Well, after Tom’s rude remarks of yesterday, I thought I’d let him do the blog from now on so he could see how much effort it took to keep you all informed on a daily basis (only joking – I’m really enjoying it), but then I had second thoughts. He’d only continue being rude in print and I get enough of his cheek verbally.
When we woke this morning it was to find that the grotty weather from yesterday had followed us across the mountains and was now over Christchurch. It was wet and cold and it got no better as we drove South, in fact, at one point, wehad the wipers on full speed and still had bad visibility.
Where’s all this lovely sunshine we were told to expect? We stopped off at Timaru for the daily sugar hit and loo visit – the rain died down briefly to let us get inside without soaking us, then started up again when we recommenced our journey. So we didn’t see a lot of the local scenery through the spray. They could do with the rain as it’s been so dry for ages, but why did it have to choose now to fall? Anyway, by the time we reached Oamuru at 1.30pm, it had all but stopped so we had a chance to look round this pretty little town, and I found a patchwork shop….only because Tom was trying to sort out the disc problem with a very helpful computer shop lady – honest! It seems that the photos he transferred from the laptop had actually been saved so we’ll send a copy home in the next couple of days. For some reason, the laptop isn’t recognising the disc at all to read it once it’s been burned. (I think even more that there’ll be a change of laptop when we get home before we go off on the next trip!) We also had to call in at an opticians at Oamuru as my sunglasses had fallen apart – not that I needed them much today – and met yet another friendly happy helpful lady. It is so refreshing to meet the people here. Nothing seems to be too much trouble and they all want to chat. Service in cafes and restaurants is very good even in some of the rather rundown places we’ve stopped. The coffee’s always good and the range of naughty stickies is amazing – I’m trying as many of them as possible just to see if the quality deteriorates!
The roads from Christchurch coming south are such a change from all the twisty ones we’ve suffered so far – long straight stretches for miles.
The land is very different too, large flat stretches either side of the roads with some hills further away. The road goes along the coast for short distances but there aren’t the dizzying drops that we saw between Blenheim and Christchurch. The villages and towns we passed through had pretty well kept gardens for the most part and some stretched back quite a way from the road instead of just one street with everything on it. There didn’t seem to be as many isolated dwellings either. We saw alpaca, as well as the usual sheep and cows and Tom saw some ostriches though I was looking for something else at the time so missed them. We drove through the Waimate district which is advertised as the home of the wallaby (didn’t know they had them in NZ) but didn’t stop to see if they were there. The sheep down here are very different from the ones further north – much darker fleeces and a bit smaller too.
By the time we’d got through Oamuru, the weather decided to brighten up and we actually saw some sunshine although it had dulled down again on arrival. But at least the rain had stopped.
The road into Dunedin is quite something. On the map, it looked as if there was a short stretch of motorway before you reach the city, but it’s a motor road where only powered vehicles are allowed. There are gates that can be used to barricade it when necessary. Once you start on it you soon realise why – the road becomes very steep very quickly and is also exposed, so when the winter hits, it must be almost impassible especially to heavy goods vehicles. The views coming down into the city are wonderful but you don’t see them for more than a few seconds - again there’s all the twists and turns we’ve become almost fond of, as you drop down from the high land. We’re staying in a hotel for the next two nights, our first on this trip and it’s right in the centre – the Law Courts Hotel.
Although we haven’t got the kitchen facilities of a motel, there’s still a fridge and tea making bits in the room and it’s plenty large enough for all our clutter. The receptionist is great. Tom introduced me as his mistress and asked her if the wife phoned, please not to give the game away. She fell in with the plan obviously realising that he was having her on, but has been going round the rest of the staff, telling them to watch out for him and not believe anything he says. She got his measure straight away! Yet another one of the super people we’ve met here.
We had a great dinner in the hotel and I had my first NZ lamb. Afterwards, we went out to investigate the local area and burn off at least a few of the calories we had just eaten. Tom likes the fact that we walked round all the shops tonight and they were closed so I couldn’t spend any money. The city has some lovely old houses and we’ll be doing some more walking and visiting the Art Gallery and churches tomorrow. There’s also the Cadbury’s factory just round the corner – so depending on the weather, that may be a possible visit.
But all that is for tomorrow, and tonight it’s bed-time, so we’ll wish you all goodnight, and report some more tomorrow evening.
When we woke this morning it was to find that the grotty weather from yesterday had followed us across the mountains and was now over Christchurch. It was wet and cold and it got no better as we drove South, in fact, at one point, wehad the wipers on full speed and still had bad visibility.
Where’s all this lovely sunshine we were told to expect? We stopped off at Timaru for the daily sugar hit and loo visit – the rain died down briefly to let us get inside without soaking us, then started up again when we recommenced our journey. So we didn’t see a lot of the local scenery through the spray. They could do with the rain as it’s been so dry for ages, but why did it have to choose now to fall? Anyway, by the time we reached Oamuru at 1.30pm, it had all but stopped so we had a chance to look round this pretty little town, and I found a patchwork shop….only because Tom was trying to sort out the disc problem with a very helpful computer shop lady – honest! It seems that the photos he transferred from the laptop had actually been saved so we’ll send a copy home in the next couple of days. For some reason, the laptop isn’t recognising the disc at all to read it once it’s been burned. (I think even more that there’ll be a change of laptop when we get home before we go off on the next trip!) We also had to call in at an opticians at Oamuru as my sunglasses had fallen apart – not that I needed them much today – and met yet another friendly happy helpful lady. It is so refreshing to meet the people here. Nothing seems to be too much trouble and they all want to chat. Service in cafes and restaurants is very good even in some of the rather rundown places we’ve stopped. The coffee’s always good and the range of naughty stickies is amazing – I’m trying as many of them as possible just to see if the quality deteriorates!The roads from Christchurch coming south are such a change from all the twisty ones we’ve suffered so far – long straight stretches for miles.
The land is very different too, large flat stretches either side of the roads with some hills further away. The road goes along the coast for short distances but there aren’t the dizzying drops that we saw between Blenheim and Christchurch. The villages and towns we passed through had pretty well kept gardens for the most part and some stretched back quite a way from the road instead of just one street with everything on it. There didn’t seem to be as many isolated dwellings either. We saw alpaca, as well as the usual sheep and cows and Tom saw some ostriches though I was looking for something else at the time so missed them. We drove through the Waimate district which is advertised as the home of the wallaby (didn’t know they had them in NZ) but didn’t stop to see if they were there. The sheep down here are very different from the ones further north – much darker fleeces and a bit smaller too.By the time we’d got through Oamuru, the weather decided to brighten up and we actually saw some sunshine although it had dulled down again on arrival. But at least the rain had stopped.
The road into Dunedin is quite something. On the map, it looked as if there was a short stretch of motorway before you reach the city, but it’s a motor road where only powered vehicles are allowed. There are gates that can be used to barricade it when necessary. Once you start on it you soon realise why – the road becomes very steep very quickly and is also exposed, so when the winter hits, it must be almost impassible especially to heavy goods vehicles. The views coming down into the city are wonderful but you don’t see them for more than a few seconds - again there’s all the twists and turns we’ve become almost fond of, as you drop down from the high land. We’re staying in a hotel for the next two nights, our first on this trip and it’s right in the centre – the Law Courts Hotel.
Although we haven’t got the kitchen facilities of a motel, there’s still a fridge and tea making bits in the room and it’s plenty large enough for all our clutter. The receptionist is great. Tom introduced me as his mistress and asked her if the wife phoned, please not to give the game away. She fell in with the plan obviously realising that he was having her on, but has been going round the rest of the staff, telling them to watch out for him and not believe anything he says. She got his measure straight away! Yet another one of the super people we’ve met here.We had a great dinner in the hotel and I had my first NZ lamb. Afterwards, we went out to investigate the local area and burn off at least a few of the calories we had just eaten. Tom likes the fact that we walked round all the shops tonight and they were closed so I couldn’t spend any money. The city has some lovely old houses and we’ll be doing some more walking and visiting the Art Gallery and churches tomorrow. There’s also the Cadbury’s factory just round the corner – so depending on the weather, that may be a possible visit.
But all that is for tomorrow, and tonight it’s bed-time, so we’ll wish you all goodnight, and report some more tomorrow evening.
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