Danseys Pass getaway: off the grid!

We used the long weekend (Labour day) for a rare getaway and chose camp sites that were remote and totally off the grid. First stop: Danseys pass. The Vlog of the weekend is at the foot of this article.

It was rather hairum scarum driving up this road, sheer drop off one side (mostly my side!) and thank goodness we didn’t come upon a car coming he other way! This is an alpine pass so I’m guessing by the gates that it’s closed off in winter. So the camp site perched just the other side of the Otago Canterbury border up in the mountain range was just perfect. No Wifi, no cell signal, perfect.

It was on the banks of a river (who’s name I can’t pronounce never mind spell!) which you can swim in in the summer. Usual basic kitchen and showering facilities plus a lounge, and a riverside swing for the kids plus swimming hole just down stream.

One nice relaxing evening here and we headed on over the mountain into the next valley and back towards the coastline, passing Elephant Rocks on the way. Apparently limestone which used to be the sea bed – then it was forced upwards. There’s one rock formation that particularly looks like an elephant, the rest are a series of strange domes in a farmers field.

(Listen to the podcast of this trip away plus play our soundscapes guessing game)

Back to the coastline we headed down to Dunedin via Palmerston for our favourite ex train station cafe stop off where I saw this quote.

Our next off the grid stop off was on the Otago Peninsula: Portobello. We have stayed here before, it has an extraordinarily popular fish and chip shop, a dairy (corner shop) and a pub. What more do you need! Oh, and a bus stop if you want to go back into Dunedin (and  cafe, but it looked a little bit abandoned, shame because at one time it used to be lovely.

 

A preamble on days an the coast back home couldn’t be done without stopping off at the albatross centre on the end of the Peninsula: so sad to see so many land slips all along the peninsula – coastal erosion will take the road out completely if they don’t act soon.

Lunch at our favourite (but a rather glum looking) Florence hill lookout and then we were on the homeward stretch. The perfect weekend getaway.

Would you rather listen… here is the Vlog of the weekend.