Monday 28th September: A public holiday for South Canterbury. It was still drizzling in the morning and showed no signs of stopping. We were intending to ski at Mount Dobson today, just outside Fairlie, but the website told us that its visibility was "none"! A pity, because they'd had fresh snow overnight.
At 10 we left the campsite and drove back to Waimate. It rained all the way. Apparently it has been raining in Waimate all the time we have been away. Peter and I were in the motorhome and Steve had the other two in the truck. Only 5km from home I came across a flooded ford that I could not cross. I had always been amazed by the width of the riverbed and the size of the boulders in the bed when we have crossed it (completely dry) in the past. Now I understand its size. There was no way I could get across, but I wondered how Steve had, who was a few minutes ahead of me. I rang him, to find he had taken the wrong turning and gone along a different road without difficulty. He promised to come along and help out, thinking he could coax me through a little stream. A few minutes later he arrived on the other side of the ford and just laughed at the size of the problem. Then using our mobile phones for communication he guided me through a 3-point turn. Well, more of a 7-point turn, really, considering the narrow road, steep soggy verges and a 6m motorhome. Peter and I then retraced our steps and went the long way round.
We all met up at the new house and spent the afternoon there, tidying up inside the house. Areas of the garden were under water and the animals were soaked.
We returned to the rented house for tea, and Steve went off to the opening meet of the season for the Waimate cycling club (the Waimate Wobblers??). Apparently he didn't do too well because his crank fell off, or something.
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