All Aboard the Aratere

With two car ferries operating across the Cook Strait, you would expect the prices of each to be comparable.  Not so – we found the difference in costs between the two companies to be in the region of $40.  It wasn’t hard to make the decision to travel with the cheaper shipping company.  We arrived at the Picton port bright and early and lined up where directed amongst a whole lot of cars, motor-homes, vans and large trucks.  Surprisingly, we didn’t spot another caravan at all.

Waiting for the ferry to arrive

Muffy was locked in the caravan to cope with the trip by herself, as best she could.  No doubt once the crossing was underway and all those strange noises had quieted down, she would be able to curl up and have a snooze in the caravan.  Robin makes no bones about being a poor sailor, but with a couple of “Sea Legs” under his belt, he felt he would be OK.  The first part of the trip was quite calm, as we guided slowly through the Sounds.

Travelling through the Sounds

Things got a little more turbulent as we crossed the open waters while we were eating lunch in the cafe.  My advice to myself is not to look out the windows and see the horizon moving up and down, but to concentrate on reading a book.  Works for me, and after lunch we went back to our air craft style seating  to relax.  Robin had the morning newspaper to read, and I was rather involved in “Lady Chatterley’s Lover”, so we didn’t have to think about the moderate swell. 

Inside the Aratere

Looking back over the stern

The crossing takes round about three hours, and before we knew it, we were approaching Wellington and glided into the harbour past the expensive properties at Oriental Bay.  We were requested to gather our belongings, make our way back down to the car deck, and get ready for when the ship docked.

Oriental Bay

Off we went, joining the queue of all the other traffic as we disembarked, and quickly stopped at a parking space on the wharf.  Muffy was rescued from the caravan, a little wide eyed and agitated after three hours down in that noisy hold all by herself.  After a few kind words and a cuddle, she calmed down and we drove the final leg of our journey, homewards bound.  It certainly didn’t seem that we had been away for three months, we commented.  That’s till we saw the big pile of mail waiting for us to deal with.  Our house sitter had been clearing the letter box and stacked it up neatly – that’s a whole lot of mail to open!  Luckily she had already discarded the three months worth of junk mail that came with it.

  Three months mail to open

Queen Charlotte Drive

Total Nights and Caravan Travelled on Tour to Date = 96 Nights & 3934 Kms

Queen Charlotte Drive is not a coastal drive like we would experience in the North Island.  Things are different down here in the Marlborough Sounds, which are described by geologists as “drowned valleys”.  These were formed millions of years ago by the mountains sinking and the ocean flooding into the low lying areas.  The narrow road took us through spectacular scenery up and over hills covered in native forest, then dipped down to one little bay after another.  There was a handy parking area just out of town looking over the ferry terminals and the town.  Both Bluebridge and the Inter Islander ferries were loading passengers and vehicular traffic for yet another crossing to Wellington.  It will be our turn tomorrow – lets hope for a calm sailing.

Looking over the ferry terminal

Just around a corner or two we stopped on the hill overlooking Shakespeare Bay.  Waimahara Wharf was opened by Prime Minister Helen Clark in May 2000 and was very busy indeed.  Piles of logs were neatly stacked and the boat at the wharf looked almost full to the brim with a load ready for transit.  

Waimahara Wharf, Shakespeare Bay

Plaque looking down over Shakespeare Bay

Marlborough Sounds offers up one glorious view after another.  We just had to stop at the next hilltop lookout. 

View of the Sounds

Some years ago there was the most delightful cake shop in Ngakuta Bay, run by a little old lady known to all as “Granny”.  She has long gone, as has the shop, but Ngakuta Bay is just as we remembered it, quiet and peaceful.  The 55 year old jetty was rebuilt last year and is available to all for fishing, swimming, boating, or for land lubbers like us, just to enjoy a walk along it’s length in the sunshine. 

Ngakuta Bay Jetty

Ngakuta Bay

Back in the car again we drove around to Anakiwa, which is the base for the Outward Bound School.  The school runs rigorous courses designed to test participates, build character and gain confidence in outdoor pursuits, and the McKenzie Trust gifted 22 acres of land to establish the school here.  Anakiwa is also the starting point of the famous 71km Queen Charlotte Walking Track.

Outward Bound, Anakiwa

Anakiwa Bay

Retracing our steps, we drove back to Picton and down to the waterfront.  The coastal trader Echo is now beached and spends life these days as a cafe/bar.  Built in 1905, she worked around the coast of New Zealand, and then shipped freight between Blenheim and Wellington for many years.   In 1942 Echo was commissioned by the U S Army  and patrolled the pacific Ocean on active duty until 1944.  Resuming her Cook Strait service she worked until retirement in 1965. With a history like this, it seemed the ideal place to finish our sight-seeing with a nice cup of coffee, we thought.  But it was not to be, as the Echo was not open.  Oh dear. 

Echo, down at the Picton waterfront

We celebrated the last night of our holiday with a meal out at the Picton RSA, roast pork and all the trimmings, and it was delicious.  What’s this sign we noticed on the door as we were leaving?  It asks, “Have you got your pumpkin?”

In my view, you just can’t beat a nice pumpkin, and these were only $1.50 each.  Guess what I’m taking home on the Cook Strait Ferry tomorrow?

Me and my pumpkin

Romany Rambler: Travelled 24,126 Km; 441 Total Nights

Leaving the Truckstop, and on to Picton

It must be Murphy’s Law – because why does it always seem to rain when it is time to move on?  Most of the truckers had departed already, although a group were still having their big breakfasts in the diner.  The truckstop offers motel style units where the drivers sleep overnight, and the diner is “open all hours” to cater for those who arrive in the small hours. 

Big rigs parked up at the truckstop

All hitched up

Robin needed his rain jacket on he attended to the outside chores in getting the caravan hitched up.  For the cost of a $12 token we could take the car and caravan onto the dual weighbridge.  This would take away any guesses as to the actual weight of our fully laden caravan.

Romany Rambler on the weighbridge

We were weighed with full fresh water and waste water tanks, a full gas bottle, and a full tank of diesel in the 4WD.  Together with our generator, two BBQs, ladder, and far too many books, Robin told me.  Plus the faulty batteries in the front of the caravan, which we hope to get a refund for on our return home.  The grand total was 5240kg, made up of 2910kg for the 4WD, and 2330kg for the caravan.

It was a short 40km drive up SH1 from Blenheim to Picton, the final stop on our South Island Odyssey trip.  Picton, named after Sir Thomas Picton,  is the first port of call in the South Island for those crossing Cook Strait by inter-island ferry from Wellington, and it really doesn’t seem three months since our group arrived here in mid February. Those months have just flown by!

The town seems much quieter now winter is almost here, and some businesses seemed to be closed now that the high season is over.  We took a stroll along the attractively paved waterfront and gazed out over hundreds of high value boats, there’s a whole lot of serious money tied up in these moorings.

Anyone for a cruise?

The striking War Memorial gates are very much a Picton icon, and steps lead down from here to the waterfront, with a view out to the Queen Charlotte Sounds, framed by the many palm trees in the gardens.  The great navigator Captain James Cook named the sounds after George 3rd’s wife, Queen Charlotte. 

War Memorial gates

View from the steps

Waikawa Bay Kiwi Camp is our stop for the next few nights.  This gives us a chance to do a little last minute exploring, as Picton is usually one of those places you arrive at and then drive straight to the ferry terminal.

On site at Waikawa Bay Camp, Picton

Zig Zag Road Trip

The Port Underwood Road Information road sign at coastal Rarangi warned us:  “Narrow windy gravel road for 25km.  Not recommended for caravans or heavy vehicles”.  Did that put Robin off making the trip?  No way – he was always up for a challenge in the 4WD.  The caravan was left behind safely on site in Blenheim, and he was raring to go.  The road sign recommended a sedate 50km speed limit but with the combination of a narrow gravel road and a multitude of tight corners and hairpin bends, he didn’t get much above 30kms.  We zigged and zagged up and over hills of the Robertson Range, and we came across one beautiful little bay after another, most of them with interesting stories to tell.

Whites Bay these days is known for the DOC Camp set amongst native trees, and the Surf Life Saving Club building looking out over the beach.  Things were quite different in Whites Bay in the 1860s.  The first telegraph link was established between the North and South Islands when a cable was landed from Lyall Bay, Wellington.  The Whites Bay Cable Station still stands, with station staff operating from the building from 1867 till 1895.  Whites Bay was named after a negro called Black Jack White, who deserted his whaling ship in 1828 and took up residence with the local Maori people. 

Whites Bay Cable Station

Whites Bay

Back in the 4WD we slowly made our way up the top of the next hill and pulled to a stop to look down on the blue waters of the sweeping curve of Robin Hood’s Bay. In earlier times a large Maori population occupied the bay leaving remains of extensive stone and earth walls on the flats where they grew kumara crops.

Robin Hood Bay

The bay was possibly named after a whaling ship, and a restored earth cottage was built as a whaler’s cottage for Captain Jackson who settled here with his young bride in 1848.   The cottage, was built by “mud and stud”.  Constructed of totara studs and braces, and manuka stakes, with a cob mixture in between and finished with a lime wash on the outside walls, this is very similar to the wattle and daub construction of cottages in England.  The cottage, which still has a mud floor, also served as part of a boys building school, and a farm labourer’s cottage.  

Robin Hood Bay cottage

Interior wall showing how it was constructed

Robin Hood Bay

Our next stop at Ocean Bay had a history of whaling when Captain John Blenkinsopp commenced whaling in the bay in 1830 from his schooner Caroline, setting up a temporary shore station.   A Sydney lawyer purchased the Captain’s assets 10 years later and failed in a bid to farm cattle after his workers died in a boat accident at Wairau Bar. 

Memorial at Ocean Bay

View of Ocean Bay

Up and over yet another hill we came down to Kakapo Bay, which sadly had no beach access.  This bay also had a whaling history, and John Guard of Schooner Waterloo moved from Te Awaiti to this bay and set up a shore whaling station here. 

Memorial to the whaling history at Kakapo Bay

Lunch time was calling, and we stopped off to enjoy our picnic lunch at pretty little Tom Canes Bay.  What a lovely peaceful place this was.  The sound of bird song filled the air, and a lone yacht bobbed about on it’s mooring.  We sat and watched as one after another a pied shag flew in and attempted to land in a large tree across the bay.  Quite often, the birds seemed to fly in too fast,  and had to try again for a second time before they could successfully roost.  

Tom Canes Bay

Pied Shags roosting in a tree

Oyster Bay was by far the biggest bay we stopped at, and as a working bay, was not as pretty as those we had seen earlier.    Fishing boats were moored at the small wharf and we saw a dinky little house boat at the other end of the bay. 

Fishing boats at Oyster Bay

House boat

Climbing yet another hill and leaving the coastline behind us, we stopped at Karaka Point which was the site of an early Maori Pa (fortified village) in the 1700s.  Raiding parties attacked the pa over the years, and in the 1820s the Te Atiawa tribe attacked with muskets, but the defenders had no previous knowledge of firearms.  Frightened by the noise and devastation, they opened the gates to escape and were all killed by the assailants.  The pa was burnt to the ground and has not been occupied since.   

Maori carving at Karaka Point

Arriving in Picton, it was an easy drive back down SH1 back to Blenheim, with not another zig zag in sight, to complete the round circle of our road trip.  We had to have a quick stop at our favourite South Island bakery Couplands to purchase some delicious hot cross buns, because sadly there are no Couplands shops in the North Island, and who knows when we will come across another one again?

Knights of the Sky - Omaka

Stunning, amazing, brilliant, with life like figures telling the stories of fighter pilots – that’s what we discovered at the Omaka Aviation Heritage Centre.  Sir Peter Jackson’s collection of WW1 aeroplanes combined with the skilful settings created by Weta Workshops made the Knights of the Sky exhibition at Omaka an amazing day out to our stay in Blenheim. 

 

Omaka Aviation Heritage Centre

Two replica aircraft standing  in the grounds outside the building set the scene, a Hawker Hurricane and a Stuka.  We walked through the doors into the low light display area showing tableaus of aircraft in the skies and pilots fighting for their countries.  Photos, posters and story-boards cover the walls, and the sound of machine gun fire rat-tat-tats around the gallery, followed by the haunting notes of “We’ll meet again” coming over the loud speakers.

Shooting with a rifle from an Etrich Taube

The Airco De Havilland was designed as a “pusher”, an aircraft with the propeller at the rear.  The machine gun can then be fired forwards without any risk of hitting the turning propeller.

Pusher aircraft, Airco De Havilland

We wandered through the uniform gallery, which displays the actual uniforms and artefacts from allied pilots together with photos and stories of their lives, making looking through this part of the museum all very personal.  French, Belgium, Italian, Australian and American outfits were on show, including dress uniforms, jackets, hats, and leather flying coats.  Captain Eddie Rickenbacher  was the highest scoring American pilot of WW1 and purchased his flying “Teddy Bear” suit in France.   The suit bears his hand painted name and the famous insignia of the US 94th Aero Squadron of a hat in a ring.

Captain Rickenbacher’s Teddy Bear flying suit

What was that pilot doing on the wing of his plane, we wondered?  This certainly brought the true story of of “Grid’s Great Escape” to life.  New Zealander Lt Grid Caldwell collided with a fellow squadron member in the air, and although the other plane landed safely, Grid's plane went into a dive.  After falling 2000ft the dive developed into a right handed semi-flat spin.  Caldwell climbed half out of the cockpit and realised that by placing his left foot on the lower port main-plane, and grasping the port centre strut with his left hand the plane stabilised and he could fly it with his left hand and foot.  He guided the crippled aircraft over the front line trenches and jumped off just as it was about to crash land.  What an amazing feat!

Grid Caldwell guiding his plane over the trenches

The exploits of the Red Baron features in the museum, who had his Jasta painted bright red, in an attempt to intimidate novice pilots.  The nimble Jastas had their underbellies painted light blue making them hard to see while flying high.  When possible the  German pilots fell on their prey from above with the sun behind them. The expression “Beware the Hun in the Sun” dates from this time.

   .   The Red Baron and fellow German planes

The Red Baron, Baron Manfred von Ricthofen had an unbeaten record of 80 kills before being shot in the chest and he managed to land his tri-plane in a beet field in the Somme Valley, and then died from his wounds.  This area was occupied by an Australian gunnery unit who lifted his body from the wreckage.  The troops then tore the plane to shreds as they gathered  souvenirs, even removing clothing from the body. 

The end of the Red Baron

Aviators had mutual respect for the skill of fellow pilots and this was extended to those considered enemies.  This is shown by the gift of a silk pennant given by English officers to their German captors which states:  Presented by the English Flying Officers who are Prisoners of War in Osnabruck, October 28th 1916.

Silk pennant given by English pilots to their fellow German pilots

Diorama based on an actual photo

Morane Saulier stuck in the mud

Omaka is an amazing museum, with the sets bringing everything to life in visually stunning style.  Each scene shows a little slice of life in the Great War, some imagined, and some from actual incidents.  There is plenty of room for expansion, we were told, with plans to bring WW11 aircraft into the museum at a later date. 

Interestingly not all of the aircraft were replicas, some were originals and a good proportion of them able to be flown. Amazing!