Saturday, Nov 1, 2008 To Queenstown

Got up early, as we’d gone to bed fairly early the night before. Started down the road to the gas station, I noticed the little yellow wrench light was on in the instrument cluster. Hmmm.
Checked the oil, slightly under half on the dipstick, typical diesel…black, thick but no antifreeze, no burnt smell… ok. There was a small leak in the engine compartment, too, a light mist. Come to think of it, there was a small spot of oil, smaller than the bottom of a coffee cup, on the ground this morning when I did my daily walk around. (Make sure the step is up, vents are closed, LPG off, tires, etc.)
The light stayed on after filling it to the top with oil, but soon went out after 3-5 minutes of driving, only to reappear when we shut the motor off. Have to call Kea campers when we hit Queenstown.
Rained all the way. Coming down in sheets, wipers on their manic high speed. Not much traffic.
Passed multiple sections of 6-7 foot high fencing here and there as we traveled, found out why. Deer. Fenced in like cattle. SO that’s where all the venison I’d been seeing and enjoying on menus came from.
Passed one area, slowed to take a few pics. The forest rats instantly at attention, they congregated near the fence, following the van along as we looked for a spot to pull over. (Unlike many campervans we encountered, I refused to stop in the middle of the road to get a pretty picture.)

As I stepped out, though, they all turned tail and Ran Away.

Rain gradually turned to overcast…

to finally a beautiful afternoon…

just as we crept into the tiny town of Queenstown. For it’s huge reputation, the town itself is miniscule, just a downtown roughly 10 blocks square. Reminded me of Whistler, B.C.
Found the campsite, basically at the foot of the gondola overlooking the town. Called the 800 number for the campervan, Rachel answered. I explained the situation about the warning lamp and the oil leak, she replied that the wrench was simply a service due reminder, not to be worried or concerned, that Kea actually did servicing on their vehicles more frequently than the manufacturers called for, etc. When I REPEATED, “So, you’re not concerned about the oil leak?” She said no, just continue to fill it to the level and call if we had any further problems. O.K.?!
The leak was tiny, was on the opposite side of the engine as the exhaust/turbo, and really was minor(level still unchanged after a few hours of driving), I agreed and hung up.
We drove into the gate controlled campsite, and were dismayed by the conditions. Not anything more than a grass parking lot, so overused that most of the turf had turned to mud. Also, there was a van in our spot.
Got out, had a chat, the guy was just late leaving, I told him to take his time and we’d go get some food.
Parking the van downtown, we walked up and down most of the streets surrounding the little harbor…

Then settled on a small bar, where we were almost the only patrons. Restaurants have odd hours here, often closed all afternoon, opening at 4 or 5 pm until “late”. Always late. Tough to find food at times.
As we ate, two guys in gorilla suits ran past us, into the kitchen area, causing some amusement, Oh yeah, Halloween was last night, Queenstown must have been pretty insane with the amount of young idle rich and the service staff… much like Whistler, again.
Returned to the campsite after our walk, requested a new site as the one we’d been slated for, in addition to being occupied, was also a bit of a mud pit. Since we were to be there two or three days, I didn’t want to deal with the mess. No problem, the new site was well away from the swamp. Made it an early night, but great internet service made doing several updates easy.
Goodnight.