A Southland summer - Jan/Feb 2022

 

Camping on the River Rees

From Queenstown we headed straight into the hills of Glenorchy.  

Lakeside, Glenorchy

We found a fabulous camping spot on the river and James headed out for a fish.  Not too tricky but this one went back to live it's best life.

The views were spectacular and the sun going down on the river was not to be missed.

The next day we drove further up the valley to see the views made famous by the filming of Lord of the Rings in this area.

Next, we headed to Te Anau where we decided to take a trip in to Lake Mavora.  We didn't get quite that far when we decided to stop at a hunting spot we had heard about.  We camped here for a couple of nights enjoying a few treks into the forest.  

Cute wee Robin keeping us company
while we 'glassed' the flats

The start of the walk

View from camp

It would have been churlish not to take a trip up to Milford Sound as we were in the area.  This is one of the most popular tourist destinations in New Zealand and is not very hospitable to the campervan/freedom camping crowd.  They are really suffering from the lack of overseas tourists and it was blissfully (to us anyway!) quiet.

On the way back out we stopped for a couple of fishing opportunities.  We saw a couple of lovely big trout but only managed to hook an eel!

Spot the fisherman!

Next stop .... a friend's place in Riverton where we had the pleasure of meeting this bundle of fluff

and catching some lovely trout on yet another river

And just in case you can't catch your own ....

Heading further south we hit the coast just east of Invercargill.  We had not been to the ocean since Christmas and hadn't realised how much we had missed it.

Clare (accidently, as in not intentionally) caught this beauty of the sea-run trout at the mouth of the river at Haldane Bay.  We were fishing for kahawai, but this was an even better score.

We scored a couple of flounder off a couple of very friendly fisherpeople.

And foraged for some yummy, sweet cockles in the mud flats.

Stopping off at a campsite along the way we went for a walk into the bush and saw a deer, albeit fleetingly, at the end of this track just as the sun went down.

As we headed toward the Catlins, we were again struck by the wild beauty of this south coastline.

The view from Florence Hill

Time to head inland again to a camp we had been told about that may yield a bit of meat if we were lucky.  This was the Catlins River Wisp Loop track.  We enjoyed this place so much we really didn't want to leave.  We didn't manage to harvest any meat, although the odd opportunity did present itself, but the river was so much fun to fish and the bush was most alluring.

 

A series of Southern sits - Dec/Jan 2022

Bailey riding shotgun

During our three weeks in the Twizel area we were mostly freedom camping in our van.  We are extremely happy in our van!  However, we had advertised on the Twizel Community FB page our availability to housesit while in the area.  A lovely family contacted us and engaged our service for a long weekend.

We arrived to be greeted by 12week old Bailey

And her cat sisters Mika (the mummy) and Bear & Lola, her grown up babies

Bear playing silly pants in the trees

Mika became addicted to the salmon scraps

Lola having evening snuggles

Bailey was such a good wee girl for being so young and exuberant!  And the cats were surprisingly patient with her.

Teaching Bailey to be gentle

They were all a happy little family and Bailey kept us entertained and on our toes.

We are pretty sure it is impossible not to love a puppy!

As a short interlude, we moved onto Dunedin for a family Christmas, staying with family, happy to be able to provide lots of fresh and smoked salmon for all.  Clare's brother and wife had recently immigraated from the US.  We hadn't seen them for a number of years.  Also, Clare's Mum & Dad flew down from the North Island to spend the holiday season with us.  It was lots of fun to be around 4 generations of the family.

Two of the youngest generation, Jack (1yr) and Ben (3yrs)

Great Grandpa supervising

Feeding the ducks at the park

Next, we were due at a housesit in rural Wanaka.  What a fabulous and fascinating area.  Here we were kept company by Buster, the German Shorthaired Pointer

And Boo, the ginger ninja

These two were super comfortable in each other's company, which always makes our job easier.

They also quickly became very comfortable in our company.  Which was just as well, as James spent a large part of our evenings grooming Boo's coat of all the biddy bids he had gathered from his adventures.

We quickly came to realise that Buddy required a lot of exercise each day.  Not to worry.  We were situated not far from the Upper Clyde walkway.  Each morning we ventured out for a couple of hours, Clare and Buddy on an extended walk, James stopping along the way for a spot of fishing.

The scenery was out of this world. 

These two mad little mates even enjoyed the odd swim.  The weathe was rather lovely.

Meanwhile, back on the ranch, this one was holding the home fort.

Then again, there was always time to take a chill pill and relax.

Oh, and we were lucky enough that the lupins were in fine form whilst we were here.

Sublime .... 

Dang, we love our life!

Soon it was time to move onto another sit in Lake Hayes near Queenstown.  We hadn't even moved into the house when we got a visit from this wee cutie from next door ....

But really we were here to hang out with this bundle of fun ....

Fred, the 1yr old lab

Fred has a wonderful family with young children who absolutely love him to bits.  So life is pretty busy for Fred, with lots of brothers and sisters to play with.  Fred's challenge is that he has a degenerative bone disorder , the likes of which he has already had extensive surgery.  His prognosis is not great so the family have resolved to give him his best life no matter how long or short it will be.  We were up for the challenge too.  

Because Fred cannot be exercised to the full extent that normally suits a young dog well, our job was to keep his mind engaged in between a couple of short 20min lead walks a day. 

This could be as easy as providing a cardboard carton to rip to shreds

To playing the 'Wait' game ... he is so well trained for his age.

Fred was lots of fun.

Dancing around with his water bowl

Learning to be a good boy

Because Fred needed a bit of downtime/rest each day, we found time to get our Covid booster shots.

And pop to the lake for a spot of fishing.

It was always a joy to head home to this guy ....

Who could say no to this face!

Whilst we always hate saying goodbye, at least we know we are always leaving them with the people who love them most (besides us!).