Dunedin Train Station!
Day 341 Continued...
We ended up in Invercargill!!!!
We did get to have a look around Dunedin after we left the little internet place on the main street though....we went to the Library to visit the Little Room.....(it's hard when you're travelling to find these places i can tell you!) and to the railway Station to see the incredible looking building there (above!) and to the wharf which was also gorgeous.
Unlike Christchurch, which was very English, with it's english sounding streets, Dunedin was very Scottish! It's funny to see some towns in NZ have such British influence which, like Australia, is of course due to it's background!
Most street names in the towns we've been in however, have a lot of Maori names.
On the way to Invercargill, which was our goal for today, Thursday, we finally saw a lot of SHEEP!!! Just when we were asking ourselves where all the sheep were..they were everywhere!! In all the paddocks!!!! So funny....
They are so white and fluffy too..but that could be because the grass is very green and the contrast is so obvious!
We finally arrived in Invercargill at 9.30pm after the whole day driving and as we entered the town we saw a tourist point that had a couple of Holiday Park advertisements with directions outlined on a billboard. We thought the Beach Road Holiday Park sounded good because it was close to Bluff where we wanted to go in the morning to catch a ferry to Stewart Island.
As we entered this Holiday Park we were a bit taken aback. The lighting was a bit dubious...and when we stopped at the reception, it was closed! There was a note staying tenters or campers could set up for the night and pay in the morning. So that's what we did!
We drove in and the whole place looked really permanent. And a bit Wolf Creekish! Eerie in a way. We didn't want to change parks tho, because it was late.
We found a spot next to an old car that was parked to the side with a big yellow canopy enveloping it. Behind a few trees there were two more tents but we decided to camp next to the deserted car.
We pitched our tent..and checked the kitchen and ablutions out. We met a guy there, Bill, who told us all about The Park. He said there were fifty permanents there!! We thought as much, it didn't seem the 'normal' Holidaiy Park at all. The kitchen had cultlery and crokery and fridges and things everywhere. It was modern though and looked like it had been refurbished. We found out it had been done up about a year ago. The laundry had washing machines and dryers but only one of each worked.
The Park was only 1km from the beach, so it did have it's advantages but it just seemed so ramshakle. The showers needed upgrading - showering with the spiders and centipedes was not fun and the grounds were overgrown and in need up updating.
And to be honest, Bill LOOKED like the guy from Wolf Creek. We ended up going into the town to get some fuel ($1.70 L) and messaged Mum to let her know where we were!! (Just to let her know where we were..'in case'..as there was no reception at the camping ground!)
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
Weird thing was..as we were sleeping, we heard movement in the car next door. You know, the deserted car.
It turned out to be a girl sleeping in there. At breakfast she told us she was travelling around NZ in her car and she used the canopy for privacy. Just shows you impressions aren't always what they seem..We thought a homeless person or someone had jumped into the car overnight! (Which is what they did in abandoned cars in South America). Are we getting cynical?
The next morning we drove out of the park, still no one at reception, and headed for Bluff to get our tickets for Stewart Island.
We did contemplate packing up and leaving but we wanted to go to Stewart Island for the day..and then stay in Invercargill that night so it seemed pointless to pack up and put the tent up again at some other park when we'd already gotten it all set up.
Hopefully someone would be at reception when we arrived back at night.....
