Farewell Pounawea for now

A little bit of snow!

Everything looking spotless!

We will have been parked up in Pounawea for 4 weeks by the time we move on tomorrow. Pounawea is 4km out of Owaka,  the largest settlement in the Catlins. It is 20 km from Balclutha heading towards Invercargill.

 Owaka is famous for its quirky collection of teapots at Teapot Land. Being on the Scenic Southern Highway tourist route,  many stop to take photos of the collection. It’s a bit of nostalgia, as well as interesting, with the teapots originating from all around the world. We’ve visited Owaka a few times during our stay and couldn't resist taking a photo like so many others.

Looking across the Estuary back to Pounawea

Surat Beach

Teapotland Owaka (that is the poor neighbours house!) 

Outboard ready to go - just need water 😆

Our lovely cosy firebox

Picking locks

Of course the sink is the best place to find the hole!

Bill and his mate up the main street of Pounawea

Chief Grounds Keeper

The weather has been pretty patchy over the last couple of weeks with winter really hitting, with two days of snow down to sea level. It has been very picturesque, pretty to look at from our lovely living room with the fire that's been keeping us cosy.

We have been out and around exploring  and doing walks. Our latest excursion took us to Surat Beach, famous for the wreck of the Surat where in 1873 the boat  hit rocks further south along the Coast, then ended up being washed onto the beach now named Surat. Everyone was rescued safely luckily – this was on New Years Day 1874, the year could only get better for the poor souls after that one I would think! There's no sign of it today except for a sign pointing out to sea. Again we came across a few huge seals lolling in the sand – thankfully they weren’t interested in us.

Bill has been continuing with projects on the kayak, bike punctures and the little  shed door  managing to rekey the old lock  just happening to have the right bits and pieces in his kit. He does like to hoard bits and pieces, and has had to restrict the quantity with living in the bus. But he still manages to have just the right bits and bobs to do the little jobs he enjoys. The previous door on the little shed was ideal for children not great for adults. With Poss and Annette finding the perfect door (from their sons demolished house in Dunedin), Bill was able to fit it to a purpose built frame. Looks great with all the spring flowers.

One of those other projects at the moment  he has been sorting out is the radio walkie talkies. Most of you will know of Bills latest attraction to Alibaba’s website. He imported a walkie talkie to be able to talk to the bus’s CB radio and to the other VHF  walkie talkie that goes out with the kayak. I think he has appreciated having a few days snowed in to be able to complete this task. Lots of programming,his timing perfect with our second day of snow when we had no cell phone coverage. He was able to go into the Crib and make the porridge and then call me when it was ready, on the radio😆

Whitebait Fritta as they should look on this dinner plate.

The Shed with half a door!

The Shed with it's new door 👍

Annette & Poss came and had lunch with us and a bit of a catch up before we move on. They were delighted with the jobs Bill had done and of course we were grateful to have a lovely warm and cosy spot to park up for the worst of winter (fingers crossed the worst is over). I had soup made but Annette brought the Whitebait – delicious. Enough for 4 but only Poss & I like them so……… we had to do our best!

With our heading off for 4 to 5 weeks, we will return and enjoy Pounawea once again, hopefully with Annette & Poss here next time, where Annette is going to teach me how to Whitebait. Yes!!