2019 New Zealand - Campervan 6 Invercargill
The first part of the drive was through gently rolling hills, lightly turning roads with long flat sections, and occasional single lane bridges (that are very common in New Zealand). Also there was minimal traffic.
Along my route I stopped to take a photo of an old small yellowish building (its a color I found repeated in many of the older buildings here in New Zealand) ... It was a Little School House on the Prairie (well Flat).
Clifden Suspension Bridge near Clifden. New Zealand’s longest wooded suspension bridge spanning 111.5 meters above the Waiau River. Here there was a portable coffee/lunch bar, a guy with a speed boat taking punters on a high speed trip on the Waiau, and a rooster with a hen.
McCracken's rest: A viewing platform provides excellent views of Te Waewae Bay and the tiny one million year-old Solander Islands to the south - formed by the eroded skeleton of a volcano. According to Maori legend, the Solanders are the broken tooth and crumbs tossed aside by Kewa the whale, when it chewed between Stewart Island/Rakiura and the mainland.
Gemstone Beach: Located 1/2 km north of Orepuki, Gemstone Beach is known for its constant state of change from sand to stones with the storms and tides. Semi-precious gems such as garnet, jasper, quartz and nephrite can often be found on the beach - but all I found was seafoam - then again I would not know what a gemstone in the raw looked like.
Checked in and the campsite on the outskirts of Invercargill, but it all seems to be rather unorganized… The campground is not close to a beach (2.2 km away) or the downtown - even further. It would be great for long term stayers with its adjacent racecar track, equestrian center, rugby pitch, dirt bike tracks, boyscout camp… But not for me.
The local beach, Oreti was a 2.2km walk from my campsite. Hiking in is through road cut through sand dunes that a "sand plow" worked to keep clear. The sweeping sandy expanse of Oreti Beach was the trail used by Maori travelling between Riverton/Aparima and Sandy Point/Oue. The south end of the beach was called Ma Te Aweawe (Misty Way). Oreti Beach was used for some of Burt Munro’s exploits and features in the movie “The World’s Fastest Indian”. The beach is 30 km long.
Along my route I stopped to take a photo of an old small yellowish building (its a color I found repeated in many of the older buildings here in New Zealand) ... It was a Little School House on the Prairie (well Flat).
Clifden Suspension Bridge near Clifden. New Zealand’s longest wooded suspension bridge spanning 111.5 meters above the Waiau River. Here there was a portable coffee/lunch bar, a guy with a speed boat taking punters on a high speed trip on the Waiau, and a rooster with a hen.
McCracken's rest: A viewing platform provides excellent views of Te Waewae Bay and the tiny one million year-old Solander Islands to the south - formed by the eroded skeleton of a volcano. According to Maori legend, the Solanders are the broken tooth and crumbs tossed aside by Kewa the whale, when it chewed between Stewart Island/Rakiura and the mainland.
Gemstone Beach: Located 1/2 km north of Orepuki, Gemstone Beach is known for its constant state of change from sand to stones with the storms and tides. Semi-precious gems such as garnet, jasper, quartz and nephrite can often be found on the beach - but all I found was seafoam - then again I would not know what a gemstone in the raw looked like.
Checked in and the campsite on the outskirts of Invercargill, but it all seems to be rather unorganized… The campground is not close to a beach (2.2 km away) or the downtown - even further. It would be great for long term stayers with its adjacent racecar track, equestrian center, rugby pitch, dirt bike tracks, boyscout camp… But not for me.
The local beach, Oreti was a 2.2km walk from my campsite. Hiking in is through road cut through sand dunes that a "sand plow" worked to keep clear. The sweeping sandy expanse of Oreti Beach was the trail used by Maori travelling between Riverton/Aparima and Sandy Point/Oue. The south end of the beach was called Ma Te Aweawe (Misty Way). Oreti Beach was used for some of Burt Munro’s exploits and features in the movie “The World’s Fastest Indian”. The beach is 30 km long.
