This morning we went back to explore Clyde which is one of my favourite places. It is full of atmosphere, history and beautiful gardens. We complimented one man on his garden and he told us that the residents of Clyde take great pride in their gardens, but the winter will always decimate them.
We came across this fella relaxing and surveying his domain.
One of my favourite places in Clyde is Touch Yarns. They have their own farms that they get their fibre from, and it is processed especially for them, so their yarns are not obtainable anywhere else. They also develop their own patterns. I spent a bit of time fossicking around in their store, but it was quite crowded. It seems everyone else likes it too.
We then drove on towards Roxburgh where they had a market in place at the sports grounds. We had a good look around there but were not exactly big spenders. Bruce found a dwang ?? (used for fixing taps) at a second hand stall which was a whole $5. We also met Axl, who was a beautiful mini schnauzer (although not so mini), so we got our dose of schnauzer cuddles for the day. However, this market place was where our next saga begins!
We spoke to a lady who was manning the Info centre table, when we stopped to pick up a brochure on local attractions. She urged us to go up to the historic Mitchel’s Cottage, which was just 10kms out of town and she was sure it was a motorhome friendly road. Well, as it turns out, that was far from the truth.
We found the road, although we initially went past it, and had to find a driveway that we could use to turn around in. We were only about 20m down the road when the motorhome started making a terrible noise. I got out, had a look, and found we had a VERY flat back tyre – our first ever puncture! Bruce had no choice but to keep driving about 50m to find a big enough driveway where he could pull off the narrow metal road.
Bruce had managed to get the jack under the van when 3 utes stopped to offer a helping hand. One guy had a bottle jack on board and had worked on trucks and motorhomes fulltime at one stage, so he was a great help, and we got the tyre changed easily with their assistance. The tyre looked like it had delaminated and bulged so we were very lucky it happened when we were going slow on a metal road, not 90 kph on the main highway.
The guys told me they were just out for a drive. They had come from Greymouth, and were heading up into the ranges, going over the top via the Nevis, landing in Glen Orchy, and then going back into the hills to get home – 3 young men in 3 utes having a great adventure! What lovely guys they were too! They told us we would not have got much further up the road in our van so when everything was all packed away again we turned around and headed to Pinders Pond.
Pinders Pond is the site of an old gold mine, and is now run as a camping ground by the Roxburgh District Council. It is a real gem of a place and quite popular. It is all freedom camping but it demonstrates that campers can be responsible – there was no litter, no misbehaviour – just a delightful spot with people having a good time. There were lots of dogs around but again no issues.
The pond itself is around 30m deep, and today there was no wind, so the reflections made for some great photos, and hopefully a nice painting when we get home.
We had a lovely night here, and would cheerfully have stayed longer.
Away From Home NZ 