Old Post from last week, photos to follow

On the road to Oamaru and beyond
(This is from last week, and I neglected to post it)
We will try to get some pictures up soon.

We leave Christchurch, our vehicle stuffed with happy travelers and their gear. We are very pleased to have procured the chilly bin, and already have it stocked with fresh produce and other perishables. Ed at the helm, Phil the main navigator up front, the ladies in the back shouting out points of interest. “Look, there’s another sheep”, “How cute”, “what a large horse” etc. We follow route one through the Canterbury plain of rich, flat farmland. To the west we can see distant mountains shrouded in clouds, the tallest is Mt Cook. The road takes us through some small farm villages, and we stop at Ashburton for a picnic lunch. We stop a bit further down the highway to restock our veggie and fruit supply. The eggs here have the yellowest yolks we have ever seen.

Timaru is a bustling little town on the coast where we stop for a coffee and a little time to stretch our legs. We are all impressed with how neat and pretty these places are. Timaru has a large park area with it’s own botanic garden and heritage roses. Adjoining the garden is a small seaside amusement park and bandshell. The New Zealanders appear to take great civic pride in having these strong community areas.

We are now in the Otago area of southeastern South Island. The countryside is hillier and the vegetation is lush. The temperature has dropped, winds have picked up and the sky looks more threatening. We pass through the Victorian village of Oamaru, which we will revisit tomorrow. We are in search of our next accommodation, “Old Bones” backpacker. It proves somewhat elusive, and we stop for directions to find we have overshot our goal a bit. We are directed to a road which has collapsed into the sea, so a bit of a backtrack again and success, we find Old Bones like a jewel set in a pasture. Very sweet place with panoramic ocean views. We meet Simon, the proprietor and some other guests in the communal area. Overall a friendly and but subdued group, our kind of people. Dianne and Colleen prepare a fine dinner of locally grown produce, and pasta with minimal assistance from their men. .

We are pleased to have WiFi here and Ed sucessfully uploads some our blogs, and does some work getting photos ready to upload.

We have a good night’s rest and on Tuesday the 10th we set out to explore Oamaru. This little costal town is the setting for some magnificent limestone buildings built with stone taken from a nearby quarry. This once was a busy seaport until coastal railroad line came in. Oamaru is now a destination for international visitors in quest of sighting the very shy, tiny, yellow eyed penguin.

We walk the town eyeing the gothic style buildings. We find a wonderful bakery that was recommended and get two for one loaves of bread (because it’s TwoForTuesday!), and some luscious pastries. While buying bread, the nattily dressed mayor of Oamaru stops in for bread and is delighted to learn we’re here visiting. We find our way to the Whitestone cheese factory, where a friendly hostess provides delicious samples of their cheese varieties. We purchase some and have a great picnic outside the factory with our wonderful fresh fruit, freshly baked bread and tasty cheeses.

We walked back to the town center and just as we got to the “Whiskey Tea Room” a heavy storm hits. This is a unique place located in a converted granary. A tea room and liquor store occupy the first floor. The second floor houses hundreds of whiskey barrels and areas designated for group tasting of 15, 18 and 20 year old whiskeys. We thought this was a great way to spend a rainy afternoon and so we had this grand space all to ourselves, sipping fine whiskey among the barrels as rain came down in horizontal sheets outside. The rain and wind put a damper on our plans to see penguins, but at the time we didn’t care too much.

Evening comes, so we return to “Old Bones”. Simon has built a fire and the common room feels warm and cozy. Another fine meal, topped off with local wines, followed by a quiet evening of reading and looking forward to our next stops. We go to bed a bit earlier, hoping for an early start in the morning. We want to get to Moeraki beach at low tide to see the eerily round boulders clustered there.