/ South Island, Southland / By George
Moving slowly across virgin territory for us we travelled the 16 kms from Monkey Bay to Colac Bay. We were specifically heading for the Colac Bay Tavern and Camping Ground, this site being great value as a 2021 NZMCA Winter Camp Saver facility. However we first headed to the beach and small township to get a feel for the whole area. It was still wet and windy so we didn’t hold out great hopes for the attractiveness of the beach.
The beach was an eclectic mix of old cribs through to modern holiday homes, with the improvement in property stock being city dwellers taking advantage of ‘attractive’ beach front property for holidays and retirement living. Having said that the beach was being lashed by strong winds and drizzle and was a combination of Gemstone Beach and Monkey Island in terms of the shoreline geology. Coarse granite boulders protecting the road gave way to an interesting geological array of stones and pebbles, which finally morphed into fine sand. The foreshore road however is subject to flooding and erosion in heavy storms. Despite the rock outcrops the beach is obviously a drawcard for surfers as there is a significant surfer statue at the turn off to the town from SH99 and the favoured spot is known as ‘Trees’, although there were none braving the conditions during our visit. There was a hardy fisherman surf-casting down on the rocks at the western most point however.
Driving through the small township we noticed a certain quirkiness come humourous come artistic talent being displayed, raising some elements above the ordinary or making best of a sad situation!
Colac Bay historically had a long history of Maori settlement with Europeans arriving around 1850 to mill timber. The settlement boomed after the railway arrived in 1881 and by 1900 had around 2000 inhabitants, with the town boasting an array of various shops, a school, hall and three hotels. Also nearby were the Chinese gold diggings of Round Hill.
The campground is a few hundred metres from the beach behind the tavern and contains two hard-standing parks and several grass parking areas for motorhomes and caravans. In addition there are seven rooms off an enclosed and fully roofed courtyard and barbeque area, curtained showers, toilets and a kitchen with average facilities including microwave, toaster, gas hobs and a very small array of utensils/pots/pans. There was no oven. We preferred to use all our own cookware, cutlery and crockery. The ‘laundry’ is located in the enclosed courtyard, but when we were there the dryer wasn’t working and we would have definitely needed it if we had done any washing, given the wet weather and cold temperatures we encountered. We met up with our friends Stephen and Nicola, whom we’d met previously at Monkey Island, as they also needed a powered site and had dinner with them at the Tavern on the first night. There was a large selection of meals on offer at the Tavern surprisingly and the quality and quantity of our meals was very good. Prices ranged from $15 for a light meal through to $25 for mains. There was also live rugby on the screens being enjoyed by a few patrons. There is also a small free mini putt course if you’re hanging out for a game of golf!
On the following morning we headed off to Riverton with Stephen and Nicola, once again a venture into new territory for us. Rugged up in our thermals and woolies we walked the main street of Riverton. Monday is not a very retail active day in Riverton and many of the shops and cafes were closed. Still we managed to visit a couple of art galleries and once again I was amazed by the variety and ingenuity of both local and national boutique artisans offering their wares for sale. The beauty of retirement for us and a scarcity of customers for the shopkeepers meant that we both have much time to discuss the products, the artists, the techniques (like rock polishing!) and life in general in Riverton. I loved the ‘climbing men’ and thought they would work well in our very high stud house, but averted the temptation to carry them with us for the next couple of months while we travel. I loved the piano sitting in a storefront recess available to any willing pianist and the useful geology lesson at the south end of the main street. We also hung out at the old loco just like we did as kids! We also visited a second hand/curio shop with a gregarious shopkeeper who informed us in some detail of the local property market and I’m sure invented some prices on small trinkets that Debbie bought!
After lunch at the only café we could find open we visited the wharf and took a stroll down the pier, where a number of crayfish boats and a pleasure craft or two were tied up. I was surprised how fast the tide was running in and filling the bay. I had seen an amazing photo of this wharf scene on a foggy day, but our photos there were not nearly as impressive. This would be picturesque on a nice day. Following that we did the beach thing where Stephen and Debbie searched for those elusive geological masterpieces, now that they were seriously considering launching hobbies into rock polishing. Truthfully the motorhome had already started to be weighed down by an array of suitable rocks for painting, engraving or some other similar creative virus. The wind and cold were brutal at the beach and Nicola and I retreated back to the car after a short while to thaw out.
It was then onward and upward literally to the Hilltop lookout to take in the overview of the town and surrounds. That’s the photo below in a nutshell.
The town has some positive vibes, despite the largely deserted streets on a wet Monday and according to our curio shop owner much of the available real estate is being bought up by investors from Queenstown. I’m sure we’ll be back one day because we didn’t have time for the museum on this visit.