Day 15 – Te Anau to Dunedin via Clifden

 

Otahu School 1913-1956

Instead of taking the shortest route to Dunedin from Te Anau I decided that we would take our time and go via Clifden where there is the oldest suspension bridge in New Zealand. 

 

The road takes you south more or less following the Waiau River which drains Lake Manapouri (in a fashion,  as most of the water goes out via the power station to Deep Cove in Doubtful Sound).  The result is that the river has a much reduced flow.

 

However, before we left we called into the weekly market.  We were not sure what we would find but it was a cute little market with lots of preserving and baking.  We got some of the very cheap preserves plus some baking.  There was even a coffee cart where we, of course, purchased a couple of coffees to drink on our way south. 

Coffee please

On the way to Clifden we went past the little school house pictured.   Normally, I would just comment about how cute it was and keep driving.  Instead, this time, I turned around and went back to have a look.  It was a fascinating look at a school which had closed in 1970 due to the lack of pupils, but had been lovingly restored by the community.  In some ways it looked like the kids had only just left and could be coming back anytime soon. There were desks from the seventies, a blackboard and also an album with some copies of the Auckland Weekly News over a couple of decades.  It showed how much we have changed in that time. It was fascinating. 

 

Inside the school room

 Clifden was only a few kilometres down the road where four camper vans were parked. Along with a father with several children we walked along the bridge, then took a couple photos. 

 

Clifden Suspension Bridge

From there we travelled through Ohai and Nightcaps (towns which are in a coal mining area).  I had expected to see the houses a bit run down as mining is winding down, but most of the houses looked well cared for.  Our route took us through Mataura and Gore. 

 

We were looking for a place to have a coffee but none of the places had anywhere to either get a bite to eat or have a coffee.  In the end we called into a supermarket in Gore and found something to eat.  Over the road from the supermarket, was a very nice park and we sat in the late afternoon sun eating our snacks. 

 

Our final stop for the day was Dunedin where I was staying with an old university friend who has a huge (2.4 hectare) property full of trees in Balaclava which is next door to Mornington.  

Lake Te Anau

An arty view of Pearl Harbour