Where to after Te Anau? Well we have to be back home in 5 days’ time so Asti our wonderful home-garden-cat sitter can take off.  Clyde and our friends Graeme and Barb beckoned. We first met them some years ago in the North Island, travelled with them for a while, spent one memorable New Years’ Eve with them and their daughter near Cambridge, and have kept in touch ever since.

The drive from Te Anau to Clyde took us through some of the changing Otago countryside which I love.

First  through Mossburn then mostly north to the outskirts of Queenstown where we were lucky to get straight across the bridge, still under repairs, with long delays due to one-way traffic. Then east again alongside the Kawerau river to Cromwell and then south-ish again through the Cromwell Gorge to Clyde. Hard to believe that the Kawerau is part of the mighty Dunstan scheme.

The Dam is indeed impressive.

Graeme had told us of a free camp near the Clyde Dam, right beside the water. We were soon set up and ready to explore. The water was very clear and a secluded bay with a little beach was popular with people and dogs alike. We stayed there three nights with very variable weather.

Early one morning I saw a long orderly line approaching: Those little ducklings could move very fast if needed!

The first day was overcast with a few drops of rain, yet 35 km or so south Roxburgh had some of the worst floods in living memory! We had a wonderful dinner that evening with our friends at the Post Office in Clyde – highly recommended.

The next day was fine and hot, but thunderstorms in the evening developed into heavy rain and as we’d left a couple of windows half open plus one roof vent, we thought it wise to make tracks back to the caravan soon after a delicious dinner at Graeme and Barb’s. It was our 13th wedding anniversary – one to remember!  Thankfully the caravan was still bone dry.