“Lights out” last night was at 10:15 p.m., so I set the alarm for 6:45 a.m. I know I’m on vacation, and should be sleeping in, but: (1) 6:45 a.m. is still more than 2 hours later than I wake up during the school year, so I am sleeping in; (2) it’s still more than 8 hours, and (3) I wanted to be on the road early to allow as wide a window as possible for traveling through Lewis Pass, but not so early that frost or ice would be a problem.
It didn’t matter; I woke up at 5:30 a.m., fell back asleep briefly, but then kept awakening until I decided to just give in and get up at 6:35. When I opened the van door, it was both warm (I’d guess around 7 C) and quiet; not much happens in Hokatika, New Zealand before sunrise on Saturdays. Showered in the ablutions block, dressed, and the van was in travel mode by 7:45 a.m.
Had my “usual” breakfast of tea, puffed wheat (used up the last of the box), and milk in the campground’s kitchen, then went over to the TV / Lounge / Internet room to check the weather & driving forecasts. They were forecasting rain and strong, gusty winds for the West Coast (where I was currently located), rain changing to wet snow by late afternoon with accumulations of 5 to 10 cm (2 to 4 inches) in Lewis Pass, and clearing skies on the northeast coast (where I was headed). I also called home to check in and let Karen know of my plans for the day.
The weather when I left at 9:00 a.m. would best be described as “unsettled”: you’d have large patches of blue sky, but a slightly greater area of dark gray clouds that would dump substantial rain as they passed. After 20 minutes northbound on SH 6, I was retracing pavement that I had previously traveled on the motorcycle last Saturday, when I was also headed from the West Coast toward Christchurch – except today, there was persistent, heavy rain.
New Zealand has a lot of one-lane bridges. One direction of travel has the right-of-way, as indicated by signs at each end of the bridge, although you’re frequently halfway across when someone shows up at the other end with the right-of-way. (Fortunately, they wait.) I remembered crossing one such bridge on the bike, as there are rails on the bridge deck and you have to stay between the rails on a bike to be safe. Today, while I waited for oncoming traffic to clear, I commemorated the bridge:
I made the turn-off onto SH 7 toward Lewis Pass at 9:45 a.m.; it was 77 km to Reefton, and I arrived there at 10:35. The road so far was straight sections of perhaps 1 or 2 km, followed by a section of sweeping curves that were marked at 100 kph, but I negotiated at 85 kph. The road follows the Inangaliua River, which was running quite heavy with the rain (note the tributary feeding into the main river as a small waterfall):
About 60 km east of Reefton, the curves became tighter and more technical, and the road started to climb quickly. The rain started to lighten a bit, but was becoming a light snow / sleet: uh oh – the same thing that happened yesterday.
Within 10 km, I reached Lewis Pass – there were several inches of snow by the side of the road, but the road itself was wet, and covered with a heavy layer of grit, and snow free. The road began to descend quickly past the pass, and within another 10 km, it was snow free and back to raining hard. I drove on in heavy rain until I was about 25 km west of Hanmer Springs; safely out of the snow zone, I pulled off into a turn-out and made a PB&J sandwich for lunch at 12:30.
I was ready to get back on the road by 12:50, and as I walked from the side of the van around the front, I noticed that I had left the headlights on while I ate lunch. Oops. I turned them off, buckled up, and turned the key – to a VERY slow starter; not good. I decided to wait 15 minutes- with everything off - to give the battery some time to recover. My luck held out a second time; the van turned over more slowly than usual, but still started.
I went another 40 km on SH 7, and was getting low on fuel, so I turned off onto SH 70 toward Waiau, which had been advertising itself as the last fuel for 70 km. When I arrived in Waiau around 1:45, however, both gas stations were already closed for the day.
Ii had two options: take a more heavily traveled road (SH 70), with no intermediate cities shown on the map, toward Kaikoura – 78 km away, or take the road less traveled, which was 45 km from Cheviot, where I had called a local motel and verified that a gas station was available and would be open when I arrived. I took the road less traveled (in the rain), and made it. I’m going to run out of luck if I’m not careful….
Back on SH 1 northbound from Cheviot, I headed toward Kaikoura. The sun broke through, and I rode part of the way with the windows down, enjoying the (somewhat chilly) ocean air and sunshine. I arrived at the iSite just before they closed at 4:00, got a map of town, and headed toward the Kaikoura Peketa Beach Holiday Park for the night. My campsite is actually on the beach of the Pacific Ocean, although the ocean itself is at least a block away. It was too dark to get a decent picture of the ocean, but if you look away from the ocean, the mountains are also quite close:
Dinner was a can of Campbell’s Country Ladle Butternut Pumpkin soup (made with 100% Australian pumpkins, it’s sort of a pumpkin bisque and pretty good) and a slice of bread and butter. After washing the dishes, I’m finishing writing this entry around 8:30 p.m. I can hear the rain falling outside, and they’re predicting gale force northwesterly winds over pretty much the entire south island tonight (100 to 130 kph , or 60 – 75 mph - gusts!), so I may hit the sack early as the van may be rockin’ a bit tonight.
Tomorrow, I hope to see some of the seals near Kaikoura, then head south toward Christchurch. I hope to stay in or near Christchurch in preparation for my flight to Sydney on Monday afternoon.
Campervan mileage: 433 km for the day
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