Wednesday 7th February – Tekapo to Queenstown and some technical issues

We cheated our 10am check-out this morning by moving the camper out of the campground to the edge of the lake whilst still using the shower facilities.  It meant that we got just about enough sleep after our late-night activities!

I could stay here with this view for a lot longer. 

Chaffinch

This duck is assisting m in showing how clear the water in the lake was

We have been disappointed with another couple of features of our camper.  On the drive here yesterday we gave up with the stereo after it kept skipping between radio channels by itself and refused to play a CD.  How can you have a road trip without a soundtrack?  Then, we unravelled the camping chairs and table we have paid extra for, only to find that both chairs are damaged but just about usable and the table has a couple of holes in it.  Not impressed.  

Holy table!

One pretty shabby camping chair

This morning, things got even worse.  I attempted to use the camping stove for the first time to boil the kettle.  The amount of heat being given out from the burner was pathetic. I checked whether I had set it up properly, but in the end I got the most heat out of it by having to hold the dial to maximum.  If I let go the flame diminished, so it was a full-time job.  Even this wasn’t enough to boil the kettle after at least 10 minutes.  I changed the butane cannister to see if there was a fault with the original one.  The new one burst into life with ferocity…. And then the whole stove burst into flames!  Simon pushed it onto the floor to avoid any further burns or damage occurring to our already damaged table.  This was impossible.  Unlike our Spaceship which came with two stoves, this was our only cooking implement available and we couldn’t even make a cup of tea.  Before we left Tekapo this morning, I put a call in to ‘Happy Campers’ to highlight the main three issues with our camper and try to get them resolved.  We shall be going shopping for some new camping gear courtesy of the company and hopefully getting the stereo fixed or replaced.   

Having hung up I realised that I’d failed to mention the fact that we daren’t use the driver’s door lock for fear of breaking the key, so we have no central locking and one of us has to unlock the passenger side and then climb across when we want to access the car.  Having sampled many of the other hire companies, Happy Campers are not scoring very highly with us so far.

After visiting a few more sights around the lake, it was time to hit the road where it wasn’t too long before we arrived at another scenic lake, Lake Pukaki. This one had the added bonus of snow-capped mountains viewable in the distance. 

I don't think you can see too many photos of Lake Tekapo

A memorial to the collie dog, without which the grazing of this country would be impossible

 

 

 

 

 

A totally different lake - Lake Pukaki and our first views of snow-capped mountains in NZ

Kawarau bridge - bungee anyone?!

It was due to be nearly four hours of driving to make Queenstown and, as ever, we had some added distractions along the route.  Today this included the location of the very first bungee jump in the world – the AJ Hackett 43 metre-high bungee jump at the Kawarau bridge. 

This is the birthplace of bungee, a bungee mecca, having been rented for a month by AJ Hackett and his business partner back in 1988.  Now, over 25-years later, the rest, as they say, is history.  Let me make it crystal clear, no amount of history would have made a difference to the fact that Simon and I were NOT going to partake in this particular experience!  Our shared hatred of heights and falling from them is enough to unite us against ever wanting to bungee jump, sky dive etc.  But this was an opportunity to watch some other crazy people with different life choices throw themselves off a perfectly good bridge, so we stopped for half an hour or so to enjoy the spectacle.  The first people up were a couple.  He was ready to go, she had to be coaxed onto the platform looking pale and terrified.  It took a heart-rending ten minutes for the crew and her partner to try and persuade her at first and subsequently topple her off the bridge completely against her wishes! But, to be fair to her, I didn’t even hear a scream when she finally went over.  Maybe she fainted?! 

This guy was next up and barely paused before throwing himself off

I was relieved to find that watching the spectacle hadn’t changed Simon’s opinion one iota.  I had intentionally left the wallet in the car, just in case he tried to change my mind, but luckily I was safe and we continued our journey into Queenstown!

Our lack of being certified ‘self-contained’ on the South Island appears to cause us problems when it comes to free camping.  The rules here are very strict that if you are caught free camping and aren’t certified you will be fined or even clamped. This means that it’s impossible for us to park up for free and we are at the mercy of whatever campground we can find with space.  We found the campsite closest both to our radio repairers and, conveniently, our jet boat experience.  It’s a ‘Top Ten’ site, so we knew the facilities would be good, but it is the most expensive place we have camped at in NZ so far…. $55 per night… and no difference in price for us unpowered campers!  Ouch.  It is the height of the summer holidays here and so we will just have to wear it.  We have paid for two nights taking us up to our jet boat experience.  Once we have dried off from that we will leave Queenstown and attempt to find somewhere a little cheaper. Time to find some sockets and recharge as many of our electrical items as possible to make our money back!