out, motorhomes of this size are surprisingly grunty and I had no problem maintaining the speed limit!  

Colac Bay.  Sort of.

Driving a motorhome really is just like driving a car and I was chuffed to bits with myself for taking to it like a duck to water.  At least when it came to driving forwards!  However I was soon thrown when I steered us expertly down the first road to Colac Bay and discovered too late that the road was closed.  I had no choice but to try out my first three-point turn, on an incredibly narrow road, with the tide fully in just a few feet behind me!  Fortunately, with the help of Gareth yelling instructions behind me and my reversing camera, we were soon on our way again, but there were several more times in the course of the day where we both agreed a co-driver was incredibly helpful, and for the first time I could see why so many motorhoming couples often joke about bickering when it comes to parking and other manoeuvres!

With the tide being so far in, our ideas of a leisurely stroll along the renowned surf beach were quashed.  Sadly it was the same when we went to turn off to Cosy Nook.  Again the road was closed and I was sad to be unable to visit the adorable little settlement I had heard so much about.  Our run of luck continued when we arrived at Gemstone Beach.  As the name suggests, this beach is really quite stunning and semi-precious gems such as quartz, jasper, garnet and nephrite are commonly found when walking along the sand  But once again the tide was against us and the only thing we were going to get from our visit was wet feet.  Still, it didn't really worry us.  We just made a note to go back and enjoy them all again another time - and this time we would check the tides first!

I love the Southland landscape!

Besides, we still had plenty more places to visit, and the stunning landscape which was accompanying us the whole way was only reigniting our love for Southland even more.  There really is nothing like the mountains of the Deep South, at least not to us.  The absolute freaking hugeness of them is just mindblowing and it just makes me so glad to be in this beautiful part of the world.  Sometimes they're dark and brooding, other times warm and welcoming.  But on any given day they're spectacular and before long we could my favourite kind of mountains of all - snowy ones!

Nothing makes me smile like the sight of snow!

Before long we had reached our next stop, Monkey Island. To date I had heard only two things about the place; one that it was full to capacity with cars, vans and motorhomes of every description, every night during the tourist season.  Two, that it is incredibly windy and exposed all year round!  While I had no desire to stay there for both reasons, I was keen to check out this freedom camping Mecca.  As I parked the motorhome at the edge of the beach and looked out at the little island a short way out to sea, I could definitely see the appeal.  The beach was stunning and for once it wasn't even that windy!  Monkey Island got its name from the fact you can climb up it, which a lot of people do, just like monkeys.  There is even a staircase leading up to the top, which is accessible at low tide, however once again we had timed it wrong.  It really didn't matter though, the view in itself was enough, with the ocean in the foreground and the snowy mountains behind.  We were pretty much the only monkeys there too, and it was awesome to see this gorgeous spot at this time of year in all its glory, before the hordes would soon descend for the summer months.

Winter is the perfect time to visit Monkey Island!

Sea and snow in the same view?  Where else but Southland!

Monkey Island.  If you look closely you can see the steps up to the top

As we pulled back out onto the main road, Gareth wound down the window.  'Ugh, silage!' he said as he sniffed the air.  'Where else but Southland do you get sea, snow AND silage!' I laughed.  A short distance down the road I pulled in at the Clifden Suspension Bridge.  This historic structure was built in 1899 and given my fear of both heights and suspension bridges I didn't plan to set foot on it!  However I was pleasantly surprised at the workmanship of this old relic and we took a pleasant stroll both on the bridge and around the reserve.  Definitely worth the stop!  

Minnie and me on the Clifden Bridge.  She had a great day out too!

We were getting some serious kilometres under our belt now and I was enjoying the journey immensely.  It felt so good to be out and about!  We laughed and sang as we went along and as we made our way to Fiordland and more and more motorhomes and campervans began to appear, we were surprised to see how many tourists were already about for the time of year.  I was even more surprised when another rental motorhome drove towards us, with two young girls sitting in the front.  'They're giving me the finger!' I said to Gareth, shocked.  'Oh hang on, no they're not, they're waving!' I laughed, waving back enthusiastically in the nick of time.  The next motorhome waved at us too, and the next.  'They think we're overseas tourists, like them!' we giggled.  From then on I waved at every motorhome and campervan we encountered.  But you know what?  Of all the travellers we waved at, not one NZMCA member waved back.  Come on Kiwis, lift your game!

Fraser's Beach, Lake Manapouri

Lake Manapouri, Fiordland

A visit to Fiordland wouldn't be complete without a visit to one of my favourite places, Lake Manapouri.  Time was getting on now but we managed to fit in a walk at Fraser's Beach before we moved on to Te Anau.  We'd never been to Te Anau out of peak season and it was lovely to see the little town so quiet.  By now I'd become well used to parking my lovely big motorhome and was particularly impressed at how well I had positioned it into a parking space in the Subway carpark.  I even asked Gareth to take a photo, but he refused me bragging rights, pointing out that, with the exception of us, the carpark was in fact completely empty.  

I've got enough memories to last this passenger for quite a while!

From there we headed home, still singing all the way.  It was the best day I'd had in a long time and we so much appreciated Murray's kindness in trusting me with his motorhome!  I guess you could say it was just what the doctor ordered and it made me realise I wasn't quite as useless as I thought I was.  After all, I'd just driven hundreds of kilometres!  What I didn't realise at the time was that would be the last time I was allowed to drive, at least for the foreseeable future.  The very next day I was put on a bunch of pain medication which no longer allows me behind the wheel.  That was something I could never have predicted - but what a last hurrah!