Change of Plans - off to Peski for a night on power

Friday 15 May

Another one of those nights that descended to negative temperatures - even thicker frost than the previous morning. The grasses were frosted and sparkly, the mud was frozen solid and even the puddles were capturing bubbles below their icy surfaces.

The sun crept up behind the hills opposite and lit up the mountains behind us, then popped over to shine down upon us, melt the frost and cause the lake to steam - it was stunning.

Then suddenly it was as if we were inside the clouds and we could hardly see a thing for half an hour or more. Louis threw up the drone for some clear and some misty footage - it’s amazing to think that the two stacked photos of the lake were only about 5 minutes apart!

We decided that it was time to move on and top up our batteries with a night on power at Peski POP near Geraldine, so cut short our stay at Lake Opuha. By the time we had hitched up Banjo to leave there was not a hint of blue in the sky, just grey all around. We headed first to Fairlie (dump station, fuel and of course a Fairlie Bakehouse pie!)

We’d seen a cool pic of a bridge over a gorge on a walkway near Fairlie so set off along

the Opihi River Track to try and find it.

After about 2-3kms we came to a ford over the river, but no sign of a gorge or a bridge so turned back a little disappointed… I suspect we should have started the walk at the opposite end! Last pic above is a screenshot of what we were seeking but never found.

After lunch in Banjo (meatball, mushroom & cheese pie for Louis followed by baked cheesecake) and an awkward attempted reunion with Fairlie kitty who swerved us - we trekked the few kms south to Peski POP and parked up there, hooked up the power, switched on the electric heater and settled in for a warm and lazy afternoon & evening.

Pork chops for dinner and somehow a late night after trying to catch up on some blogging. Hoping for the sun to return in the morning!