Heading further south to Gemstone Beach and Monkey Island

Once we felt well enough we set out again. I wanted to revisit Gemstone Beach again, because the last time we went there it was almost full tide. We really needed to be there at low tide or an hour or so either side of it. Unfortunately, the weather wasn’t looking great and looked worse the more we drove. I guess the plus side was that parking wasn’t going to be too much of a problem because only hardy souls would be out in this.

Once we got to the Beach we were lucky to get a short fine break so we went for a walk.

You wouldn’t believe from the above photo that the stones would actually be so colourful and so varied.

Bruce and I must have spent about 45 minutes fossicking around before the rain started coming down again and with it the cold, so we made our way back to the van. We only had a small bag each so not enough to weigh the motorhome down and make us exceed our weight limit.

We dried off and then headed for Monkey Island, which is a freedom camp only a few kilometers away. By the time we got there the weather had fined up again. We were only the 3rd van there – little did we know that the caravan down the other end of the carpark belonged to Bruce’s sister’s best friend. They moved on before we made the connection.

This time the dogs were able to come walking too and they really enjoyed some off leash time. As we walked further along the beach we spied this curious structure.

The closer we got, the more strange it seemed to be. We were not sure if the house got engulfed by the dunes, or were they building around the dune? You can see a window through the hole in the dune.

It was good to have a nice beach walk again and the dogs wore themselves out. We decided that as we planned on going to the Catlins tomorrow, it would make sense to stay the night in Invercargill again as it would save an hour off our trip tomorrow. We enjoyed as much of the day as we could at Monkey Island and then headed back to Invercargill.

I would have to say that we were impressed with how easy it was to navigate Invercargill, and that helped in the decision making. We were beginning to feel comfortable there. In addition, there are plenty of walks for the dogs, and all the necessary services needed by motorhomes.