Southern Adventure - Part three - Invercargill to Tuatapere

When we reached Invercargill, we went straight to Merv and Susan's place for dinner. Andrew and Merv had worked together at DOC, and Andrew was keen to catch up with them. What a great evening. Merv had done a lot of impressive alpine trips and he and Angela spent most of the evening going through his fantastic photos and stories.

Next morning we were up at, groan, 4:30am to get Andrew to the airport for his flight home. Bye, Andrew! He was needed at work so had had to cut his trip short. It would be just the four of us on the next leg of the journey.

Now it was time to get through our list of inter-tramp jobs along with some 'sightseeing' in the perpetually cold drizzly and miserable place called Invercargill. 

First stop was the Gladstone laundromat. After a bit of fun and games working out the system and buying washing powder from the grumpy staff at the Night-and-Day next door, our smelly dirty tramping gear was clean and ready for new action. 

Then for breakfast we hit the Batch Cafe. It was a great place. Yummy eggs and yummy cheese scones. Highlight of our visit.

Next on the list was the Southland Museum, one of the best attractions of Invercargill. It was closed. Since 2016. Apparently it might reopen in a couple of years if they can get some earthquake strengthening done. We walked around the back where the Tuatara were and sure enough, there were 2-3 of them resolutely sitting under the heat lamps.

Tuatara in there somewhere

Then we visited the home of Backcountry Meals. We thought there might be a factory shop or even tours. No. I opened an anonymous door in the side of the building to find a whole lot of admin people working away and avoiding eye contact. Someone turned up to drive out with a car and Backcountry Meal trailer - he apologised that there wasn't anything customer facing but thanked us for coming.

OK that was all our jobs done. And it was only 9:30am.

We "tiki toured" around Invercargill to visit the various houses where Sally and I had lived, and then we couldn't spin out our Invercargill day any more. So off to Tuatapere we set, going via the coastal (Colac Bay) route. There were a series of beaches on the way - Cosy Nook beach with a few nice wee cribs and a wonderful little beachfront beside it; and Monkey Island, with an island we could walk to since it was low tide. We wandered out through the drizzle and wind and up a series of steps to a lookout. While we were there, a couple of cars pulled up and then a woman went running fully clothed straight into the surf. What was she up to?! Fortunately she came back in after a while, and we got to chat to her as we went back to the car. She'd grown up here and it was the first time back for years and years. She just had to go for a swim, no matter how awful the weather. 

Southland beachwear

Next beach was Gemstone Beach but we drove on by, we were a bit beached out with the nasty weather. Turns out it's famous and really has "gemstones" on the beach. Oh well.

We made it to Tuatapere around lunchtime and pulled into the Tui Base Camp. Whatever you wanted, they had. I couldn't find the way in, so I went into the bottle store to ask where to go. The bottle store owner took me behind his till, where I found myself in the bar. Past the bar and an invisible line on the ground was the restaurant, and then the motel and camping ground checkin had the right-hand half of the restaurant counter. Between Base Camp and the 4 Square across the road, each and all of our conceivable needs were met.

We were planning on camping in the van tonight, but the drizzle was steadily turning into rain and then heavy rain. The attraction of a motel unit was great. So we did it. The motel unit was spacious and clean, a little bit tired (the couch had collapsed!) but well maintained and delightful to find. We hauled all our stuff in from the van and sorted and re-packed and prepared for our next adventures.

Lots of sorting and packing needed

Tuatapere has self-claimed the title of 'the sausage capital of the world'. This bold claim is apparently a joke that got a little out of hand, but I quickly chose Sausage and Mash for my dinner meal and it was pretty good I have to say.

Angela doesn't look convinced

We retired to our room and went to bed to the sound of pelting rain on the roof. The forecast was for improving weather, but this didn't bode well for the next leg of our adventure.