SATURDAY 23RD MAY
An early start and we were on the road by 09:30a.m, which is pretty good considering there’s four us and two of them are Cannon and Ball. We made it to Invercargill just after lunchtime after stopping for extortionately priced diesel and seeing more hills and stuff.We followed the signs for the local i-site and ended up beside Queen’s Park. Outside the park were two large fountains, both of which had been vandalised. By vandalised I don’t mean spray painted, I mean vandalised in a way that you always wish you’d done as a kid. Yes, somebody had tipped two gallons of Pam’s (New Zealand’s budget brand) washing up liquid into it and the outcome was washing up bubbles everywhere. Like I say, I wish I had done it as a kid, but there wasn’t a fountain in my hometown. The closest thing I did was fire washing up liquid at a duck whilst on holiday in Newquay, and then laughed my head off two hours later when I realised there might be clouds of quacking bubbles floating along a river somewhere.There wasn’t all that much happening in Invercargill today, but just down the road in Bluff, there was the ‘World Famous Bluff Oyster Festival,’ so we headed there for some raw shellfish.
On arriving we managed to smuggle Dot in for free somehow, and then headed towards an array of tents, all of which were selling some kind of shellfish. I don’t like oysters, so stuck to bacon wrapped mussels (delicious), while everyone else had a go at the raw oysters. For some reason, Flash has no fear of anything other than frogs and toads. This means that he will climb, jump off or eat anything, so oysters were going to be no problem for him, and he quickly dispatched half a dozen. Louise wanted to have a go and reluctantly ate one. And then there was Dot. She pulls her face at anything that looks, smells or sounds unusual and oysters fall into at least two of those categories. Being unenthusiastic about eating an oyster, she still tried one. The look on her face said it all from the moment it was in her mouth. Over here they tell you to chew them, not swallow them whole so Dotty did. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone pull so many faces in such a short space of time. I think it was safe to say that she didn’t enjoy the experience much.The rest of the day was spent wandering round the festival, and then we headed back to the campground.
SUNDAY 24TH MAY
Being as it’s Sunday, nowhere is open as usual. I think it has something to do with the people over here being a bit lazy. Now before people start moaning that I’m slagging off New Zealanders, this seems to be the opinion of most commentators on New Zealand culture and not my specific opinion. However I’m starting to agree as no-one seems to ever be around on a Sunday. Maybe it’s me and the fact that I’m used to 24/7 comforts. As all but the pubs were open, we went for a wander around Queens Park. The park is fairly big and has a large aviary with many indigenous birds such as the Kea and the Cockatoo. The latter of which was shouting ‘Hello’ and ‘Who’s a pretty boy,’ although its diction wasn’t the best it was still more decipherable than Flash.
MONDAY 25TH MAY
The van broke down. This meant after ringing the hire company and taking it to the garage we lost most of the day. Eventually we set off towards Te Anau at 16:00p.m. We finally arrived in Te Anau at 19:00p.m not before stopping off at Clifden Suspension Bridge, New Zealand’s oldest surviving suspension bridge. I wouldn’t have mentioned it as it wasn’t all that interesting, but Dot had a panic attack coming back over it as she thought it was going to collapse. While me and Louise stood laughing, Flash had the job of coaxing Dot back to the van all the while Dot was shouting,’ I don’t like it, I don’t like it.’
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