Far away from it all at St Bathans Domain

You can tell ODT colleague John Fridd’s photograph of one of his favourite camping sites, at the St Bathans domain, wasn’t taken yesterday. Just look at that gorgeous blue sky.

John is keen to share his story about camping there. He enjoys the solitude but had some concerns that, with the recent growth in freedom camping numbers, it might be packed.

"Picture a country campsite in Central Otago with plenty of space for tents and camper vans and wonderful views of the mountains," he says.

"And it doesn’t cost a bean. With thousands of freedom campers roaming the South Island in their little campers looking for new places to explore, you’d think this site would be packed each night, but think again.

"A week ago, I returned to the St Bathans domain campsite, even though I feared I might have to share its sole dunny and water tap with dozens of noisy freedom campers. I was pleasantly surprised to find there were only about 15 overnighters scattered around the large domain on my first night. You can see from the picture it wasn’t exactly packed.

"The clientele was a mix of Kiwis in hefty camper buses — you know, the type who think they’re roughing it when they can’t get a signal on their satellite TV — and other Kiwis in big tents, and freedom campers hailing from overseas addresses, just loving the Kiwi summer.

"The second night I had only 10 fellow campers, so it was getting even better.  Another thing about the St Bathans domain — it’s totally dark there, so the night skies are sensational if there’s no cloud cover.

"One night after I woke about 3am I lounged in my camp chair staring in awe at the galaxies and following the progress of the International Space Station across the sky. Just that experience made the trip worthwhile.

"My fellow campers proved a friendly bunch and I soon got to know some of them after riding some loops of the domain on my mountain bike. The young Austrian guy camped nearby with his shy South American girlfriend was good value and I soon had him learning petanque and throwing frisbee.

"When I noticed he was sipping on a can of Auckland beer, I slipped him a couple of cans of Pride of the South, suggesting when in Otago, try the Otago brew. When we parted the next morning, George presented me with a keyring featuring an unusual stone he said came from the river in front of his farm back in Austria. Lovely people those freedom campers.

"The only jarring note of my stay was the sign on the water tap stating the water must be boiled before use, because it was ungraded. This is inconvenient when you’re camping, especially if you quickly want to fill your drink bottle with cold water.

"I doubt the water was contaminated, but rather that the water grading system has been toughened up since my last visit to the domain 12 years ago. I suggest  if you want to camp at St Bathans, take a large container of drinking water with you."

Sounds a fantastic spot, John. Thanks for your positive words on the freedom-camper experience.

Bridges and tunnels

John Bone writes to say he "read with interest" my lampoonery on putting a road tunnel beneath the Tasman Sea between the West Coast and Sydney.

"I have often thought of the colossal waste of the excellent saleable water from our many rivers on the West Coast, including the Manapouri tailrace — there’s an abundance of pure water diluting the Tasman Sea and going to waste."

He says a 300mm-diameter plastic pipe carrying pristine water from the Southern Alps to Australia would not be an "insurmountable engineering project".

"A combined project by both governments would future-proof the whole eastern seaboard of Victoria, where they have a desalting station on stand-by, which is too

expensive to start up, and where there is often a seasonal shortage of water.

"The 1200km pipeline, fed from the significant head of water, would earn this country millions of dollars without sacrificing the environment — and provide a good use of otherwise waste water."

Hmm, thanks John. Now, after taking the mickey myself, I’m not sure if John is serious or otherwise.

Famous encounters

Carol Shortt  remembers two encounters with fame.

"Back in January 2015, I was returning from my son’s wedding in Galway.

"I flew Malaysian Airlines and was in economy, seated next to Chris Cairns from Kuala Lumpur to Auckland.

"He was in the window seat and I was in the aisle seat, and he didn’t utter one word. The seating arrangement on the upper economy deck of the Airbus A380 is 2-4-2.

"At that time, he was travelling backwards and forwards to London for his trial [on alleged matchfixing activities — which he was cleared of].

"Further back than that, in February 1965 when I was 17, I had my photo taken with Herman (Peter Noone) from Herman’s Hermits, at a dance in Preston. That was much more exciting.

"I’ve lost the photo, unfortunately."

Thanks Carol. Sorry to hear that, but here’s another one of him instead.