I usually do Free & Easy Travel thus a lot of "Homeworks" needs to be done before each trip and I find it a waste to just dump it one side after all my hard work. So decided to to have a blog to record some of this up , hopefully someone might find this useful for them.
Thursday, August 2, 2018
NZ South Island Motorhome Road trip 2018 Day 3
A picture speaks a thousand words ....... we were stuck the whole night, managed to called for a tow car service in the morning through the AA roadside hotline. The guy came within an hour and spent quite some time trying to get us out, he was afraid that might not be able to do it at first..... but in the end he managed to but that cost us $120 ( supposed to be $80 but he said need to add more cos we were very stocked ! , no choice , as long as can get us out )
We had planned to go back to the Church of the good shepherd in the morning to take some photos but by the time we got free , it was almost noon and also the sky looks like it gonna rain.
Decided to take a detour to the dump station to wash the car a bit and also to "practice" how to do the dumping of the water and topping up.
It started to drizzle when we were washing the motorhome and it's time for lunch so we decided to park some where nearby to cook a simple meal before deciding where to go next.One thing about this trip is that , though part of the itinerary had been planned but we kinda change it everyday based on time and weather. This is the part of the travelling that is very different from the past cos we wanted a more relaxed pace in this beautiful country.
View from the dining area
Simple lunch
Free toilet
You only got 10 min
Lotto !!!!!
First winning ticket
Next we went to the Four Square to buy some more stuffs and make use of the public toilet here before heading to the Mt John observatory. Oh forget to mentioned, ever since my trip to NZ in 2005 , my fren M*2 got me addicted to Lotto !!!! so haha , old habits are hard to quit, so here i am again , when I see Lotto logo ...... I will usually go in and get some to try my luck.
This is free to go up in the day time except that you need to pay a toll for the private road which cost $8 ? ( or was it $5) But at night, if you wanna go up, the only way is to join a star glazing tour which cost more then $165/adult. Not sure if you can hike up yourself though. There is also a Tekapo spring nearby but cost $27/adult just for the pools. We did none of these we are on a budget :P But if you should decided to do any of these tours, can consider online booking like Klook , bookme , etc. Usually they have some deals going on which could save you some money.
After Mt John observatory , we took a more scenic route to Lake Pukaki instead of the highway.
Detour another 45 min
boring Highway
The detour is on gravel road , a lot of stones , so unless you took full insurance cover , if not do not take these type of roads cos the stones will be flying here and there , chances is your windscreen , side of the cars will be damaged/scratch.
This route took us another 45 min but we get to see the other side of Lake Pukaki. We gonna be doing our first Freedom Camping tonight. So what exactly is Freedom Camping ?
Quoted from Nz tourism website "Freedom camping or free camping is the practice of putting up tents or parking up campervans in areas not designated for camping. Free camping typically means that freedom campers cannot access facilities such as clean drinking water, toilets (either flushing or long drop) and waste disposal facilities." Where normal camping means "Tents, caravans, campervans and motorhomes are pitched and parked in campsites and holiday parks "
Below are some important guidelines for Freedom Camping in New Zealand.
Most important your Motorhome/Campervan should be self-contained before you are able to do Freedom Camping in NZ.A self-contained vehicle must meet the Caravan Self Containment Certification standard. You'll need to be able to live in it for 3 days without getting more water or dumping waste.
It must have:
a toilet
fresh water storage
waste water storage, and
a rubbish bin with a lid.
Setting up Table & Chairs
Trying to hook up the BBQ
Bacons !!!
Time to BBQ
Good food , nice backdrop
All ready to dig in
The place we freedom camp for the night is called "Lake Pukaki Reserve" on Campermate. There are some toilet nearby but not very clean and about 5 min walk away from the parking area. Compare to yesterday which was a nightmare , we are finally enjoying what is the dream motorhome holiday. Weather was bit chilly but still with such a nice scenery, we decided to try out the BBQ stove and use it for cooking our dinner for the night. this is the only time we used the stove as weather is usually quite chilly at night this season and also after I found out how to use the gas oven, i did almost everything there. Less cleaning to do and no need to setup.
After dinner , decided to do some star glazing as this area is also under the Aoraki Mackenzie International Dark Sky Reserve and actually during our 2 weeks trip, as long as it's not raining or cloudy , we get to see not only the stars but also the milky way almost every night. Only sad thing is that we did not managed to see any southern lights during our trip as this was on my bucket list.So to end this post ..... presenting to you ... The Milky way.
*More photos for these 3 days of NZ trip can be found at my FB Link here
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