Waiau – 14/04/21 To 16/04/21

/ Canterbury, South Island / By George

Ok, so Waiau is not a city and in fact is quite the opposite. But I chose the above photo of the local ‘street artist’s’ work to remind us all of something that we need to do even when we are travelling.

Waiau itself lies on the inland road to Christchurch that we took on the advice of a caravanner we met at the NZMCA camp in Kaikoura. In any event SH1 immediately south of Kaikoura was affected by roadworks, so this was a good alternative. We still had some time to kill before we needed to be in Christchurch and the Waiau Motorcamp & Cabins had been highly recommended as a layover spot. We arrived there around dinner-time after the leisurely drive down from Kaikoura and since we were intending to only stay one night we had planned many chores to do, as is often the case at campgrounds. We were getting hungry as we rolled into Waiau and decided that some form of takeaway meal would be a low stress option. We decided to check out the camp first though before we ventured into the main street to see what, if any, takeout meals were available. As we got out of our wagon to approach the camp reception we could smell the tempting aromas of the NZ staple, fish and chips. So herein lay a huge upside of this campground (not that there were any other campgrounds available in Waiau anyway!) and that was the food-truck set up permanently on site, offering delicious meals to stay-over guests (and hungry locals no doubt). They turned out to be well-priced, generously proportioned and delivered to our door, complete with payment on delivery by Eftpos! And this was the first time I had eaten, or even heard of, the delicious ‘elephant fish’. I had to Google that to find out they are from the shark family (they are called ‘ghost sharks’)there fore boneless, have no scales and are very ugly, but it had a tasty white firm moist flesh.

We took the traditional walk around town, following the Riverside Walk initially, then the Historic Walk through the Village Green and up on to the War Memorial hill. Whilst the town was largely deserted, we spoke to a couple of locals, availed ourselves of free fresh sweet grapes being offered outside one residence, and bought a couple of ‘local delicacies’ for lunch from ‘Brenda’s on Lyndon’. Other than a number of vehicles passing through town there was little sign of life, which perhaps is not surprising given that the town’s population is only around 330 people. We only saw one preschooler the whole time we were there and the pre-school itself was closed. Signs of an aging population (and no it wasn’t school holidays) or had the pied piper been in town?

Waiau was actually only 3 kilometers from the centre of the 2016 (Kaikoura) earthquake. Tragically they did not receive anything like the assistance that Kaikoura did and has taken long time to recover as a result. The local stone church, for example, still stands ‘red-stickered’ as a clear reminder of what happened and the devastation it left. The Waiau camp was home for a number of workers involved in the rebuilding of the state highway and main trunk line at Kaikoura after the quake. The is not a chimney left in town I think, but the new sheets of roofing on the houses show where they once lived.

So what is it that we need to be reminded of when we are travelling and that this town did so perfectly for us? That sometimes you need to simply stop and relax without visiting that critical sight-seeing spot or take that essential photo of something that everyone has seen and told you not to miss. The scarcity of both townsfolk and traffic had a great serenity about it that enabled us to contemplate more relaxing pastimes. Given that we knew, particularly for Debbie, that Christchurch would be a more demanding destination, we decided to stay a further night in Waiau and enjoy the tranquility. We both took the time out to involve ourselves in our hobbies, with Debbie ‘throwing’ a couple of tiny clay pots on her mini pottery wheel, whilst I worked further on a couple of songs and updated our travel journal. Whilst sitting at the picnic table looking at the brooding grey clouds the camp owner approached and said, as if reading my mind “If you think it looks like rain it won’t” and apart from a few hardly discernable drops she was dead right.

We highly recommend the camp. The camp hosts were extremely friendly and the camp itself quiet, homely, with great laundry, kitchen and lounge facilities, a playground and free barbecues. There is plenty of room for both motorhomes and caravans, with parking on grass, but I must add that maybe during the warmer months it is not quite the ‘reclusive retreat’ that we found it to be. It’s also only a 35 min drive away from Hamner Springs. This is not a popular tourist destination and perhaps (hopefully) never will be, given the number of people we have spoken to who, along with us, have found solace in this quiet little town.

FOOTNOTE:

SADLY THIS CAMP IS NOW CLOSED (2024)