New Zealand

What a day! Perfect touring weather. Perfect places to visit and perfect interaction with the locals. Just perfect.

The morning dawned bright and clear with a forecast that looked really good for the day. We set off for Ramelton in Donegal. It is a very pretty town straddling the River Leannan. But it is famous for one of its sons. One David Gallaher. Who he you may ask?

David Gallaher was born in Ramelton in October of 1873. He emigrated with his family when he was only 5 years old to New Zealand. He grew up to Captain the Old Originals, the Original All Blacks Rugby team. There was no way we were not going to pay the place a visit. In a small garden there is a fitting memorial to him. You can read more of his story here.

There were even ferns planted under the sculpture. I had my All Blacks shirt on. One of the locals that I talked to remembers the great Jonah Lomu coming to visit the place. Another said that one day he saw “giants” in the garden when a number of the more recent All Blacks came to visit. They are big men.

We walked up the street from the garden to where the great man was born. Like all these places, it is just a house now. But still worth a look.

We had parked opposite a chemists and as we passed to return to the van, the pharmacist was outside being filmed by one of his staff doing a reminder to use sunscreen. He was making a right mess. I said that in New Zealand we say slip slop slap. Slip on a vest, slop on the sunscreen and slap on a hat. He loved it and asked if I would assist him. I ended up filming the advert with him. He said I was going to be famous in Donegal as the advert was going to be screened in all the pharmacy shops. I am famous again!

How could we beat that for a start to the day.

We headed for Malin Head. The most northern part of Ireland and the most northern part of the Wild Atlantic Way. We had to go as we had visited Kinsale lighthouse at the most southern part. To get there we climbed up and passed through the Gap of Mamore. Single track again and nobody stops to let a camper van pass. I had to pull over every time. But oh the view from the top of the pass was amazing.

So good that even the dog had to take time out to sit and admire the view.

I was intrigued to see a shrine and Holy well at the top.

We continued on to Malin Head. The good weather had brought everybody out including a large entourage of motorcyclists. I had sailed around Malin Head many times. I had heard the words Rockall Hebrides Malin many times on the shipping forecast and even picked up messages from Malin Head Radio as we headed out usually from Liverpool into the North Atlantic bound for the United States on cargo ships. We passed Malin Coastguard radio station with its aerial array and it brought back many great memories. Did you know that the Titanic tested its radio systems with Malin Head radio when it was out on sea trials from Harland and Wolf in Belfast?

There was no way we could do anymore this day without spoiling what we had already done. So we headed for days end at Culdaff Beach carpark where we will spend the night. It is a fantastic spot and I am sure we will be joined by other vans being a Friday night as well. Blue skies, picture perfect beach, rather coolish water temperature and an evening stroll. Perfect!

Todays distance: 99 miles

Total distance: 1474 miles

Distance travelled: 189 kms. We left the Catlins, an area of New Zealand of outstanding natural beauty. Not mountains. Indigenous natural forests, water falls, blue seas and sandy bays. I loved it all. Just a short distance from our overnight stop are the Purakaunui Falls. We had been told about this waterfall by a number of people. You must see them they said. One thing you notice about this country is that where there are tourist must see’s, the Department of Conservation (Known as DOC, dock) do an outstanding job of installing a carpark and toilet (usually a long drop). This place was no exception. To get to the falls we took a walk of around 15 minutes through native bush. There were so many beautiful tree ferns called Pungas that it looked prehistoric. The falls themselves were not spectacular on a World scale such as the Niagara or Victoria Falls. But in the setting where they were they were stunning. A place I wanted to visit was Nugget Point. The only reason was that having sailed ships around this coast, I had navigated using Nugget Point lighthouse on a number of occasions. To see it from the land would be something special. It is a bit of a detour but well worth it. The walk from the car park out to the peninsular upon which the lighthouse stands is precipitous. A sign warns parents to keep your children close by due to the shear drops. Down to the sea. Health and Safety have kept away. I love it! Once at the lighthouse the views take your breath away. Azure blue seas turn white as the swell crashes against the nuggets in foaming waves. King kelp up to 10 metres in length swirls like auburn hair around the rocks. This place is majestic. Put it on your list when you come to this part of the planet. From Nugget Point we retraced our track to the main highway and headed to our next stop for the night at Roxburgh. The plan was to head a little further on but a threatening sky ahead meant we decided to stop a little early and get set up before any bad weather set in.