Wine not stay another night………………….rude not to really

We left Balclutha and headed towards Tuapeka with the view to crossing the Clyde on the ferry but sadly we were too long to fit…..sometimes size matters. We also considered staying at the heritage site for the night but it was extremely damp and so we moved on……………

We reviewed options and headed for Butchers Gully located between Roxburgh and Alexandra but found the location although beautiful was not suitable for Dogonit so again moved on.

Heading towards Cromwell stopping at Clyde for lunch overlooking  the dam on-route.  Over lunch we discussed our options for the night and using NZMCA App (thank goodness for the App) decided on Champagne Gully (rude not to stay really) as our destination. The vista was absolutely beautiful and the only negatives were: no bubbles to drink (I mean really; who wouldn’t want to drink bubbles in Champagne Gully)?………and the rude, noisy neighbours who arrived in the early hours of the night.   We often have neighbours at the freedom parks and it is not a problem but we are becoming less tolerant of those who have vans with sliding doors and people who think the early hours of the morning are suitable to arrive and make lots of noise………….

The following morning after a crap night’s sleep we headed towards Arrowtown so Donna could do some gold-panning. We arrived and found it difficult to find suitable parking but eventually headed towards the place that arranges the gold pans etc. It was closed (sad face) so we visited the Chinese gold-mining settlement. This was very interesting and gave a unique perspective on what it was like for the immigrant Chinese – particularly those who came straight from the Australian gold mines.

Arrowtown was full of tourists so we decided to move on heading back along the trail back towards Alexandra. We intended to stop at a place between Arrowtown and Alexandra to go gold-mining but by this time Donna was tired and decided to flag it until another day (a bit like the lack of oysters in Bluff  that I have yet to eat – it will happen; but not today).

Our destination for the night was the Grey Ridge Vineyards just outside of Alexandra. We arrived despite ‘Mrs Garmin’ giving us alternate directions and were greeted by Sue and her husband who own the vineyard. We nestled ourselves between the dam and the vines and settled Mac & Rose in before heading over to taste the Pinot Noirs (white, Rose and red varieties) which were smooth and fruity and it would have been rude not to purchase some!!

Home again (and time for dinner and an early night) No sleep interruptions as the location was blissfully peaceful until well after 7:30 when we heard the workers arriving for their day’s labour. We have decided to spend another night here just for the pure hell of it……………..

N.B For those who are following our blog………..if you want a closer look at our location complete the following instructions below:

1. Load “Onvu 360” App (from either Android or apple)
2. Insert the following information:
3. Name: Dogonit
4. Network Setting: 112.213.40.134
5. HTTP Port: 8080
6. 264 Port: 8554
7. User Name: Admin
8. Password: Admin
9. Camera: Wall (inv)
10. Primary
11. Refresh
12. Add profile