Veronika Wild

  The Road Less Travelled I spent the next few hours driving over the Gog Range to Mole Creek. Google said the route I took was marginally shorter, although it had highlighted the other one via Sheffield (C137). This was in fact excellent advice. The hills and bends are still hair -raising, but it is sealed all the way, whereas the C157 which I took South from Stoodley, was practically single lane, had crests and right -angled bends and was partially unsealed. Heaven help anyone towing a caravan over this route. Fortunately it does eventually join the C137. What’s in a Name Speaking of Heaven, the only place I passed was the little hamlet of Beulah whose biblical name means the Gates of Heaven or "My heaven and home forever more"according to another version . A part from the shiny new fire station and hall, it looked as if it had seen better days. There were no shops or signs of life -just rusting car bodies in paddocks and houses with peeling paint. It’s name is t...

Tulip fields remind me of home If you aren’t fond of crowds, then Southland is the place for you.   On the whole it is a much more relaxing experience, but alas, I am still rushing.   I’m tired after the Doubtful Sound trip, but have booked into Invercargill tonight and now there's no choice. Not many photos of this section, but bear with me, it gets better. Scenically, the landscape east of the Sounds could be anywhere in Tasmania. It’s gentler, more rustic and greener than Fiordland and although Southland also lies on the Alpine Fault, it has been shaped more by rifting, lifting and buckling, rather than ice, in the same way Southern Tasmania was, as it tore away from Antarctica. Moderated by the Pacific, the temperature is milder too, though along the coast, the hillocky headlands are savaged by the harsh winds and waves of the Southern Ocean.   The beaches in between teem with wildlife and there are waterfalls hidden in the folds of the hinterland behind t...