We spent most of the morning in our open
forest camp doing housekeeping and maintenance tasks; Chris doing most of the
work while I supervised. We finally headed off after topping up with water and
headed south via Hurunui which is missed if you blink, Waikari where we dumped
our grey waste, through the picturesque Weka Pass which is that for the rock
formations rather than its elevation, and on to Waipara where Highway Seven meets
Highway One, the traffic and dozens of well-known vineyards. We stopped at
Amberley to refuel and shop at the charming little Four Square for bread and
fruit before discovering a little further on that Amberley can now boast a
large and modern Countdown Supermarket. Patronage will have to wait for a
future visit.
Just south of Kaiapoi, we pulled into the
Hamilton Jetty on the wide Waimakariri River, lunched and used the river water
to wash the Molesworth dust off the camper. Apart from being an excellent spot
to haul up water for the exercise, it proved to be a fascinating if not noisy
spot to observe the many jet boat owners giving their craft a wetting. From
there we rang through to the owners of this orchard where we are camped to see
whether we could park over. It was only about five kilometres on and we soon
arrived to be met at the gate by Russell who directed us to our spot between
the rows of chestnut trees.
There must be at least a dozen parties here,
some appearing almost permanent, and we wonder from the comings and goings
whether some are those forcibly removed from their homes by the earthquake four
years ago. Gypsies such as us do not normally travel with henhouse and several
chooks!
Tomorrow New Zealand will open for business
and we will sort our plans out for Christchurch. In the meantime, Chris is listening
to the cricket and I have internet; all is well in the world!
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