January 23rd–Lake Ferry

Or:  And Then There Were Sheep!

We made a quick break from Napier and headed down to the “town” of Lake Ferry on the southern end of the island.  On the way I had my first experience with driving on the other- or “wrong”- side of the road.  It was pretty harrowing.  Especially for Anna.  Her car, The Teal Thunder, must have experienced something akin to having its life flash before its eyes.  I did the majority of the driving that day, and felt inordinately proud of myself by the time we reached Lake Ferry.

The weather just kept getting worse as we drove south, and the rain was pouring in buckets.  We checked in to our holiday park in Lake Ferry and switched from a tent site to cabin (We got the last one!  What luck!).  The proprietor of the park was incredibly friendly and outgoing, but unfortunately the rooms were a tad bit dingy. 

We set out from or shack to see the Putangirua pinnacles, the site of the Path of the Dead from the Lord of the Rings movies, and then we were going to stop over at the lighthouse on the southern most tip of the island.  The weather had other plans for us though. 

When we got to the site of the pinnacles the mud walls were sloughing off in chunks, and the pathway into the hills was flooded out.  We got out of the car to marvel at the fury of nature, and take some quick snap-shots.

  

After racing back to the car for shelter we headed back on the highway toward the lighthouse, but we noticed that the banks of the road – which was perched on a cut bank right above the violent ocean – were also starting to slough off from the rain, and rocks were actually rolling down the hillside into the pavement.  We pulled a quick u-turn in the road and headed back to the holiday park for some Chinese checkers, potato chips, warm noodles, and some much needed sleep.