In Search of Things That Are Free

After Milford Sound, everything else seems a little bit like a letdown. Dunedin (pronounced duh-NEE-din) was our next real stop, and I can't say it's not been an interesting one, but it's not quite the scenery we experienced in Milford. Our spirits started to dampen today because of the roads to nowhere, the difficulty of navigating (all while driving on the wrong side of the road), the rain, the prices this country charges you for everything, and the lack of mountains. 

Also, did not pack for rainy, 50 degree weather. At all. Dad, I need a raincoat.

We also might be getting sick of being so close to each other (due to being stuck in the Jucy because of the bad weather). Plus, we all stink and we're not getting a whole lot of sleep (Due to Christine snoring, but don't tell her I said that). 

Ok so yesterday morning, when we woke up in a legitimate camping area next to a lake, Joe recommended to us that we take a dip and wash up because it was "actually really refreshing". Well, the weather was at a balmy 50, the wind was blowing, and the water felt like it was barely above freezing. IT WAS SO. COLD. I have never before had goosebumps all over my body. We managed to take enough control of our frozen body parts to lather shampoo in our hair and then climb back up onto the beach to dry off, after which we spent an hour or two shivering. But we were clean!!!!! 

That was two days ago. Next shower - 48 hours from now. 

Last night we came into town, found ourselves in an oversized van in city central, and spent an agonizing couple hours trying to find a place to stay. Apparently there are rumors of what is called "freedom camping", but no one with any authority will give you any information on it. We asked the lady at the information desk, and she made it sound like it was something that was commonly done, but it was not encouraged by the city council, so she skirted around the topic. Mostly unhelpful, but we had a sheet of actual freedom camping laws that said "any self-contained vehicle may stay on public land or DCC carparks". We conversed about what this meant for a tense and uncomfortable moment or two in the Jucy and decided that we were buckling down in a small gravel lot on the side of the road and hoping no one would question us. So far, no one has.

So far.

I mean, it has no fancy bathroom facilities, BUT, it's free and it's relatively close to town. The toilet situation is interesting, being a cove in a clump of trees, but at least it's protected from the rain. We also found a trail through the brush and woods that came out at the top of a sand dune, looking out over the most beautiful sandy ocean beach flanked by cliffs on both sides -- absolutely deserted. We may have reacted by screaming and running down the hill, followed by a little beach frolic (pictures to come).

Anyways, backing up, we came into Dunedin yesterday. Then the above mentioned camping situation last night. This morning we decided to go out to the peninsula to check things out. We found the road out there relatively easy, but unlike the cute little purple line on the map, actual roads were so curvy they prevented you from going past 50 kph EVER (about 30 mph) and they gave the van about two inches of elbow room between the tires and the lines on the road. Yours truly was behind the wheel. I may have felt confident about my driving skills at one point, but this trip slowly began to tear them down. Our first stop out there was supposed to be a world-famous castle and gardens, but we trekked up a gravel hill to find out that it was 37 dollars a person. We turned around and hiked out to the end of the peninsula and up another awful gravel hill to see the native penguins at Penguin Beach only to have the lady behind the front desk tell us that there was no way to access the beach that didn't cost you 55 dollars a person. So we used their outlets to charge our cameras, just to stick it to them. But, then, joke was on us, because one of the tour guides came and chatted with us for an hour about how great the trip was and how you must "take an opportunity when you're presented with it" and we all left feeling rather guilty. Not to mention gaseous from eating what we thought were milkshakes, but were really just frothy, flavored milk bubbles. 

However, on the bright side, we did make it to Allan's Beach where we saw sea lions chilling in the sand, and also drove to the other side of town to hike up Baldwin Street, the steepest road in the world. Trust me, I have a certificate of achievement to prove it. 

At the end of today, we came to the collective conclusion that we all needed a pick-me-up, so we skipped the ramen and found a bar and grill where we had a fresh meal and cold beer in a warm, dry building (a bit of a splurge, but well worth it). We left in much higher spirits! And with much lighter pockets…

We hiked back to our old camping spot for the last night in Dunedin and had a little….well, a little jam session in the van. Don't worry, it will probably end up on Facebook, because really, what doesn't?