Let's head'r north

I'm all for sav'n a buck, but come on man, build another bridge!
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Sunday, January 28, 2007 (travel day to Lyell)

What's suppose to be in Lyell Dad!?

Looks like we have chosen another great day to make a move, cool overcast & windy. Jacqueline decided that while we had descent laundry facilities we should take advantage, as we may spend some time “free” camping on our way up to the “Abel Tasman area”. With that thought in mind I also felt a need to update out “Travel Blog” & Picture website “Flickr”. Unfortunately what seemed like hurricane force winds & rain decided to move thru Franz Josef which made uploading pictures painfully slow, we did not manage to leave for parts unknown until 3:30pm!! Once again what seems to be the norm for travelling NZ, the terrain has managed to change within a very short distance. Oh ya just about “shit myself,” while crossing another one of those ridiculously skinny one-lane bridges. Not only did this one start on almost a 90 degree angle, once I was sure that I managed to negotiate the corner without leaving the campervans bumper at the entrance. I noticed a RAILWAY track running down the center of the bridge!! Unbelievable!! As if driving on the left side of the skinniest roads on the planet in a motor home which has the steering wheel on the wrong side of the vehicle hasn’t been stressful enough, they place a train track down the middle of the bloody road! Anyways, that’s my rant for the day.

Time to stretch the legs.
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We stopped at what I’m sure will end up being one of the most unusual and unique places we will visit. A little rest area called Punakaiki “Pancake Rocks”. The name sums it up; I will let the pictures speak for themselves. After approx. 45 min’s exploring the pancake rocks in the rain, we decided to push on as it was still miserable out and this seemed to make it easier to keep moving. After six hours and 320 km’s it’s time to shut’er down. One of our fellow caravaner’s (Dave & Janet from England) that we seem to be occasionally running into during our travels suggested we overnight at a government DOC holiday park in the “Buller Gorge area”, if we make it that far. And it looks like we have! We ended up parking right next to them at the Lyell campsite! We quickly prepared supper (courtesy of Wyatt & Jesse-grilled cheese & cup-o-soup), made up the beds and turned in…