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  • Day 443

    A suspiciously familiar looking bridge

    May 5, 2018 in New Zealand ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C

    We had a bit of a chilled out day today. We've got a stretch of visiting quite remote places for a while so we made the most of Invercargill's supermarket this morning and bought a good amount of supplies to last us for the next week or so. Our freedom camping spot also had a dump station so we were able to get that sorted as well. It turns out that there isn't much to do in Invercargill so we decided to park up and have a wonder. Luckily we found street parking exclusively for campervans, and it was free for 3 hours, so we left the van there and walked around town. The town hall was one of the grander buildings we saw on our route. It wasn't long before we ended up in Starbucks with coffee and a white hot chocolate to warm us up. Someone clearly likes knitting here because outside all the street lights were covered with knitted animals. Even the bicycle stands had snakes knitted around them. They certainly added a handmade charm to the place. After using the Wi-Fi to catch up with messages we called it a wrap on Invercargill and headed back along the southern scenic route towards a town called Clifden. As we drove the winds picked up and a weather front had definitely kicked in. The South West of the south island is the wetest part of the country and we definitely experienced this first hand. Nick read online as we drove that they were predicting 120km/h winds in some parts of Southland but I tried to reassure him that the prediction was likely to be for the areas right by the coast. As we approached our destination the winds died down and it was just rain we were dealing with. However by the time we pulled up into the campsite (a carpark for the Clifden bridge) the rain had stopped allowing us to get our and explore. The suspension bridge looked very familiar and given it's name it's hard to believe there is not a link to the Clifton bridge back home. The information plaques did not mention the Bristol bridge and spoke in a way that implied the Clifden bridge is a feat of engineering for its age, despite being built after the UK version. You couldn't help but wonder if the artitect had got hold of the designs and plans for the Clifton bridge and just adapted them slightly to suit this river. It was an impression bridge still which had a rustic feel to it with all the wood used. We enjoyed the area with a couple of fantails in tow, definitely our favourite New Zealand animal so far. Their cheeky and playful attitude around you just makes you smile and when they started winding up the chicken who seems to have taken up residency here it was rather entertaining. The rain didn't hold off for long so we spent the rest of our evening reading, playing games and cooking up a storm in the kitchen, well kitchenette.Read more