dogs – Away From Home NZ

We had to proceed onwards from Oamaru as time is running out for our time down south. Our best man, Bob Woods, lives in Timaru and we had made arrangements to catch up with him.

We met him for lunch, and then headed off to take the dogs for a walk and to check into our lodgings for the night – another castle. This time we were to stay at Claremont Castle which is a Park over Property. We headed there, following Google maps and it seemed to take us a long time to get there. All the time we were driving, our next meeting with Bob (to his place for dinner) was getting later and later.

We finally got to the Castle and the instructions were to go around the back and park.

Well, Bruce carefully drove around the back and decided to take a sweeping turn over the lawn (instead of doing a 3 point turn on the driveway) and promptly got stuck! We had some traction mats in the back but that meant half unloading the boot, which Bruce did, retrieved the mats, and then put it all back again. Fortunately the mats worked but we made a bit of a mess of the poor owner’s lawn.

In addition to all this frustration, the place looks pretty run down, so we decided to let the owner know that in addition to us tearing up his lawn, we would not be staying as it was too far out of town. He looked a bit surprised but said OK, and we headed off again.

The reality was that google took us a different route into town and it was not far at all! We arrived quite late for our meal with Bob though, and when we left his place that evening we headed for the free parking at the Caroline Bay wharf area. That was another mistake. Firstly, it wasn’t free – it was $20, and the container port was very noisy. The container cranes, and the containers they carried clattered and banged profusely. The noise stopped at 1am and started up again at 5am so little sleep was had that night, and Beau was not very happy about the noise either.

The weather was looking good for a few days, and there was a possibility of snow in the highlands in about 3 days time so we decided to head back to Tekapo and experience it. I was so glad we did. The day was clear and there was already some snow on the hills that wasn’t here the last time, so the scenery was amazing, and a lot of photos were taken.

After visiting the usual places Bruce drove us out on a minor road on the western side of Lake Tekapo. It went for a long way, and was clearly a farm road, albeit a public road as well, but it was narrow and tricky to find a place to turn around when we eventually wanted to head back.

The scenery was out of this world.

Up that road is Lake Alexandrina and Lake McGregor. Lake McGregor looks a bit on the stagnant side.

Lake Alexandrina was bigger and had a camp at the side of it. There were lots of aquatic birds (not natives though) and dogs were banned, so we had a look but did not stay.

We had a slow drive back into town because the scenery was just as spectacular on the return trip, but we felt the dogs needed a spell in the dog park. This time the autumn foliage was there and it was lovely as well.

Our final visit for the day was to the fairy forest across from the dog park. People have gone to a lot of trouble on this little section of the forest, and we knew that Maia and Elodie would have loved it.

We settled in to camp for the night and planned another day of exploring tomorrow.

Fate had other ideas. Bruce got up and put his shorts on the couch. He noticed they were wet when he went to put them on, but assumed he must have dunked them in the dogs water bowl when he went to put them on. He laid them out to dry, and put them on later on. I later put my clean socks on the same piece of couch and when I picked them up they were also very wet. That was when I realised one of the dogs had had an accident during the night – the first time in all the years we have been travelling with them. When Bruce realised he was wearing “dog pee” pants he was pretty quick to change them.

Then came the problem of how to fix the mess. The squab underneath the covers was quite wet, and while it was easy to wash covers it was not so easy to wash the squab, so we headed back to Timaru, with a few grumbles from me.

The laundromat at Fairlie was on the way and was well set up so we washed the covers there. On the trip there we noticed that the scenery here was also pretty spectacular.

The way we decided to wash the squab was to take it into Animates in Timaru. They gave us permission to wash it in their dog wash – the bonus was that the dogs got a wash too. The problem now was how to get it dry. We gave it a couple of rounds in the dryer at the laundromat, but it was still very wet so I realised this was going to be a longer term project. We stood it up in the shower until we came up with a better idea.

This time we spent the night at the Golf Club at Timaru, which was a charming stay, and then we had to decide on what was next!

The weather forecasts were predicting a few days of bad weather so we had some choices to make. I can never go past Ashburton without stopping, so we decided to spend two days there instead of one. As it turned out, the weather wasn’t as bad as predicted but never mind. Ashburton has several attractions: one is the lovely dog park; another is the Ashburton Mill House – home to local yarns, and spinning wheels and weaving looms manufactured in the adjacent factory. This complex is right next door to where the flour mill used to be, that I visited regularly as a part of my role working for River Milll Bakeries. It burned down not long after the company sold it. The tall flour loading building remains. The Mill House was once lived in by the Head Miller, but was handed over to be used as a cafe and retail outlet for wool and spinning wheels etc. many years ago.

Once the weather system started settling, we headed on towards Tekapo, an area I just love. The motorhome park there is wonderful and we got a parking spot looking at the Lake. It is a shame to see the Lake even lower than it was the last time we were here.

There are lots of walks around here, and an extensive dog park right next door.

It was great for the dogs to be able to run free and meet other dogs. Beau is a very social little dog who loves to play with other dogs, as long as they don’t touch his bum! There are huge pine trees here, that drop huge pinecones, but don’t pick them up because they have needle like spikes all over them!

The dogs had at least 2 walks per day through the dog park.

The next day we met Ben (my son) and Karina (his wife) in the township of Tekapo. They had hired a motorhome from Christchurch and were enjoying a short time away on their own, for their wedding anniversary. Together we wandered around the Church of the Good Shepherd, and the area around it, and then had morning tea together. I would have to say that the tourism industry is booming – very hard to get a photo without tourists in it. I was again struck by how “self entitled” the Asians are in general. They will push in front of you, never consider moving aside for you, and won’t even move over to let you pass on the footpaths.

All too soon they were off, heading towards Omarama, while we decided to stay one more night before heading off southwards. It was a shame the weather didn’t completely clear. We had the odd shower, but even when it was fine, the cloud clung to the hills, preventing us from seeing the spectacular mountains behind the Lake.