We’re driving around the South Island of New Zealand by campervan. Over the past few days there have been severe rainstorms, especially around the Otago region we’re currently exploring.
We arrived in town late at night and drove around looking for a place to camp. It seemed like the water was getting high in places so we were extra careful to pass on some dodgy looking spots and eventually camped on a raised, well drained parking lot off a main road. It’s a good thing, too, as the next morning we found that many low lying roads had been washed out. The above shot shows one of the side roads that we considered and passed up the night before.
Have you had travel plans disrupted by extreme weather? Ever looked at the clouds or listened to the weatherman and made the right (or wrong) choice? Share your story in a comment!
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Oh guys, I wish you get better weather from now on!
In three years in NZ I had never seen flooding like this. This is the coldest week of the year so far, it’s snowing a lot in Lake Tekapo, Central Otago (careful on the roads!), but please go there, it’s not exactly on common routes but is one of the most beautiful places!
Hi Cris! Currently in NA too? I escaped the Lake Tekapo snow it seems, but really too bad the view was always obstructed by the thick cloud. The weather gets really nice the last couple of days, as we drove around the Te Anau, Milford Sounds, to Queenstown, reaching Fox Glacier. I failed seeing Mt Cook from across Lake Pukaki last week, hopefully tomorrow I wake up with the view of Mt Cook from this Fox town!
About a month ago, Jen and I went down to Manhattan to see an exhibit. When we got out about an hour or two later, it was POURING rain and we had about a mile to walk to get to the subway. We had no umbrellas, and I was wearing a worn out pair of shoes that had holes in the soles. When we finally got to the train, my feet were soaked.
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That sounds rough! I hope at least it was not too cold! I can imagine you guys must have been soaking wet head to toes, we at least could hide inside our campervan.
My feet also get wet so easily with the shoes I’m wearing now. Not that it has a hole, but some parts are made of thin spongy material, rain just go straight through it.
I love this picture! I miss NZ sooo much and just seeing that right-of-way bridge sign, makes me miss it!!
Hahaha, I hope you will have a nicer weather though, if you go there again! The flooding did make a photogenic picture
Our last night in Merida it rained like crazy for 2-3 hours (we were told it was the first big storm of the year), and the street our hotel was on flooded! The water on the sidewalk was past our ankles, and every time a car drove by, we’d have to run from the waves. The whole thing was pretty funny.
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Funny, eh, hehe! I hope it didn’t ruin you plans there. Are you back in SF now?
I like that photo. Flooded roadways are pretty frightening. It’s funny how an innocent road can turn into a death trap in minutes. I hope the rain isn’t ruining you guys’ fun.
Hi Sabina!
The day we took this photo, we heard a couple of tourists tried to drive on a flooded road (that has road closed sign). They got stuck (or swept, I didn’t hear the news clearly) and got to be rescued, and got hypothermia because of that. After that, I never felt tempted anymore when we saw more road closure sign even when it didn’t look too dangerous.
The rain limited what we could do and see by much, but we were still enjoying our time so much. The last several days, weather has been perfect (at least in the West coast). View has been continuously amazing!
Good decision with choosing a raised area to camp!
Just a couple of months ago we had 14 straight days of rain where I was living in Mexico. Everything was flooded and at one point, I took a wrong turn in my car and ended up with no choice but to drive through a ‘puddle’ so deep that the entire hood of the car was underwater. Of course the car died a few miles down the road after somehow making it through.
I hope the weather improves for you guys!!
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Ouch! That sounds awful! I hope you got helped quickly. It was kinda quiet in mid and east South Island, we could drive for hours and see only 10 other cars passing us.
Thankfully, the weather has been perfect the last few days! Many times almost no clouds, including when we took a heli ride to glaciers and snow capped mountains. Once I was even only wearing a tank top in one of our lunch outdoor!
That’s a lot of water. When I was in Lovina last winter we had a lot of rain. We had torrential down pours one day for about 6 straight hours. Water was high everywhere. I stayed in my bungalow for the day!
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That’s a good idea to stay inside and warm in awful weather like that! I remember in Indonesian rains could be really heavy..
I’ve personally never experienced extreme weather, however I can imagine that when we’re in South America that the statement will change.
Keep safe!
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Hi Erica! Lucky you!! Hopefully you will be lucky still when you are in South America. Are you going there soon?
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