2 Geckos Travelling Australia: Thurs, 5th Mar, 2026 (part1) Ingrid’s place, Rangiora to O’Neils Reserve free camp, near Cave, NZ (Banks Peninsula)

7 degrees, mostly clear sky. Ava and Spencer came to the camper at 7am to see if we were up. We had breakfast then I read some more of Ava’s book before it was time for them to get ready for school.

Said our goodbyes. Will see them in Cairns in July when they are visiting Rebecca & Clive.

I had spent a few months working out what we wanted to see and do and using Wikicamps to work out what roads to go on and then working out how much time for travel, sightseeing etc to get us to the freedom camps available too. I have a good itinerary to follow so we will see how it goes.

Back to Tram Road then back over the Waimakariri River again.

Onto the highway back to Christchurch. Continued south through farms. Spotted a pyramid and hills with pine plantations on our way to Tai Tapu.

Stopped for a cuppa at Tai Tapu. Cute little container home, old world stone home and lovely old church, St Pauls 1930, complete with nautical weather vane.

Bare hills except for this one patch of pines.

Continued south towards Banks Peninsula and Akaroa with rolling hills to our left and the edge of Lake Ellesmere on our right. Interesting weathered bluff on this hill.

Turned away from the lake and continued along to the edge of Lake Forsyth. The hills are still on the other side of us. Spotted lots of black swans.

Through little village of Little River. They have SiloStay here and a historic railway which we will check out on way back.

Next is Cooptown. Then a winding climb up through the mountains - very pretty views.

Up to 510m elevation at The Hilltop Lookout. View up to where we came from then down the valley to Barry’s Bay.

Saw our first roadkill - a little possum. They aren’t liked over here as there were no predators to keep them under control so now they are out to get rid of them and ferrets etc that were introduced over a hundred years ago.

7km of winding road down to Barry’s Bay. The road is like the Gillies Range. Reached Barry’s Bay - mud flats out to the water.

Continued around the north edge of the water then back up through the hills to Duvachelle at the top of the bay. Continued on to Akaroa. It was to be the admin centre for France in 1840 hence a lot of French names around here.

Very narrow streets and no parks free so we continued through town and across a bridge with 1886 sign. Passed the 1887 The Boat Shed and found a park near the lighthouse. The 1880 lighthouse was moved from the Akaroa Heads to here in 1980.

Lovely view.

Walked up to read the information about the 4 cemeteries here. Good map too showing where the French ships landed in 1840 and 1850.

Back over the bridge - better photo of it and back through town - very narrow streets with a busy tourist area on the foreshore.

Plaque for the French settlers of 1840. War memorial and a couple of the buildings.

Stopped in the boat ramp car park at Rue Brittan for lunch. There is an interschool competition happening opposite in the big sports oval.

Lovely and warm in the sunshine now. Watched some people head off on a kayaking tour. Boat ramps have good maps too.

Headed back out - photo of boat sheds on opposite side of Robinson’s Bay.

Back along the winding roads through the hills again then stopped at Little River to check out the railway. Wikicamps map of the area.

Checked out the Silostay Accommodation - what a great idea. Sent photos to Malcolm as he erects silos for farmers in Tassie.

Walked along to the old railway station. Another rail trail has been created on the old line. The good shed then the station. Lots of nice things for sale inside the station.

Info about the whaling history of this area too.

Continued on - just got a photo of this converted bus ‘home’.

Along the edge of Lake Forsyth - water brown from recent rain.

Left turn down to Birdlings Flat Beach, map.

A village of shacks and beach homes here. Stopped at the car park. Looking over to the bluff - to the left is where the water from Lake Forsyth would come out to reach the sea but it would have to be a major flood I reckon.

The Ad Blue light has come on so Steve got out the manual. We have only done 300km! StarRV said everything was full and wouldn’t need filling for the 2 months, though he did say to keep any receipts if we did need to top it up and they would reimburse us.

I walked over the polished ‘river’ stones to the water. Saw some seagulls gathered in the water then a black body and fins. A chap was fishing so I asked him what it was and he said it was seal. Put my hand in the water - a tad cold. Photo to take a photo to prove I did get it wet.

Back to the blocked ‘lake’ mouth.

We put the air con on as we continued along as the sun is quite hot coming straight in on us through the big windscreen. Back out to the main road then along the edge of Lake Ellesmere again.