Invercargill - Bluff Freedom Camp

Vi håbede, at vi i dag skulle slutte af for enden af Sydøen i Bluff efter at have været undervejs i fem måneder. Vejret ville dog desværre noget andet, hvilket har været meget karakteriserende for hele turen, da New Zealand har oplevet en af deres værste somre i mange år, som har bestået af store mængder regn og mange storme.

Vi startede derfor med at tage afsted til formiddag, da vi først ventede på, at det stoppede med at hagle. Men da vi var kommet afsted, begyndte det at regne, og vi fandt en god café og håbede, at det snart stoppede. Da vi gik videre ud af byen, kom solen, hvorefter det igen begyndte at regne, og vi søgte ly det næste sted. Sådan fortsatte det de første tre timer, hvor vi fik bevæget os små fem km ud af byen. Da vinden tiltog, og det begyndte at tordne, havde vi fået nok og bestilte en Uber mod Bluff Freedom Camp, hvilket var målet for dagen efter at have set vejrudsigten. Vi indså derfor også, at vi ikke ville nå frem til enden af New Zealand i dag, men at det måtte vente til dagen efter.

Vi blev derfor kørt 15 km ud af byen mod Bluff, hvor vejret ikke ligefrem blev meget bedre. Vi blev sat af 5 km før Bluff Freedom Camp, hvor vi gik langs en cykelsti lige ved siden af motorvejen. Det var ikke specielt spændende, specielt ikke når store lastbiler susede forbi i regnen, og man blev blæst et stykke væk fra stien.

Da vi endelig ankom til campstedet, og de andre syv fra dagen før dukkede op, og ingen af os var interesserede i at slå vores telte op i det meget dårlige vejr, som også var prognosticeret for natten, blev det lidt af et Tetris-spil at få plads til os alle indenfor i de små hytter, der var, samt i en campingvogn, men det lykkedes!

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We had hoped that today we would finish at the very end of the South Island in Bluff after having been on the road for five months. Unfortunately, the weather had other plans, which has been very characteristic of the entire trip, as New Zealand has experienced one of its worst summers in many years, consisting of heavy rainfall and numerous storms.

We therefore set off late in the morning, as we first had to wait for the hail to stop. But once we got going, it started raining, and we found a nice café and hoped it would stop soon. When we continued out of town, the sun came out, only for it to start raining again, and we sought shelter at the next possible place. This continued for the first three hours, during which we managed to move only about five kilometres out of town. When the wind picked up and it started thundering, we had had enough and ordered an Uber towards Bluff Freedom Camp, which had become the goal for the day after checking the forecast. We realised that we wouldn’t reach the very end of New Zealand that day and that it would have to wait until the following day.

We were driven 15 kilometres out of town towards Bluff, where the weather didn’t improve much. We were dropped off 5 kilometres before Bluff Freedom Camp and walked along a cycle path right next to the highway. It wasn’t particularly exciting, especially not when large trucks rushed past in the rain and the wind nearly blew you off the path.

When we finally arrived at the campsite and the other seven from the previous day showed up, none of us were interested in pitching our tents in the terrible weather, which was also forecast for the night. It turned into a bit of a Tetris game to fit all of us inside the small cabins available, as well as a caravan, but we made it work!Læs mere