New Zealand Here We Come!: Buller Gorge to Cable Bay

1st February

Light and heavy showers disturbed us in the night but nothing torrential! We tried to set off at 9.15 but a continuous alarm sounded whenever I started up. We checked the gas, the windows, the doors to no avail, so I phoned Wilderness. Trying to phone them was a problem in itself as the calls kept dropping. Eventually the proprietor of the Berlin Cafe lent me his phone as apparently the Spark mobile network doesn’t work there. So, after about 4 calls to Tracey, she suggested that it might be to do with the step which extends and retracts by an electric switch. Armed with that information, I returned to the van and solved the problem!! We set off at 9.40am, just as the wind was getting up.

The day was grey and damp going on to heavy rain with the wind lashing it across the road in sheets, not good driving conditions, fortunately there periods when the wind and the rain abated. The road up the Buller Gorge climbed gently to 113km to the Hope Saddle, where we stopped to take in the view.....a rather limited view today.

We then began the descent, a few steepish hairpin bends to begin with then the descent became more gentle. Once over the saddle we left behind the palms, tree ferns and rain forest landscape for eucalyptus trees, pine forest and large heathers. We travelled through lush farmland, a deer farm, and several large dairy herds and sheep in the pastures . The roadside verges changed from the orange crocosmia/monbretia, orange lilies and pampas grass to blue agapanthus and grass.

We stopped at the Wai-iti river to make our lunch and to plan where to stay the night. By this time the wind was really getting up. We drove to Richmond and eventually found the public dump and got rid of our waste again. If you are freedom campingor going to low cost campsites you need to keep on top of this task!! I have downloaded a list of these locations onto my phone, but then found that the CamperMate app we are using shows them too. That will make life a bit easier from now on! The CamperMate and Campable apps are very useful tools to locate potential camping sites.

Once we got to Richmond we met traffic!! The first time we have been in traffic comparable to home with traffic lights etc etc! In addition the weather was horrid, strong winds, gusting in from the sea. We travelled on towards Nelson, where we were diverted because there had been a storm surge on the main road. The driving through and beyond Nelson was not easy, but we kept going and soon reached the turn off to Cable Bay. A twisting narrow road brought us down to the Cable Bay Campsite and we booked in, double the price of any other we have been to so far, but we have power. No phone signal and limited Wi-fi, but we know our batteries will be well and truly charged by the morning. We have managed very well without mains power for six nights.

This bay is where the first overseas cable came ashore from Australia, in 1876. The first communication was by mirror galvanometer later superceded by

recorder equipment. The opening of the cable in 1876 was hugely important and meant that colonists could communicate by telegram with friends and relatives in the Uk in 4 days instead of by letter which took up to 6 months. This location is still in use today, an interisland fibre optic cable being installed in 2001.

There was a storm surge here too earlier in the day with serious consequences. The gravel causeway to Pepin Island across the way was devastated, the car park covered in boulders and the public loos blown away. The picnic table and benches are now buried in stones! Apparently the lady who runs the cafe next door, lives over on the island, so she will have to stay over here until repairs are made.