21.02.2018 - Akaroa - Oamaru - Palmerston - Dunedin

* Akaroa *

The journey to Akaroa, about 85 km from Christchurch, was worth it! It goes over a hilly and winding road towards Banks Peninsula. What Timmendorf is for the Hamburger, is probably Akaroa for the people of Christchurch. A very quaint, pretty, French-inspired coastal town. Located in a picturesque bay.

As beautiful as the journey was, the sun did everything to welcome me to the New Zealand coast, I was quickly brought back to reality. Akaroa was fully booked! So much for the ADDS strategy (Arrive-Discover-Decide-Book). I had no choice but to go to the i-store (tourism information or what used to be called "tourist office") and ask for a room.

How lucky there were still two possibilities:

1. Backpacker in a 10-bed dorm

2. A "summerhouse" in a fully booked B&B

Can anyone guess which one I chose?

It shouldn't have been that hard to guess :-)

After paying, I received the address with the instruction that the owners were not there, but I should simply go into the garden, where the summer house is located. The door would be open.

They are so relaxed here! Said and done!

The summer house turned out to be a converted larger garden shed! But very beautiful and "romantic". A perfect start to the coastal vacation.

Apparently, there is always an open house here because my summer house had no locks or anything to lock it. The owners' house was open and no one was in sight.

They arrived in the evening and welcomed me warmly.

Alarm exercise at 0:15 a.m.

At around 0:15, I was woken up by a siren, like the ones you know from earlier times, only much, much louder. My first thought was "tsunami"!

That was quite unsettling. But the neighborhood remained dark, only a helicopter flew its rounds over Akaroa.

The next morning, I learned that this was just an exercise, in which all emergency services had to report within 15 minutes! Very strange!

Akaroa is definitely worth a visit. You can spend the morning in one of the French cafes and enjoy the view of the water. There are also some attractions. But dolphin swimming and boat tours are probably the main activities.

Since I still had a long drive ahead of me, I headed south towards Oamaru at 12 o'clock. Goodbye Akaroa in the sun and 27 degrees.

* Oamaru - Palmerton - Dunedin - Moeraki *

The further I drove south on the very desolate Highway 1, the cloudier, rainier, and colder it became. I finally arrived in Oamaru at 13 degrees and constant rain (like pouring buckets).

Just driving through the suburb gave me a bad feeling! Everywhere the same sign "No Vacancy". Oamaru was fully booked. As if I hadn't learned anything from the failed ADDS strategy the day before!

The ladies in the i-store had really tried everything, the only option left for me was a motel in Palmerton, 65 km away!!!

At least for the next day, she could still find something for me in a motel in town.

The motel in Palmerton turned out to be a truck driver motel. In the parking lot, I was by far the smallest vehicle. Only XXL trucks around me. So that's what road trains look like!

On the way to Palmerton, I at least had a delicious dinner at the Moeraki Tavern.

The room was clean, the truckers friendly, even though every other word was FUCK, the breakfast sparse. An interesting experience!

It was still raining!

After "breakfast", I decided to make a detour to Dunedin. I still don't know why.

I abandoned the experiment after 45 minutes! So back to Oamaru. Another 60 km south.

And it was still raining! It was pouring!

It's not fun to explore a city in pouring rain. Okay, I took a look at the English-style train station and made a detour to Baldwin Street. The steepest street in the world.

It is really steep! It was a pleasure to watch all the Asian tourists trying to climb the street, either on foot or by car, in the pouring rain (did I mention that it was pouring buckets?). The former turned out to be a smaller problem when going downhill. The water reached the bottom faster than the pedestrians.

I abandoned the experiment after 45 minutes! So back to Oamaru.

On the way back, I had a little accident in Palmerton (-> my truck driver motel). I was a bit too fast when turning left and hit the curb with the front wheel.

Didn't look good at all!

So I drove back to Oamaru at a reduced speed and looked for a tire dealer who could change the tire.

But on the way, I also visited the Moeraki Boulders.

There are just a few stone balls lying around on the beach.

It was still pouring!

Oamaru is certainly more interesting in sunny weather than in the rain. The highlights are certainly Oamaru's Victorian Precincts.

A collection of buildings made of white sandstone. Very impressive to look at. But in pouring rain, I didn't feel like it. After all, I still had to change the tire.

Changing the tire wasn't a problem! The car rental company sent me to Bridgestone. The tire was changed, I was only allowed to drive a maximum of 80 km/h and had to replace the tire (not the spare tire) in the next few days, as there was no suitable replacement in stock.

The plan was to change it at the car rental station in Queenstown or even pick up a new car.

That was the plan!

But as with plans, they only hold as long as everything goes smoothly!

It was still raining!

The ladies at the i-store had done their best, but even within a 150 km radius of Queenstown, they couldn't find me any accommodation. Not even a backpacker's hostel.

I had learned from my previous experiences and wanted to book my next 3 nights.

Unfortunately, that didn't work out! This strategy also failed!

It was still raining!

No accommodation, a flat tire, 3 days of constant rain! That really gets on your nerves! Even dinner didn't help much.

I had to give up on my original route to Wanaka on the West Coast. Between Oamaru and the West Coast, there was no accommodation (at least I couldn't find anything online). And driving 500 km to the next major city was just too far.

Because: it was still raining!

So I threw all plans out the window and went back to square one! Don't collect $200!

Back to Christchurch. From there, I planned to go to the West Coast via Arthur's Pass.

So another almost 4 hours on the most boring highway heading north.

It was still raining!

In the meantime, so much water came from the mountains that Highway 1 was temporarily flooded. The first few times, it was still fun to drive through the lake-like landscape, but with a narrower spare tire, it wasn't fun anymore. The car was very unstable on the road.