Fairlight

Set off mid-morning and hadn't gone 20kms before I stopped at this spot.  It's a long, sad story about the demise, re-emergence and re-demise of the Kingston Flyer, and with that goes the parallel demise of this place.  With the 'Round the Mountains' trail running right by here this wee spot would make a wonderful cafe/resting spot for adventure cyclists.....hmmmmmmm

On then through various tiny settlements - coffee at Garston (New Zealand's most inland town, population 109), look round a very cool wee art gallery in Athol (population 87), drove through Mossburn (population 210) but opted not to stop.  The stretch of road from Mossburn to The Key (population unknown) steadily cranked up the wind which created a lot - and I mean a l-o-t - of movement whilst driving the van.  It was strong enough to dislodge/blow out part of my windscreen trim which I had to stop and attempt to 'fix' about half a dozen times.  Not happy.  Not as bad as the motorhome going in the other direction though whose awning had half blown off and must have been creating enormous problems for the driver who simply had absolutely NO stopping spot.

Eventually arrived in Manpouri and checked in to the funkiest, coolest wee campsite I've been to in a long while - Possum Lodge.  Quirky, old, very well kept, small and very friendly.  SO much so in fact I've decided to stay here two nights :)  

Best get to bed now - early start tomorrow - sooooooo looking forward to what I'm sure will be an awe-inspiring cruise.

Toodle-oo :D