We had woken to a stunner of a day and a quick check on weather forecasts, tides, swell forecasts and the Cook Strait weather map made us realise that tomorrow was going to be the only calm day forecast for the next week. A quick phone call to the ferry reservation office to check on availability was the plan, after a 35minute wait for the call to be answered we were able to get a place on the ferry the following day. Time to pack up and leave Kaikoura as well as our lovely neighbours Jim & Jenny. See you soon we hope!!
As we were leaving Kaikoura, we heard a very loud squeaking sort of a sound, a loud whooshing then scrunching noises, it stopped whenever we stopped, then started up again as we moved off. Took a minute or three to figure out that the volume control for the backing camera had been accidentally turned up…it was the squeaking of the towball the whoosh of other vehicles passing and the scrunching of gravel under the tyres!!! 🤣😂
We were soon on our way and as we turned every corner seemed to produce yet another photo opportunity, yes folks, I had the phone out to take photos along our drive today.
We soon arrived at our destination for the night, a park over property at Koromiko not too far out of Picton. As there had been a lot of rain over the previous few days we knew that the ground had the potential to be a bit soft and muddy. When we arrived we parked on the gravel road and got out to inspect the ground, picking, what we thought was the firmest ground to drive in.
We avoided the heavily rutted and muddy area and took a big loop around the trees. Hmmm, it was a very muddy and slippery drive and we soon came to a grinding halt albeit with spinning rear wheels. Out we hopped to inspect what was going on and to unhitch the car. At this point the very helpful custodian came over to see if he could assist in any way, as he drives big-rig trucks for a living he knew what he was talking about. We got out the two rubber doormats that we have just for this situation, put them in front of the rear wheels to provide a bit of traction and with some gentle coaching Roy slowly drove the van out onto firm ground.
The custodians were ever so nice, we apologised profusely for making a a mess with tyre tracks but they said no worries, it’s winter, what do you expect? We had a very pleasant and quiet overnight stay before heading off in the late afternoon the following day ready to catch the ferry. Oh and if you are wondering, there wasn’t an issue getting out, it was a simple drive out.
Onto Picton and the ferry for an early evening sailing, however, it was running over an hour late due to a medical emergency on board earlier in the day so instead of arriving in wellington at 11pm it was 12.30am when we docked.
It was a relatively smooth sailing, just a big swell in the middle of the Strait made us rock’n’roll a bit.
Then it was our turn to exit once the trucks had managed to get out of the way, the guys guiding us were brilliant and only required us to back up a little to get around the final tight corner, not an easy thing to do with a car on an A-Frame. We were soon off and by 1.30am we had arrived at the Plimmerton NZMCA park. We were very careful to be as quiet as possible so we parked out on the road, unhitched the car and then walked into the park to see where we were able to fit in. It was pretty full but we found a good spot next to the entrance, parked up, set ourselves up before making a cup of tea and finally climbing into bed just after 2am.
We woke the following morning to find that the wind had come up, forecasts were for gale force winds later in the day and the following day which would have meant a very rough crossing. Phew, we made the right decision.
Plans were made for the next few days to catch up with friends and family but there was one job on the urgent list that had to be attended to very quickly. The cable that connects the lights from the van to the car had at some stage become trapped in the A-frame mechanism resulting in a squashed cable and meant we had a fault with the lights. We didn’t know this until we had come off the ferry, travelling along the motorway with one indicator light stuck on which would occasionally turn off again as we went over a bump. As there was nowhere to safely stop along the motorway at silly hour of the night and very little traffic we continued our short journey to Plimmerton.
The next morning we looked at repairing the cable but no, it would be better and safer to get a new one made up. We headed off to Berry & Mexted Batteries to get a new cable sorted, which they did quickly and efficiently. Now we can plan the next few days.
The Vanninis' Manoeuvres 