Day 47 - Sat 05 May - Gore to Tapanui We found a laundromat in Gore to get the rest of our washing dried while we took photos around the town. It wasn't far to Tapanui and in the afternoon we went up to Karen and Bill's. Lots to chat about with a lovely roast for dinner. We learnt to play "Up and Down the River" a new card game we had heard about from Rob and Wilkie. There are three rigs in here with us tonight. Day 48 - Sun 06 May - Tapanui The duck ...

Day 46 - Fri 04 May - Gore It was an earlyish start as we headed down the road to Mataura this morning to visit Ray and Francesca. They were living in Balfour the last time we caught up with them. Their gardens were thriving with Ray's care and attention. Ros was able to give Francesca some help with her computer too. It was after lunch before we headed back to do our laundry at the campsite. We got some dry but the rest will have to wait till tomorrow. Our ...

Day 44 - Wed 02 May - Riverton It was off to Invercargill today to AMI to sort out the ring repair. No problem except the ring needed to be cut off! We found a jeweller who did that for us at no charge so that was nice. AMI will organise the assessment and repair and we have asked for the ring to be sent to the Thames branch when fixed. We'll collect it from there when we get home again. We went out to visit Cheryl and Noel later that afternoon. My word ...

Day 43 - Tue 01 May - Clifden to Riverton Just as we were ready to leave this morning a flock of lambs came down the road. A couple of tourist vans stopped to video them. The sheep were all over the place as they weren't used to being on the road. It was very windy as we got closer to the coast and after our lunch stop at Monkey Island we drove on. Colac Bay was sheltered but too boggy so we went to Riverton and parked behind the RSA. However we couldn't get...

Day 42 - Mon 30 April - Manapouri to Clifden 7 weeks on our trip - the time is flying by. We are following the Southern Scenic Route now and there were a couple of interesting sights to check out. The first one was the Clifden Suspension Bridge over the Waiau River. Because of the recent rain the water was racing past. We could see why it was so dangerous and how the Mailboy had got drowned many years ago. We decided to park at the Tuatapere Golf Club not t...