Got up early and hit the road at the crack of 10 to finish driving the pavement heading north. It was nice to find some straight stretches of highway.
I have done a fair bit of difficult driving, but this whole left side of the road thing still adds a whole new dimension.
I’m reminded of the Ginger Roger’s idiom; she did everything Fred Astaire did, “backwards, and in heels.” That’s kind of what driving in New Zealand is like for me. Twisty, steep, narrow, with very little shoulder. The worst part is three weeks into this trip, and I’m still using the windshield wiper to indicate my turns. I am beginning to handle the steering wheel in the wrong place, and even driving on the left side, but switching the wipers and the turn signals placement is just a bit more than my little, in-elastic, (is that a word?) brain can handle. Pretty confident, an in experienced young driver could adapt easier than someone with 50 years behind the wheel.
*edit* I just learned that the wipers and signals are on the other side in English cars, so all of the UK drivers have this same issue.
I was very proud of myself in making it to the furthest north one could drive on the west coast.
Got a little hike in, and a little paddle in the Kohaihai River before coming back to our camp for the night to begin dinner preparations. I felt like we had the sandfly situation under control, but with zero wind, we quickly became overwhelmed, and finished the evening inside the van.
It was simply the most beautiful place we sat inside the van, playing cribbage.
Next morning, we opted to do the local car hire in Karamea so we could explore the Oparara Basin. Caves and arches with a steep gravel road unsuitable for camper vans. A beat to crap Rav 4 that spent its life going up and down the same washboarded, gravel road, actually handled and drove better than my super cute camper. Maybe driving a miniature double decker bus is why I’m having such a hard time driving here. 🤷♂️
It was a wonderful day spent tramping around the bush. Practically had the place to ourselves. The highlight was going deep into a cave – just the two of us – killing our torches and seeing the glow worms that lived back there.
Second favorite part was when a ten-ish year old boy came into the cave with their dad and I pretended I was their echo. I do a spot on ten year old boy.
Cheers
In case you were wondering, Cribbage Score B has six wins, J has two
