Off Highway One

9 October, 2023

We’re off tomorrow for a fortnight of slow travel in the South Island. The idea originally was to ride the trains, Picton to Christchurch, Christchurch to Greymouth, with buses filling in the bits at the ends. But for various reasons, it all got too complicated (and expensive) so we decided on a road trip instead. For maximum enjoyment for both (L will be the sole driver), we decided on short hops of driving, of 2 to 3-hours maxiumum. Hence, lots of overnights, which was a bit of a challenge for our budget of $150 a night. But we’ve pre-booked (unusual step for us) and are coming in under budget at an average $120 a night. Of course we are crossing our fingers that the sailing across tomorrow (Tuesday) will not be disrupted by inclement weather. If the weather is like today’s, sunny with a light southerly, all should be well. So about a week in Nelson and Marlborough before heading south to Christchurch and Timaru to catch up with family and friends.

It’s the first time we’ll be away for an extended period from our new location, and that’s caused me some angst. Because we are renting, I’ve got a heaps of cuttings and other plants from the Wellington garden, still all potted up. They’ve (mostly) been doing okay, because we’ve had so much rain. But now it’s turning hot, and the worry is we’ll have a fortnight with no rain and no-one to water them. I would not be happy to return home to find my promising little new plants have turned to brown sticks. So I’ve put as many of them as I can in larger containers (plastic troughs and weed bags) with some water in the bottom. Not too much as I don’t want the roots to rot. But hopefully enough to get them through a dry fortight, should that eventuate.

That’s it for now. The garden is as prepared as I can make it, we’ve voted, and I’m (mostly) packed.

Postcript from the man in the doofus hat.

I’m more excited than I thought I would be. It’s back on the briny tomorrow, and on Bluebridge to boot. I like Bluebridge as they were the first company to pay me to go to sea ( my previous gigs were all volunteer). Now the ships have changed, with all three of the ones I worked on trunding off to the breakers. The Monty Stella was the first to go. Her last owners picked her up from Wellington and from memory, set out for India to drive her up on to the beach (if they couldn’t sell her one the voyage). The same fate happened to both the Kent and the Santa Regina. I guess tomorrow’s ship will suffer the same fate but hopefully not tomorrow.