Slowly through the Southland

Feb. 12 - We are still rambling our way along the south coast, trying to make sure that we don’t get to Manapouri too soon (that’s where we get the connection for our overnight trip on Doubtful Sound, one of the big fjords on the west coast). We stopped off today in a little village called Riverton which we would normally have driven right through, but when you’ve got time on your hands, why not? It turned out to be a little gem with the most amazing coffee shop, founded by Mrs. Clarke in 1894. The village is pretty small and not much goes on there, but this coffee shop would have been quite in place in one of the ritzier places we’ve been - really good coffee and amazing home-cooked goodies (we had the scone with jam and cream!) And then there was this fascinating museum called Te Hikoi which had a really good movie to introduce you to the history of the area and then lots of interesting mock-ups and paraphernalia - a really good way to spend an hour or two. Then we drove on to Curoc Bay which didn’t have a whole lot going for it except a large, life-size model of a surfer that greeted you as you entered the village (everyone needs a plastic surfer in their lives once in a while). We spent a pretty soggy night there (it rains quite a lot), but they did a really good lamb curry.
Feb. 13 - On again slowly, this time stopping in Tuatepere, apparently the sausage capital of New Zealand, if not the world. So of course we stopped at the butcher’s shop and bought some sausages for supper - lamb, mint and rosemary - really good. And here again, although the village was rather tired and run-down, there was an amazing coffee shop run in a kind of museum to kitchen-hood - all kinds of old kitchen stuff (some of which, I hate to admit, I remember from my childhood - like the carpet beater, kind of like a tennis racket which we used to get the dust out of our rugs - hang them on the washing line and beat the hell out of them, and the old hand-wound meat grinders.) We couldn’t resist buying some jam and pickles, obviously home made and again, the coffee was wonderful (and so was the apple strudel!) The highlight for me was that the background music was provided by a gramophone which was playing a Val Doonican LP when we arrived (older English readers will relate!) Tearing ourselves away from memory lane, we arrived in Manipouri which is on a huge lake surrounded by mountains. The campground is rather weird, with about 15 old Morris Minors (again, older English readers will understand) in various states of disrepair (mostly looking pretty sad, sadly) and very strange cabins, some mock-Tudor, some mock-Swiss - a bit like the Twilight Zone.
Feb. 14 - One more day to hang around as tomorrow we go off on our boat to Doubtful Sound. It was a grey, rainy day (see picture) so we decided to drive up to Milford Sound, about 100 km to the north. That’s the Sound that most tourists go to (which is why we chose Doubtful for our trip!) We stopped at Te Anau, just north of Manipouri, but our coffee shop charm had run out, so we kept going through the mist and had a picnic at a little place called Smithy Creek (appropriate for John, we thought, but we couldn’t find a creek). We stopped at a couple of places on our way to Milford, and the rain obligingly stopped for us each time. Mirror Lakes were pretty (they have the name board upside down so that it reflects correctly in the lake!). The Chasm was amazing - an inconspicuous little river, burbling along, suddenly gets deflected into a narrow neck and down a shute so that it turns into a raging torrent which has worn the rocks into the most amazing shapes. (see picture) Milford itself wasn’t very exciting, mainly a place where you go to get on a boat to go out on the lake, and the mountains around were hard to see because of the mist, but now we can say we’ve been there!
Two things we have noticed, both in Australia and New Zealand, which seem like really good ideas (are you listening, Canada?) There are no pennies or nickels - if you go into a store and spend $5.48, they round it up to $5.50 and likewise, if you spend $5.22, they round it down to $5.20. So you don’t go around with a heavy pocket full of small coins and it all evens out in the end. The other good idea is that most toilets have 2 buttons to push, one gives you a quick swish and the other gives you the old-fashioned, full-blooded swooooooooooosh - really good idea to save water.