Mad for Manapouri

Thursday 27 March

A wet and dreary day - we packed up and headed further south to Lake Manapouri and managed to snag a powered site on the best NZMCA campground yet.

The place has hedged spaces giving privacy and loads of facilities just like an expensive campsite - all for $10 per night plus $10 for power.

Had a wander into “town” when the rain stopped and failed to buy anything at Time Traders or the Wee Bookshop. There were some fun things in Time Traders including a china veggie dish which I think I sent to the op shop in our packing/clearance phase - it was priced at $150!

There was a big rock by the lake marking where the waters would have come up to had the power companies had their way in the 1960s & 1970s with big plans to dam the lake & river Waiau to create more hydro power for the Tiwai Aluminium Smelting Plant in Invercargill. An environmental campaign was waged against this proposal and the activists swept much of the nation along with them including the incoming government of the day; it is believed that an unprecedented 10% of the NZ population actually signed the Save Manapouri petition.

Did a bit of laundry then back to the lakeside for dinner at The Church - delicious blue cod for me and a wicked burger for him.

The end of sunset over the lake was stunning, as are the stars overhead as we lay in bed later - the silence only broken by the roars of the stags in all the fields around us… where are my earplugs?!?