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.
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
The next morning , we checked out early and make our way to the airport , cos we arranged for the free pick up for Wilderness there. the only provide free pick up either from airport or nearby airport hotel, if you are staying in the city centre , you have to make your own way there or to any of their free pick up point.
As mentioned , to save $4/pax , we stopped one bus stop before the airport , which is the same place we boarded the bus yesterday.Had a quick breakfast before making our way back to the airport. This meal with 1 coffee and 1 orange juice cost us almost $28 ! ......
After breakfast , did a quick round at the Countdown next to it to get some water and wow the types of chocolate available is WOW ! i did not even take pictures of the Cadbury's range.
We then make way back to the airport , called Wilderness and waited for the to pick us up. It was a short drive from the airport , and since we got all insurance coverage , handling over was very fast as you do not need to check on a lot of stuffs. First they will let you watch some videos ( which i saw all online already ) then brief you on some of the important things and then gave some informations and then off you go. Still it will take about 1-2 hours for all these though , the staff was very friendly and everything went smoothly.
Sink/Stove area
Driving and Dining area
Twin beds , can combine to become one big bed
Stove/Sink/Fridge/Oven area
Fridge + built in gas oven
Toilet bowl + cabinet
Partition "wall" to covert to shower area
The shower area after the partition
These photos of the motorhome interior was taken the day after cos first day we did not had time cos we were rushing to go to the supermarket to pick up groceries and also was trying to reach Lake Tekapo before sunset.Was also hopping to visit a pie shop in Fairle on our way to Lake Tekapo. So it looks a bit messy.
We drove to the Pak'nSave in Hornby ( there are quite a few different supermarket in NZ south island and read online that Pak'nSave is the cheapest and it really was for most things if other supermarket is not having discount/promotions. We bought quite a lot of things as we will be going Mt.Cook in few days time and there is not supermarket there so we thought might as well top up on food and drinks.Also we need to get those basic stuffs like trash bag , toilet rolls , kitchen rolls , seasoning , oil and etc. Think we spent about $250 ? just on all these.
Finally country road
Pork belly with apple sauce and crackling
Sky getting dark, on the way to Lake Tekapo
By the time we finished our groceries shopping , it's already almost 2:30 pm and the drive from Hornby to Fairlie Bakehouse is about 2 hr 30 min, I totally forgotten that they closed at 4:30pm .... did a FB msg to them and was trying my luck to see if they closed later but no luck, however they told me that the BP at the junction not far from them does sell their pies , in fact they had a few locations selling their pies. Can refer to here if you can't make it to their shop. Do try they Steak and Cheese one , personal favourite.
By the time we reach Lake Tekapo was already almost dark , we decided to detour just to take a look at The Church of the Good Shepherd before heading to our "private" campground for the night ...... which turns out to be a nightmare .......
We got our motorhome STUCK in the mud !!!!!! We had booked a private campground from Campable and was given the instruction .... it stated that after 200 m from the cattle stop , turn left and find a flat spot to park for the night. As it was our first time coming across the word " Cattle Stop" so we do not really had any idea what it was. So we saw a sign and said cattle stop , then we past a while gate of some sort and there was a slip road by the left so we decided to just turn in and went up a slope, then we saw a open space and just drive ahead. As we arrived late , so we did not see carefully and just continue to drive in ( though we saw some muddy track in front ) and before we knew it , the front wheels were stuck in the mud. We try to find planks ( there was none ) and try to find some stones to see if we can fill in the gap but nothing helps , only to end up with some mud all over me. I seriously almost cry ! this is the first night we on our motorhome , and Lake Tekapo supposed to have very nice night sky ( we had wanted to star glaze and take photos ).
After seeing there was no way we gonna get out of the mess , we decided to stay stuck for the night , unpack our baggages and just settle with a quick shower and simple dinner then rest for the night. Cos it might be expensive for use to call for tow services at night also they might have problem getting us out as it was late night. It was super windy that night and even though our front wheel was stuck , the howling wind actually shake the motorhome on and off.
It was a really bad start of a supposed to be wonderful holiday but we decided to just sleep it off and make for the worst tomorrow morning when we call the AA for road help services.
