23 -25 April 2017 Parnassus near Cheviot

Parnassus NZMCA 

This site is located on an old school of a village now unable to support a school of its own. This was a poignant experience - Kaikoura so near and yet too far to reach easily because of the now broken road structure after the serious earthquake late mast year.

As a result of the vulnerability of the single-lane, single 'expressway' being unsupported by other road networks or rail links, there is now no realistic way for tourists like us (with a 'Big Rig') to each the township of Kaikoura. Retailers are struggling as a result and many businesses have closed. Where is the Government on this? Mmmm, well suffice to say it is too reminiscent of the Christchurch earthquake - which after 5 years, so many many people are still waiting for insurance payouts to enable them to have a habitable house once again.

21-22 April 2017 Murchison enroute to Parnassus

NZMCA Murchison

Always a delight to stay in this site - mainly because the site has all the facilities you need and is literally right in the town centre. We love the local Backpackers  - the Lazy Cow  -which  - as I've written about before - cooks THE most delicious home-made pizzas.

Delicious pizza in Murchison

The local butchers was closed - surprisingly for a Saturday morning. And bearing in mind this is now the main route North/South in South Island (after the Kaikoura earthquake recked the main SH1), we were also surprised to see the only fuel station closed at 6pm (!) New Zealand is a strange place when it comes to customer service and retailers. Will I ever get used to this?  Can you imagine Egyptians for example, missing an opportunity for profiteering like this?!

Needless to say the guy running the busy Pizza bistro around the corner from the high street - open till late when we were there and also BYO - was a POM - from Devon. Nuff said. :)

18-21 April 2017 Pohara Bay NZMCA Boat Club

Freedom Camping NZMCA $3pp p/n

View from our caravan across the peaceful bay...

Wow! 

This is a lovely, isolated camping spot, right by the beach. Only downside was the noise of the quarry trucks nearby (which started early!).


Justin caught me a Gurnard for supper from the boat-ramp -




... and we took time to travel up to Farewell Spit - tragically made famous because of the stranding of the whales recently in the news.

Farewell Spit - where the whales were stranded.

There was no fresh drinking water here (boil only) and I was concerned to see the number of people dismissing the notices and filling up their camper water tanks anyway. Not far away was the poisoned area:

boil water notice at campsite.

Our truck at the top of the bay  - great view! :)

It was so frustrating that no dogs were allowed anywhere around this area - and where they were allowed, I was reluctant to go with Dizzy because of the amount of poisons surrounding the beach.

And the DoC land was totally out of bounds: 

I hate seeing this kind of sign - so common in NZ

The cultural issue here in NZ is that authorities see dogs not as a natural companion to nature's walks, but as a pest - capable of killing wildlife. It's something I will struggle with for as long as I live here - and something that I find deeply upsetting because it goes alongside the Government authorities dismissing public concerns when their companion animals suffer an inhumane death as a result of secondary poisoning from Compound 1080 which has been indiscriminately aerially spread over thousands of hectares of land. This would unthinkable anywhere else in the world  - but here? Residents are make to feel shame for potentially even owning a dog.

the Habour entrance - out of bounds to us

The irony of pollution is the supposedly 'Clean Green 100% Pure New Zealand' is ever-present: no more so than in this symbolic signage on the road near the campsite - on opposite sides of the same road:

Pohara Bay signs to motorists and pedestrians - the conflict between wildlife and pollution....

17 April The Nelson Country Club

Park Over Property: North Nelson Country Club

Just a brief stop o/n at the (in)famous Country Club where we met the usual locals.

I met with a friend and we talked about the on-going poisoning problems around the Nelson area. He also hunts on the Kaikoura hills - the Clarence River Valley which was recently 1080'd. I did the Official Information Act request for the rationale from the Government agency TBFree (an anomoly, NZ is TBFree by International standards), which revealed (as usual) there was no logic to the poisoning of 11,000 hectares of land and water: 12 pigs over 2 years had apparently been found to be bTB positive. Hardly a convincing argument - especially when the cattle there have been seemingly located there for decades.

Current issues nearer home (to Nelson) include the City Council's proposal to poison a nature 'Sanctuary' (that word seems to have a different definition here in NZ) with 26 tonnes of a lethal, inhumane anticoagulant toxin, Brodifacoum. This is a rat poison that  - in every other part of the developed world - is used exclusively in indoor bait stations, where there has been a full risk assessment for the secondary poisonings that are likely to occur. Here in NZ? Yup, you guessed it, let's spread it from helicopters over land and into water courses. And can you believe this nature sanctuary is less than 5 kms from a highly residential area? There are various protest groups trying to prevent it, there have been numerous letters in the local newspapers - including a petition you can sign here and a forthcoming public meeting to raise awareness of the potential risks to human health and companion animals. We'll wait to see the outcome, but undoubtedly this is one of the most horrific local poisoning operations I've heard about so far. Brodifacoum is horrific. In some ways even worse that Compound 1080 - if that's possible.

Anyway, on a brighter note, we stopped at the local beach again with Dizzy and enjoyed some wonderful weather. To think that anyone in a position of power in this beautiful mini-city would even consider poisoning this environment is just totally beyond me....



Back at the club, walked nonsense for an evening and then the following morning left for the West side of Nelson and pastures new.

13 - 17 April 2017 Blenheim Air Show

One of the Spitfire flying at the Airshow

Bowling Club Blenheim - Freedom camping ($5 pp)



We were planning to stay at the nearby Vineyard during the Blenheim Airshow, but those plans went pear-shaped after the widespread flooding from the intensive rainfall nationally. But there was no problem, we found an excellent hard-standing place to park  - at the friendly local bowling club. In some ways this was way better because it was near the town and also had some facilities. 




Again we learned a lot from the local residents, over a beer or three. 

There was also an excellent dog-friendly walk by the river where the dogs could swim in the car-park which had now become a temporary pool!

Blenheim - the flooded river in the evening.

I'm no expert on the Airshow performers - so here's Justin's reflection of the event:

"Bombers, bullets, beer, bombs...& bowling: bank holiday weekend in Blenheim"

Compared to UK airshows, NZ airshows are amazing because the action happens right above you! (No worries about H&S here)! LOL

Who would have thought it was even possible? No less than 8 Fokker (Red Baron  - Baron von Richthofen) tri-planes engaged in aerial combat with RFC WW1 Sopwith Camels. Only at Blenheim Bi-annual Easter airshow!


Superb weather on the back of cyclonic floods up North - we were diverted from staying at a local winery as the river was still very high and we ended up at the bowling club car park with several other airshow goers. The great news is that they were very friendly and open most afternoons for cold beer ad bonhomie.

As for the show - we saw enacted battles with WW1 tanks engaged in land battles as well as a WW2 enactment to include a full size jet powered V1 "doodlebug" being chased by a Spitfire! YES it happened here!

Other air action included a display from a twin-tailed Venom (1947 jet fighter-bomber) and a whole squadron of Harvards plus plenty more including the famous Black Falcons - (Kiwi version of our wonderful Red Arrows - but with propellers). 

The airshow began on the  Friday evening with a fireworks display and then went on for two full days Saturday and Sunday. All weekend the skies were full of rare Warbirds. We even saw an Avro Anson doing a display.

explosions and tanks firing!

Whilst in Blenheim, our wartime theme continued when went to the local cinema (not as nice as our home venue at the Cambridge Tivoli). It was very apt to see 'Their Finest' -  although the cinema description wasn't clear it was based around Dunkirk, it was a delight to find out it was!  Spitfire trips were $4,050 for 25 minute but were fully booked (Phew - Ed)- P40 Kitthawk flights and Dc3 (Dakota) rides also available. So heartwarming to see so much support for these vintage aircraft.


One of our objectives of this trip South was to visit places we didn't get to last time - so on the 17th  - the weather was still good - we left Blenheim for the beaches southwest of Nelson.