We woke to a beautiful sunny morning in Hanmer Springs only to watch the fog start rolling down the hillside. Hanmer Springs is a lovely little town a bit like Halls Gap and in a little while the fog lifted again.
We travelled through mountains and over rivers and in a couple of hours we were arriving at Murchison. There seems to be a fair difference between the time they tell you it will take to travel and the actual time it takes you.
Once we located the man at the Mataki Motel and checked in it started to rain. He also told us it was raining in Nelson, but since we had all afternoon to fill in we decided to travel up to Nelson to check the place out, it would take about two hours to get there and it was only 11am.
Those of you who know Gerard well will know that he likes to use that last drop of fuel in the tank before he fills the tank up. (He has been known to have to walk because normally he would get at least another 10km out of a tank of fuel. You don’t trust the fuel gauge and light apparently. So we took a detour of 8kms out of our way to find a petrol station at Tapawera, which is a tiny little place with a fuel station, café, public toilets and supermarket come Post Office and anything else you can think of. We had lunch at the little café and resumed our journey in the pouring rain.
I thought I had seen rain before, but believe me this rain was the heaviest and wettest I have seen for a long time and once it started it just kept going all day. We drove through torrential rain and finally made it to Nelson. There was not stopping for photos or walks because it was just so wet and to be honest, you couldn’t see much.
Once in Nelson we drove around a bit and then parked at the shops and went for a walk, trying to keep dry and under cover. We ended up taking refuge in the Nelson museum and spent some time learning about the history of Nelson and Murchison. There was an earthquake in 1929 in Murchison, which destroyed the town and quite a story was told of the efforts of the townsfolk and the difficulties they faced in the aftermath when their town isolated.
We drove back through the pouring rain and went for dinner at the Commercial Hotel Coffee Shop, which was recommended by the Motel owner. We had a delicious meal and retired to our cosy little two-bedroom cottage. It was not as classy as Hanmer Springs, but it was quite fine and comfortable. 