Note: This day does not have a lot in it. Bad weather and a lot of driving stole our time!
We woke up to the wind battering the side of the campervan once again. This was easily the windiest place we have been to on our travels so far. I went down to the campsite bathrooms and noticed in the mirrors that my eyes had gone bright red. I liked like a cross between a stereotype of a 70’s hippie with a vampire. It turns out that the hay fever had now gotten the better of me and I needed to get some medication pronto.
On heading back to the vans I was very aware of my eyes looked and wondered if the Walsh clan thought that I had taken up illicit substances whilst on the road. Annie kindly provided me with an antihistamine and noted we needed to stop somewhere to get some eye drops (as my eyes felt so darn itchy too). We finished a basic campsite breakfast and were ready to hit the road. We did a quick headcount and noticed that Brendan was nowhere to be found. We assumed he had gone for a morning wander so we got the vans ready and waited (whilst Katy messaged Brendan in a frustrated tone to come back).
We got on the road, and with Katy behind the wheel, I sat back to relax….kind of. The roads on the way out of the campsite at Portabello had also inherited the high winds and so every now and again a sudden strong gust would cause us to veer either left or girth, without consent from the steering wheel. This was genuinely terrifying to navigate this whilst on the one-lane highway. Our panic levels were matched by the other van when Brendan radioed in and also mentioned concern. We decided that it was vital for our chances of living that we pull in soon. We went to the next town and sat in the coffee shop.
A round of coffees purchased, Micheal checked on the weather radar for the area. The current forecast was not great. The strong winds we were currently sat in were due to continue for pretty much the whole day. We sat down and played a few rounds of cards to pass the time. However, there’s only so long this could be entertaining and we were well aware we were not making way. We HAD to get to Queenstown today and we were only 10% thorough the journey. On looking outside it did look a bit calmer at least and so we got int he vans on the provision that if things got a little hairy we would stop again at the next town.
The winds still had the power to shift the van involuntarily. We kept the speed low and stayed in communication about how we were doing. Things seemed fine and so we powered on until we needed some lunch. The town we pulled into had a nice looking cafe and a pharmacy (which was great for me as I could pick up some eye drops).
As we hit the road again the side effect of the antihistamine hit me hard. I could barely manage to stay awake and so this part of the trip is non-recordable from my memory. I have left a space below for Katy to place in anything of interest that I may not have witnessed in my stupor.
Katy: There was a lot of Road and useless company from my co-pilot. That was it.
The landscape had changed again as we made our journey from coastal areas to the middle of the mountainous ones. Desperate to find locations where we could stretch our legs as opposed to sitting in a van all day (the rain/wind delay had added an unexpected 3 hours to our travel time overall) I came across a place that had a hydroelectric dam.
The Town 
The Dam
We stopped at the damn and took some photos of the views it offered. Amazing waters and mountains, it was incredible to see this feat of engineering in the landscape. I was also amazed at the town of Clyde below and thought it really must take some kind of person to decide to live under a hydro-damn. I wonder what the cost of house insurance is?
Later on down the road, and just outside of Queenstown, there were scenic lookouts to see natural river occurrences like rapids.
We pulled into the most urban campsites we were to stay at in Queenstown. The campsite was located in the center of the town and was the most expensive one we were going to be staying at. We checked in and got our two very cozy lots together by the side of the camp and a little stream (complete with the usual campsite ducks, who are either very common or are this one particular group who stalk us on account of Louise’s generous its with the bread).
Next time: Our time in Queenstown