January 13th (Friday)

Now why did we wake early? Could be the Cicadas starting at first light or maybe the Cockrell yelling its head off nearby, much more likely the heat. Another hot day on the cards, we lay wishing we could open every door and window but were kept prisoner by those revenging sandflies!! The two sliding windows had the fly screens on and all the vents unzipped in the pop top, it would have been lovely to open the back door to let in a through draught too, though. The dash to the loo was fraught with danger, would I get attacked or not? Made it to the toilet without as much as a nibble, but they were lying in wait in the cubicle and immediately came at me determined to have a meal. If you could have seen me sitting waving my hands frantically whilst trying to get the toilet paper, you would have thought me a mad women.  I mentioned to Ian on my return to keep waving his arms, but then he burst out laughing. "And exactly how would I be able to aim for the urinal with both hands waving about?"

Before leaving for Ross there was a walk to the town of Rimu and the lookout, about 10 minutes from Woodstock Domain. It was obviously uphill, should I take the poles? Decided against as Ian did the job equally well by being my prop. It was a hot, humid, sticky climb and something about Ian attracted the Cicadas as he kept being targeted. Maybe they liked the colour of his T Shirt?

 

Once at the top we suddenly realised a drive to the view point was possible. Blast, all that way up in the heat and we could have driven!  I still had to get down which I was not looking forward too! Anyway the light was all wrong for a decent photo, pretty neat view though. 

 Rimu Town as was, and as is now.

Back at the start and another small track led to a mine opening. It was narrow and dark, Ian just had to go in! 

The plan was to see a small gold mining town called Ross. I took this excerpt from NZ history 

Ross was the centre of one of New Zealand’s richest alluvial goldfields in the late 19th century, with extensive underground mining and sluicing claims. 

Didn't take long to reach the place, it was a small historic town with the Information and Heritage centre at its heart. This was actually in the old Bank of New South Wales and all manner of mining artefacts could be found there. New Zealand’s heaviest gold nugget on record was found at Ross. Weighing 3.09 kg, the nugget was named the 'Honourable Roddy' after the minister of mines, Roderick McKenzie. It was later bought by the Government for £400 and given to the King for his coronation.

 

Other buildings included the Church, Gaol, de Bakkers house and a small mine entrance complete with historic cart, all fenced off to stop people like Ian from entering!

St Patrick's Church

 

A short walk along the Wilderness trail and we found the water wheel. More old mining machinery lay along the trail, but it was hot and the thought of an hour's walk didn't appeal one bit. We returned to the Toy for lunch, no café nearby, so we made our own. 

 We also discussed what to do next. Whataroa rang a bell with me, along the SH6 heading south it was about 70 km from Ross. Looking through the many leaflets collected from i sites, the one that grabbed my attention was White Heron Sanctuary Tours. It included an informative minibus ride from Whataroa through lush South Westland farmland into the remote Waitangiroto Nature Reserve. This was a DOC site and entry was only permitted through a guided tour. I expect you can guess the rest, a phone call, and it was booked for mid afternoon tomorrow.

This phenomenon occurred to the side of us whilst driving along the highway.  The wind had picked up but surely not to the extent of whipping up so much dust. 

Ah, now it was made clear!

Whataroa had only one freedom camp site, and a good 8 km from the town. Right by the river it would have been a great place to stop. This was a very remote site though, there was no signal of any sort for phone or internet and no loos (not that would have worried us being self contained) The river looked tranquil, the green/blue of glacier meltwater meandered slowly downstream. So why didn't we stay? The forecast for overnight was heavy rain, rivers rise quickly and I felt we would be better off somewhere not quite so isolated.

 

Instead, a hotel right in the middle of town offered backpackers accommodation and powered sites for motorhomers and camper vans. Cost per night was 35 dollars which included fresh water, toilets, hot showers and the use of the hotel kitchen. It was also just around the corner from the Heron Tour office and meeting point. Sounding idyllic, it was a no brainer.

This hotel...run down is the only way to describe it. In fact, it was empty, no longer being run as a hotel by the owner and purely now for the backpacking or campervaning fraternity. We walked through bedrooms, the lounge and the kitchen, all was in need of some TLC especially the kitchen. (I'm not showing photos that would be unkind to the owner) but needless to say we won't be using the kitchen facilities. Saying that we have booked in for two nights, everything else was fine, and we even had the opportunity to wash the Toy, gosh she badly needed it!

 

And seen on route

And wildlife