Southland Roadie pt2
Followed on from Part 1 here.
We spent a couple of nights in Invercargill catching up with family, washing and showering. While we were there it started raining, a lot! We decided to head through to Milford a couple of days before we planned to try and get ahead of the rain and the road flooding. I think we made the right choice, and had a stunning sunny day in Milford the following day. We stayed in the Cascade Creek Carpark which was the closest place to camp outside Milford. I think it’s about the fourth or fifth time I’ve been to Milford and each time it blows me away with how beautiful it is! We also stopped at Lake Gunn (super foggy on the way in and stunningly clear on the way back), Mirror Lakes (super still and so beautiful!), and Eglinton Valley viewpoint.
After our visit to Milford we headed back towards Invercargill stopping in for a night at Orepuki. Right nearby is Gemstone beach which is a fantastic spot for hunting for pretty rocks. There is also a river there that Benny loved playing in and was very sad to leave. Definitely an amazing place to check out for rock hounding or just hanging out for a day if you’re down that part of the country.
Back to invercargill for another shower and load of washing, then we headed up towards Queenstown and stayed a couple of nights at Kingston freedom camp. Another incredible spot right on the water front. The full day there was raining so we really enjoyed having a quiet day in. I spent some time catching up on photo editing and we just generally chilled out.
It was about this time I started to think maybe we should just head home, but we decided to stay in Tekapo at the NZMCA park for a night or two. Moving every day or two was starting to take its toll. Even though we were taking our home with us, it still takes time to set up and pack down each time. Also living in a small space and using long drop toilets each day is definitely not as appealing as a home toilet and a bit more space inside. Plus you can’t beat a home bed! There are definitely plusses to it (getting to see amazing sights and incredible family time), but our initial idea of living in the caravan and doing long term travel would definitely need some rethinking and reworking before I can see it working.
However Tekapo was fantastic! We ended up spending two nights there, explored, played, and visited the hot pools. We stopped in at Lake Pukaki on the way there and Benny loved exploring the hugs rocks on the foreshore.
While this was our first caravan trip away it definitely wont be our last. We learned a lot, tried some things that worked and others that didn’t. I think the biggest learning though was to move slower! Our next trip was over New Years and we spent at least two nights in each place and it was a lot better! But i’m also looking forward to our next trip where we’re hanging out in the one place for over a week.
