Sunday 28th January
We left the campsite circa 9.0am having filled the fresh water and dumped the toilet waste. However the grey water waste would not drain, so when we got to Little River we phoned the Wilderness base in Christchurch and arranged to call in for them to check it out, needless to say when we got there it was draining fine.....possibly there had been an airlock which cleared en route. It wasn’t far out of our way and Tania was please to see us again. She did our briefing on Friday.
So, I drove up and out of Okains Bay with no trouble, the steep hill assist function was engaged and worked a treat. Once on the ridge we drove from cloud to sun, back to cloud and I stopped for an atmospheric pic of Akaroa Harbour.
At Little River we had a coffee and tried to catch up with the internet, but the internet at the cafe at wasn’t working much to Michael’s frustration, I was alright as the mobile network was functioning!!
After leaving Wilderness we did a bit more supermarket shopping, then set off towards the West Coast over Arthur’s Pass. It took about an hour to drive, on very straight roads, across the Canterbury Plain, with farmland on weather side. The fields here have high windbreaks of leylandii, so the views are limited. We stopped for lunch at Springfield . Soon we were approaching the hills, really great views, and these are only the foothills.
The road is good but I have to concentrate hard especially on what is behind me. I hate to be the cause of a hold up, so pull over or indicate left so that cars etc can pass. On the good roads we roll along at 90km/hr, but need to slow down considerably for corners and hills.
Lake Pearson
We rolled along over hills and down dales and over hills again until we reached the turning to Mt White Roadbridge. The Wilderness Freedom Camping booklet indicated that there was a ‘Wildernesst ‘ 1km along the road.......and so there is! A delightful riverside spot surrounded by mountains. We parked up about 3.30pm . I had driven well over 4hours with the detour to the Wilderness base, so I was ready to stop.
Confession: we were on our own to begin with but now have a Maui Campervan neighbour .
The sun was out and felt very strong when we arrived, but shortly the clouds gathered over the mountains and we heard the rumble of thunder. Scattered thunderstorms were forecast so we weren’t surprised. The black clouds and thunder rumbled and rolled along for a while, then a very heavy shower. The first real rain since we arrived. Needless to say it cleared and we were rewarded with a rainbow then some lovely evening light on the river.
As I write this, the thunder is rumbling again so we may be in for a disturbed night. No worries, we are dry and safe in our earthed vehicle!
I love this type of campsite!
Total km today : 225.
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