Rookie Error

Rookie error: Forgot to charge the auxiliary battery. Doh! If dinner by candlelight is the worst thing to happen all day, we are still winning.

Despite the smell of oil and Daph’s atrocious navigation, we arrived safely at beautiful Tiona, set smack bang between Seven Mile Beach and Wallis Lake. The setting up of the campsite was just as rusty as the packing up of the Kombi. We used to look so professional setting up. Now we are a bumbling mess. We pulled the awning out first, keen to get set up, then couldn’t reach the stuff we needed on the roof racks. Epic fail.

The fridge isn’t working because the battery is dead. Luckily, it’s still Antarctic conditions overnight, so the chicken is unlikely to give us gastro, right? The battery is so flat, even four hours of beautiful sunshine on the solar panels didn’t touch the sides. So, we cooked by torchlight. And ate by candlelight, watched by a pair of fearless magpies who perched on the guy ropes and serenaded our romantic meal.

Hopefully, another day of driving will charge the battery enough to get the fridge working before all our supplies perish. But if it doesn’t... who cares? We are champions in the art of making do, based on multiple rookie errors. After an initial period of feeling like complete amateurs, we realised it’s not about mod-cons. It’s about the experience.

Who needs electricity to enjoy Mother Nature? The beach was deserted. And so was the lake. Apparently only crazy people camp in winter.

If you are travelling up this way, The Green Cathedral is a must. Daph and Ern are not religious, but this outdoor church is just stunning. Set amongst the towering palms on the edge of the lake, it could make even the staunchest of atheists set foot in a place of worship. Still, the closest Daph got to religious conduct was to mount the pulpit and preach AC/DC’s “Let There Be Rock”.

Here we met Eleanor and Charles. A real-life Daph and Ern in their seventies. Eleanor could talk the hind legs off a donkey, and Charles “Yes Dear-ed” as he wrestled to keep his short trousers secure around his nipple line. Their words of advice were:

“Time goes quicker the older you get, so live life to the fullest.”

Couldn’t agree more.