Clinton (Zero Day)

I had a very good slept last night and woke up at my usual time of 6:00 am and realized that I might need a little extra rest to recharge my body, and of course my mind. I knew the day would be much cooler, and the forecast was for rain, but I questioned whether I had enough energy to trek the eighteen miles to next town, Balclutha. I wouldn’t normally push to get to towns, but the lack of places to camp is challenging and I like the backup in towns.

After the good meal and sleep last night I felt energized and realized that a day of rest would really help me, so I decided to stay. As it turned out I had a relaxing afternoon today laying in bed and walking to the dairy for a protein and carb packed lunch.

Not much to see here in this nice little town of only 300. Other than this motel, the dairy and gas station there aren’t any other places to get something to eat (or we), so the dairy was it for lunch.

At the dairy there was a nice hardcover book on a table top with the history of the Clinton area dating back to the mid 1800s. Apparently Clinton was a little more of a commercial center in its hay day at the turn of the last century.

Being a fly fisherman I was always curious about the abundance of trout here and the book gave some history when and how it started here. I learned that trout were first brought into the area in 1868 from various places around the world. First they were farm raised in streams backed up into ponds and later raised in holding pens. All were raised for eating and then later released into the wild. And now New Zealand is one of the primer spots in the world to fish.

The other interesting item I saw was the naming of the highway between Gore and Clinton, the so called Presidential Highway. It was named and signed by some locals in 2000 after Bill Clinton and Al Gore won the presidential election in the States. Apparently the NZ ambassador to the USA gave Clinton a picture of the highway sign, which he liked. Later in his presidency he came to visit NZ and spoke fondly of it. Another bit of trivia.

The forecast is for more rain tomorrow and temperature in the 60s, which is more conducive to trekking for me than in the heat. In cold and wet weather you can dress for the conditions, but in the heat there isn’t much you can do to stay cool. With 38 inches of rain annually here there’s a good chance I’ll get more rain.

Hopefully I’ll make it all the way to Balclutha since there is a motor camp (RV/campground) there that has little cabins, or I can camp there. The nice apologetic woman there told me no cabins were available, but I told her I would love her forever if she held one for me if someone cancelled. Who knows, as nice as these Kiwis have been, I may get the Presidential suite. I wish!

Dinner here tonight, a good night’s sleep, and I’ll see what tomorrow brings?

Best wishes to all,

Ted

Please excuse the typos, spelling, grammar, etc., as I am typing this on my phone.