Last night at the flash (for a DOC camp that is!) Momorangi site, we met Bob and Ruth Darroch from Timaru. They weighed in on our travel options and suggested that we travel back through Arthur's Pass to get down to Lake Tekapo and Mt. Cook. They spent a solid hour going over the map with us, pointing out spots we might enjoy. Bob is a cartoonist for a newspaper here in NZ and also the author and illustrator of the Little Kiwi series of children's books. Bob notes our excitement and inquires as to whether we are teachers. We were, we tell him. Maybe we still are, we wonder?
Today we spoke to Andrew at Cruzy Campers and arranged to keep the Scubby for a few extra days — so down south we go, to visit Lake Tepako and the Mount Cook region in the centre of the south island!
Wanting to ensure we made our Abel Tasman kayak trip on time, we were forced to miss this area coming up the west coast. But, now we'll finish off our trip heading back here and then ending up in Christchurch to drop off the Scubby.
We may even get a chance to drop in on Barry, who we met on our kayak trip and see his farm near Waimate in the Canterbury Region
Andrew tells us that a 5.1 quake hit Christchurch the previous evening — not the catastrophic quake The Moon Man has predicted over the next few days. Using the moon phases and other astronomical data, The Moon Man has gathered quite a following in NZ, predicting the last two big quakes. Other folk think he's a nutter. But it's hard to argue with his prediction success rate. Right now, Christchurch is on full alert to see if he'll be right again. Thankfully, Andrew informs us all is well for now and the 5.1 quake did no damage.
We acknowledge our NZ extension by visiting a couple of the Marlborough region wineries near Blenheim and Renwick — Lawson Dry Estates and the renowned Cloudy Bay. A few celebratory bottles for the road are in order. And here's hoping the Moon Man is wrong.
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