New Zealand

The expected rain and wind arrived over night with force - literally! (The same forecast that made us cancel our plans of a 5 days sea kayak trip and hire the car earlier than planned). We pitched our tent so it was well sheltered from the wind coming off the sound which worked well until the wind changed direction and turned into gale force at about 1am and the rain started. Needless to say we didn't get much sleep so once it was light and we had braced the tent a few times in the really big gusts we decided to get up and get packed away before it broke. The wind had pushed the rain onto our ground sheet so had soaked it and our sleeping mats. A quick dash with the tent to a covered shelter and we could pack it away and get some breakfast while watching the weather.
We then re-traced our steps back to Nelson, through storm debris and a fallen tree, stopping of on the way at Pelorus Bridge to see the river again. We'd had a small concern about the legality of the tread on the hire car so had a chat with a Policeman (strictly off the record in case they weren't legal!) who explained the NZ law to us. He was a very helpful and friendly person who moved here from Edinburgh 8 years ago, so chatted for a while about life in NZ, particularly the bike trails. The tyres were fine too..... Later the lorry directly in front of us shed a portaloo on a corner, bouncing across the lane and onto the verge on the opposite side of the road. Understand the term 'hitting the fan' now, wouldn't want to deal with the aftermath!
Spoilt ourselves at a camping park with fantastic kitchen/lounge facilities, amazing powerful HOT showers and drinking water straight from the tap - it'll never catch on!Читать далее