10 weeks but whose counting…..

Hard to believe we have been on the road for over 2 months. They say time flies when you are having fun. Yes we are still loving the life. Possibly a bit too comfortable down here in our second home, but who wants to give up a good thing when it is happening. We love Central Otago, but now that the cold mornings are upon us, our decision to stay much longer may change. Snow on the hills and frosts happening, so time to rug up, turn the heater on & hope not to see a hoar frost while it is Autumn. Days have been bright and sunny but those day time temperatures have dipped a wee bit.

Update on Wayne & his employment.

1. Contract now with Trail Journeys and he has worked 5 days over 2 weeks cleaning and servicing the hire bikes.  Really enjoyed it, but not as busy as he had hoped so not getting as much work, therefore, he then decided to look for something else to supplement the income in-between times……………….
2. Hand picking grapes at Grey Ridge Winery. He worked last week for 5 hours hand picking pinot noir grapes for their white pinot noir wine. Really enjoyed the team ( small group) and the change of job. Is working again next week for 2 days that we know of. We did a wine taste there 5 weeks ago and look at the result if you ask for work!
3. He had one last stint on the buses back in the middle of March. A long day out starting in Wanaka taking a bus load of males around the surrounding area for a stag do.  He enjoyed the group and from what I gather they behaved themselves with a couple of strong words from the Bus Driver and the brother of the groom. I think that will be the last of the driving in Wanaka till maybe next year.

We have been doing a bit more sightseeing around the area and been down as far as Middlemarch, being the other end of the Rail Trail.  I was not that impressed with Middlemarch, very much a ghost town,  but we did a lovely walk around the Sutton Salt Lake ( a lake inland that is salt water ). To Wayne’s delight Mr Emerson has opened a small brewery/cafe there, so we partook in a drink or two, then headed back towards home via the loop inland road past McCrae’s Gold Mine and stopped for a look at the most incredible hole in the ground and an amazing operation. Sad for the environment visually, but we girls like our gold!!!!! We stopped and had a lovely evening meal at Ophir, Blacks Hotel and enjoyed the central Otago wines.

We have also done a day trip up to Lake Hawea ( East of Wanaka) and what an amazing area. We spent some time at Kidds Bush Doc Camp on lake side….a beautiful spot, great swimming (but rather cool water – but its ok once you are in) and we will definitely take the caravan there for some rest & relaxation on our journey.

Still enjoying the walking, biking and kayaking.  My biggest ride has been to Chatto Creek on the rail trail and back again…42km. Good reward of food and drink at Chatto, but then the effort to get all the way back can make Sue grizzly. Wayne said I only grizzled twice….all the way there and all the way back. I must disagree with him on that one!!! We also have been kayaking on the Kawarau Arm of Lake Dunstan. Beautiful day out on the water and no wind. Helps when the lake has a strong river flowing in at that point so it helped us get back!! I have been on a Wednesday morning bike ride with our host Annette and her group called “bumz on bikes”. Lovely group of ladies of all ages, some with E-bikes and some not.  Rode from Alex to Clyde and of course the compulsory coffee and cake with some good old chatting also. Wayne and Robert ( our host) have had a couple of night rides around tracks in the area.  One night they forgot to come home in daylight hours and I think they dragged themselves into the pub in Clyde and forgot it was getting dark.  Wayne enjoys these rides as they are far more difficult that anything I will do! Swimming not so successful. Cold mornings and my last time there it was a cold shower so I have been reluctant to go back.  Will get my act together eventually.

Social Life at our Camp :

A very social last week with 13 (campers and our hosts) of us riding down to Ferris Rd Brewery in Alex at 4.30 pm last Saturday for Beer, Wine and Pizza and riding (wobbling) home at 8.30 that night. A great night and lots of laughs.  Then Sunday night 6 of us went to the movies in Clyde to see the NZ film “Daffodils”. Our opinion of the movie – Sitting on the fence (just in case anyone reading this is going to go and see it). Also…Wednesday night just gone we went to a Quiz night at the Dunstan Hotel in Clyde for a fundraiser for the Fire Department and the 2 people taking part in the Auckland Stair Climbing event (just like our own Steve Smith…all the best). We were there with the team from Trail Journeys and had a great night. For those quiz friends of ours, we got 6th equal – mid way, but bombed out with the local area questions as the four of us on our team were from out of the area. 1-10 was not our best score!!!

Catch up with old friends……………we decided to take a trip down to Roxburgh last week and stopped for a coffee at one of the local cafes (there are over 6 of them in such a small town) and the owners of the cafe were Bevan and Wendy Dorrington. I worked 30 years ago in the National Bank with Bevan in Upper Hutt and our children had had a couple of fun years together in that time.  Hugs all round and 3 hours later we left the cafe after lots of reminiscing etc.  Hate to say it but we were definitely all older!  They had only returned to NZ 15 months ago from living the past 25 years in Australia.. Fate took us there that day and it was great.

We also had a lovely few hours in Cromwell with Peter and Margaret Gibson. They were wonderful hosts and have a beautiful home in Cromwell with a lovely lake view. More people who I have known for many years. It is just lovely catching up with friends and having the time to do this.

We have had a very social day today with Peter & Margaret calling into our camp this morning for a quick visit in their motorhome on their way through to Ranfurly. Had a wonderful lunch in Clyde with Barry & Carol Mills from Blenheim, who are again down at their Queenstown home.  We were thrilled they made the trip over for a catch up.

Wayne: OK, my time. Being the MAN around here, it is to me that fix-it duties fall. And fall they have. Noticed a drip from the grey tank discharge area yesterday, and hoping it is only due to the tank being over-full in the morning. Still checking. The bathroom tap may be leaking, but not always – hmmmm. A couple of the kitchen drawers are a little askew and mis-aligned, so its toolbox time. I am going to tape over the bottom vents on the windows, to stop the circulating draft (as they are designed to do) as cold draft on a cold night makes for an unhappy Missus. The solar / battery issues remain, we have gone on to mains power courtesy of our hosts, after running 75m of cable. We have decided to upgrade the solar panels from 160w to 400w total, and a new MPPT 30A controller to get the battery power up enough to get us through winter and low-light conditions. We don’t want to have to resort to a generator, in fact I hate the idea – nothing worse than being in some idyllic bush or coastal setting and having a genset clanking away in the background. Oh, and our weather station packed a sad so have replaced it, yet to arrive so have missed out on seeing the outside temperature hit minus 4 degrees. 2x bikes need some minor tinkering, the bathroom fans don’t like working when cold or wet. All first world problems once again.

I am needing to finalise the Acromegaly Society of NZ year-end financial reports so they can be presented to the AGM in Auckland Mid-May. Best get on to it…. Dang – its coffee time….

Sue again: Well, time is up ( really it is wine time) and I will sign off.  Next report may be from our old stamping ground, Blenheim. We are due up there in the next few weeks, so watch this space.  You Blenheim folk had better put some beer & wine in the fridge as we have some catching up to do!

Take care – The Gypsies