Picton in the Rain

An exciting morning.

We left Kaikoura after 9:30AM and headed north.  It was starting to spit and there was a strong head wind.  The mountains seemed very close and there was plenty of snow on them.  The temperature was 8C when we left.

It wasn’t long before we came across the road works.  Several 30kph stretches controlled by lollipop men.  Only a couple of automatic lights.  Our maximum speed was 70kph.

We were looking for the Waipapa campsite, to charge up, but while we saw Waipapa Bay, the camp site eluded us.  We dropped our speed to between 50 and 60kph.  The traffic coming behind us was very light and we didn’t have to pull over often.  We soldiered on, pointed the GPS at Seddon and came across across The Store.  It has only a standard 230v plug and we can only get 8% battery charge per hour.  Comparing the GPS distance to Seddon with the GOM and our battery percentage, we decided to push on and do a longer charge.  Unfortunately there were more hills in the road.

The battery stopped showing the percentage of charge at 19%, when the low fuel warning came on.  The GOM distance also started to flash at 26km, but we had 14km to go to the camp so kept going.  7km from the camp, the GOM display went to  dashed lines, indicating that we were very low and that it wouldn’t be too long before we went into “turtle” mode.  

Turtle mode is the final low battery stage.  Everything shuts down but you can move very slowly and should be able to get off the road.  The guys at Auto Court had driven around the block with a Nissan Leaf, and it was just over 12km between the onset of the dashed line and turtle mode, but that was on the flat.  

We had two reasonably sized hills to get over from when we saw the dashed lines.  We made it to the Seddon campsite after traveling 7km, holding our breath.  It was raining heavily and there was just one power point available.

Total distance from Kaikoura to Seddon was 103km, proving that if you slow down, the distance covered can be reasonable.   The van will be absolute ideal for Waiheke where short distances and lower speeds are the norm.

Looking at the roadworks from Seddon to Cheviot, the earth moving people have done well to get the road open.  It will be quite a long time before the road is in a state where it is all 100kph from Picton to Christchurch, in fact, probably decades.  When you look at the road repairs, you wonder what percentage of the country’s witches hats are used here and how many hundreds or maybe thousands of shipping containers have been used as retaining walls.  

Seddon’s camp is very small with minimal facilities.  Most residents are permanent, so we were told by the trust person we spoke to.  You leave your payment in an envelope and the pick up the takings some time.  

We left there around 3:30 pm and headed into the rain, mist and murk. Headlights were essential but not everyone was of the same opinion.  We found the Spring Creek charger and plugged in.  

We went across the road to the Junction Hotel and ordered tea for two.  That floored the owner and his two hangers on.  They certainly did not expect that!  The hunt for a teapot proved a disaster.  The owner had bought several, but they have vanished and his wife is in the UK so he has to wait until further this evening before being able to ask her where they are.  In the end we got teabags in cups and because of his embarrassment, the owner gave them to us for free.  A great place for our next visit.  Their whitebait sandwiches looked inviting.

On the road to Picton, you could see that there had been a lot of rain as the paddocks were flooded half way up the fence posts.  The camp is for camper vans only and so far there only two of us here.  The ground is saturated but we have managed to find a spot where we can put up the awning.  The weather is supposed to improve from tonight.

The mountains are very close to Kaikoura

The white marks on the rocks indicates that they were underwater prior to the earthquake.

Just a few of the containers used North of Kaikoura

Scars of the slips from the earthquake