After leaving our motorhome park at Christchurch, we headed for Oamaru but had to make a few stops along the way. Firstly we had to stop at Apollo Motorhomes to get a replacement smoke detector as the one we had dropped from the ceiling on the way to our first night stop. No problem they replaced it with a new unit and off we went. Now I am not going to bore you with what the rest of the day was like as it was filled with shopping for food and buying another doona as it's very cold here.
The Star RV 6 birth
We arrived at Oamaru around 5.00 pm and went to our motorhome park of choice, the Harbour Tourist Park and you guest it, it's right on the harbour :) We have stayed here about 4 times now and it's run by a lovely lady by the name of Zena, yes Zena like the amazon warrior. It is a clean and modern park and is close to a kids playground and cafe so something for everyone. It is a short stroll to town and on Sundays has a farmers market near by and once a month there is a train that offers rides from the station in town to the Penguin colony at the end of marine parade and back. Just had a chance to take a quick phone pic of the sunset and then it was dark.
Sunset on Oamaru Harbour
The next day we stayed at the park and went into town to have a look at the Farmers market and see the train running. Buy first I got up and took some sunrise images.
Sunrise at Oamaru Harbour
After visiting the market and seeing the train we went on a walk through Oamaru which you do by walking beside the river and under roads in tunnels. It is a nice walk and brings you out in a park where there are swings where our Son had a great time. On our walk back to the our motorhome, we went to our favourite cafe called the Galley which is on the harbour and has fantastic views and great potato wedges and hot cappuccinos which what a cold day was calling for. After we then had a rest, we went back into to town to the Steampunk HQ which we had visited on another trip. It has some really cool stuff in there and the imagination that some people have is endless. You could spend abut an hour in there and you have to look at the details in all the work. Try and work out what parts they used for the creations and you could be there for days :)
Steampunk
Steampunk
After this we got an ice cream and my favourite is Goody Goody Gumdrops which I have trouble finding at home. Sunset that night was not that good so thought I would stay warm in our little home.
Today we made the journey from Oamaru to Lowburn which has a free camp site just out of Cromwell.
First stop to have a look at seals at the end of the harbour road in Oamaru. Found about 6 laying on the rocks getting the heat from the sun to warm them up.
Don't you just want one :)
Along the way we stopped at the Moeraki Boulders to have another look and they have started to erode away since we first came some 15 years ago. It's only a short stroll down the beach from the entrance and a donation is encouraged to keep track open and maintained. Would have been nice to be here for sunrise but not possible. After a quick look at the souvenirs shop, we were on our way again.
Moeraki Boulders
Time to explore - Moeraki Boulders
Next stop was Shag Point for lunch where we parked up on the side of the road with the beach 4 meters away and the waves crashing. We had our favourite lunch while we are travelling which is farm house vegetable soup and a crusty, warmed through, garlic twist and a cuppa of course. After we had an explore at the beach and cleaned up, we were off again.
Next stop was The Clyde Dam, New Zealand's third largest hydroelectric dam, is built on the Clutha River near the town of Clyde. It is owned and operated by Contact Energy. You can see the 4 water races coming out of the dam wall as well as the cause way gates or flood gates if the height of the dam get too high.
Clyde Dam
From here we made it to our free camp at Lowburn where the temperature was a frosty 5 degrees and -3 overnight. There is a toilet there and plenty of room to camp. We arrived just too late to get a nice sunset shot but pretty just the same. We were very happy t have the gas heater in our home and it kept the cold from creeping in till we went to bed.
Lowburn free camp
Lowburn free camp - very busy :)
Day 5 started out very dramatically and the holiday was almost over in an instant.
But that's another story.
Stay tuned.