Last night was possibly one of the worst of
my life.
After George lost his PJs (again), we lost
the car key (again), and general moaning about the ridiculously loud party
going on in the cabin next to us, we settled into our tent. But just as we were
starting to drift off we started to realize it was getting cold. Not just your
normal the-suns-gone-so-its-chilly cold, but several-degrees-below-freezing
cold. And we were hopelessly unprepared (having never got around to buying
sleeping bags).
We ended up doing all sorts of crazy
improvisation, including George putting his legs through a hoodie (make-do
pajama pants) and cocooning ourselves in any clothes we could get our hand on.
It was a long, cold and sleepless night.
And, just to make my first camping
experience even better, when we finally drifted off to sleep at 7 the tent
started to get very, very hot. So hot in fact that by 9 neither of us could
stand it any more and simply had to get up as we were sweltering. Oh and I feel
the showers also deserve a brief mention, as they undoubtedly added to the
‘camping fun’. They operate on a dollar per minute basis, and I had a grand
total of $4. This combined with the fact my normal shower is about half an
hour, and the fact I swear the clock ticked down too fast, meant it all in all,
wasn’t the best start to my day
Aside from the rocky start today has actually been pretty lovely. We set out nice and early, not through choice but still, and headed further up Kenepuru Road, we stopped off briefly at Cowshed bay (not the nicest name sadly), Picnic Bay, Sandy Beach and eventually we got all the way to the top at Kenepuru Head. All the bays were idyllic with crystal clear turquoise waters and a laid back atmosphere..
The crazy amount of leaflets and brochures I've managed to collect in my backpack!
Picnic Bay
George's amazing photography skills :p (i've no idea what I'm doing here)
Picnic Bay was deserted apart from one couple fishing around the corner but it felt like we had it to ourselves!
Just admiring the view! The photos's really don't even do it justice
The scenery here is simply stunning. The
roads, not so much. Not only are there unfinished roads, which is fine, but
every so often you stumble across a lovely section where half the road has
crumbled down the cliff and a two-lane road is reduced to one. Which when
paired with terrifying turns means you have to get across these sections before
a car comes around the turn as there won’t be time for either of you to do
anything. Needless to say we spent a good portion of the drive mildly terrified
for our lives. On the plus the rest of the drive was spent admiring the
beautiful countryside.
Me, looking a little pink (the sunburn has already faded) at sunset
We opted to spend the night at Cowshed Bay
as the view is stunning, there’s newly refitted toilets and it’s in a good
location for heading to Pelorus Sound tomorrow. After pitching our tent (I
helped this time) I spent the afternoon writing, sketching, reading,
sunbathing, swimming and paddling in the water. Pretty much the perfect afternoon
(Well almost, it’s so hot that our cooler bag pretty much just gave up so
dinner was an adventure)
Wish me luck for tonight’s second attempt
at camping.
P.S Just went out to take some photos of
the bay at dusk (one of the most beautiful times of day) and guess what we
saw?! A SEAL! Lounging on the rocks it blended in almost seamlessly! Definitely
the highlight of the day!
Our very first glimpse of the seal - I was surprised at how well it blended in, we'd have completely missed him if he hadn't moved and the German couple hadn't waved us over
The Seal! He was so laid back he let us get pretty close (although obviously we didn't get too close as we didn't want to disturb him)
and we managed to get a sneaky picture with the seal!
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