Monday 15th November. After our relatively late night out penguin watching, we had a lazy start today and didn’t hit the road until well after 10.00. We did not have far to travel as we were destined for Ranfurly, but we were not fully aware of what was ahead of us.
First stop was Oamaru for supplies and fuel, then we found our way through some winding lanes that sit in the corner formed by Route 83 and Route 1, taking us along the Kakanui Valley Road through Five Forks, along the severe undulations of the Crown Hill Road through Tapui and Tokarahi and so onto the Dansey’s Pass Road.
We had no idea what Dansey’s Pass was going to be like, but we did note the sign telling us it was open and could tell that it would be twisty and up and down a bit....
What we had no way of knowing was that the surface in place would be non-existent, with loose gravel in others and not much more width than the campervan with a sheer rock face on one side and a long drop to the valley bottom on the other. The sheep gave us quizzical looks before scurrying off, the cattle looked on nonchalantly, and the road soared and plunged as it cut through the mountains. We managed to find a spot to stop for lunch, and were amused by a short stretch where there was some work going on, complete with a speed limit of 30km/hr – some hope! Even better was the sign below at the end of the road works....
A measure of the journey was the two and a half hours driving time that it took us to do about 60kms!
The scenery was stunning, the van is covered in a yellow dust, and the white knuckle ride came as an f.o.c. bonus!
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