Day 10. Bernard Troubles

It seems bumpy beginnings is a continuing trend. After managing to catch 3, maybe 4, hours sleep (which is an improvement on our night at Mistletoe Bay) we eventually admitted defeat and got up, to find that the two other couples we were sharing the camping site with had already gotten off. It was a little weird being literally in the middle of nowhere, kind of nice too though. Aside from the fact they must have left ridiculously early everything went smoothly, we packed up the car and got ready in barely any time, so far so good until...

Bernard wouldn’t start. Not like last time where he was chuddering and then stopping. Oh no, this time he literally did nothing. We turned the key, there was a click and then… nothing.

We suspected a flat battery and after ringing Axel (he had a flat battery a week ago) it was confirmed. Bernard was outa charge. Now here comes the fun bit, we’re in the middle of nowhere, Mistletoe Bay (the last sighting of civilization) was over an hours walk and there’d be no guarantee they’re have jump leads. So we ended up standing by the side of the road and just holding our hands out. On any other road in NZ this really would be an amazing idea as Kiwi’s are renown for their helpfulness, the problem wasn’t that we didn’t think people would stop, it was the fact there was no one to stop. The road was deserted - after driving for two hours yesterday we saw a grand total of 1 other car.

I can’t even begin to explain how incredibly lucky we were, after about 5 minutes a car drives up and stops (two men working for Marlborough lines) and although they didn’t have jump leads they offered to at least tow the car up to the road (the campsite was down a pretty steep hill). And about  just as they were driving down to help us another car pulls up (this time a man working for the department of conservation who was emptying waste) and fortunately he actually has jump leads!

Long story short George must have left the lights on, we charged Bernard up, thanked them all profusely and finally got on our way!

The drive to Nelson was long, and full of twists, and sharp turns but we managed to get here without stopping (although we both spent a good portion of it being nauseous). We thought about stopping at Pelorous Bridge but neither of us could face another night camping. Sadly we saw it as we drove past and it was beautiful, I wish we could have stopped but we really just wanted to get to Nelson - plus we were too scared to stop the car!

My attempt at taking a photo of the view down to Nelson

 The van that was going 30 on a 100 road! There was massive queue not long after I took this photo!

We’ve checked into our hostel, The Bug, which is very cute, and the rest of today I think we’re just going to relax, sleep, eat and decide what to do on the next leg of our New Zealand adventure!

P.S I'm covered in insect (mosquito) bites! It's annoying because I've been using buy repellent and George hasn't yet I've got over ten giant big red blobs while he only had two little red dots!

Day 9 Cowshed Bay

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.

Cowshed Bay 

The obligatory silly pose

 The cute little duckling that kept following us around with it's mum

 another shell picture :)

Our view for lunch!

Me, looking a little pink (the sunburn has already faded) at sunset

 The bay took my breath away as dusk

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!

Day 8. Kenepuru and Mistletoe Bay

Hello from inside a tent!

After saying goodbye to Axel we set off in hunt of Kenepuru road. We found it reasonably easily, after a minor detour because we missed the turn off and there was nowhere to turn around, however I almost wish we hadn’t! We thought Queen Charlotte Drive was twisty…  well it has nothing on Kenepuru.

 The ducks here have no fear, and a couple of birds have even gotten into the tent!

We actually had to stop the car twice and pull over because it felt like we were on a rollercoaster. Not only was it mildly terrifying, considering there was a sheer cliff with no barrier on one side, the roads weren’t properly tarmacked, there were signs for landslides everywhere and half the road collapsed down the cliff but the road turns so much, I don’t think there was a single point we were going in a straight line. (it’s a good thing Bernard is an automatic as I honestly don’t know how you’d do some of these roads with a manual as you’d constantly be changing gears)

We were planning to get up to Cowshed Bay near the top of Kenepuru Sound but we just couldn’t take more than an hour or so on Kenepuru road so we’ve stopped off at Mistletoe Bay. The eco-village here is very idyllic and incredibly peaceful.

George set up the tent, which certainly isn’t a ‘three-person’, perhaps a one and a half. Dinner was interesting as we didn’t bring any plates or cups with us as every hostel we’ve been too had supplied some… needless to say making soup failed. Sandwiches it is.

Mistletoe Bay is beautiful with a couple of lovely walks, but we’re only planning to stay the one night and set of tomorrow, perhaps after a quick jump in the water, up Kenepuru road again. The joys.

P.S I’ve never heard so many weird birdcalls before!