SI Winter Road Trip 2022

  Picton The last day of the holiday is the trip across Cook Strait to Wellington.   A three-and-a-half-hour trip on a piece of water that can at various times be like a mill pond, a wild southern sea with humongous waves, or like our trip today - windswept but with quite a light swell.     It is a beautiful sunny day with wind promised for both the top of the south and bottom of the north islands.   First thing this morning, we went to the local farmers market and got some vegetables, daffodils, and a coffee, before heading to Picton wharf to be loaded onto the ship.   The ship did not have many passengers and there would have been more room for cars if required.     The holiday has been great.   At the same as we went away the number of covid infections steadily decreased.   We found that people who followed the mask mandate steadily decreased as the days passed by. I suspect though that throughout, fewer peo...

We watched the sun strike the snowy peaks of the Kaikoura Mountain range the next morning, giving them a pink glow.   It was a very nice way to start the day.   The plan for Friday had been to visit the seal colony, but as we had arrived much later than intended, we decided to go Saturday morning instead as the distance to Blenheim where we are travelling today,   is not far.   We parked near a local heritage site where an original settler’s home, Fyffe House, sits gazing out over the bay toward the mountains.   We walked to the seal colony around the bay taking our time to look at what had at one time been the original harbour and whaling base.   It is a very sheltered part of the peninsular.   Sheltering in the harbour Perhaps relics from a recent bygone age   A kilometre or so later we arrived at the end of the road where the seal colony lies.   We found out later that after the 2016 Kaikoura earthquake, the seals had moved to anot...

Instead of padlocks, stones from the beach Bev wanted to do some shopping in Christchurch at the Riverside Market and Ballantynes and I wanted to visit our friends’ wine shop so after a coffee we went our separate ways.   I was a happy person as I was able to get some different wines that were suggested by my friend.     Bev and I had a light lunch in one of the cafés that dot the central city.   The transformation of the CBD has been significant since the earthquake eleven years ago.   While the same grid layout has been kept, they have moved the retail end closer to the river and much of the area is pedestrianised.   It makes it a delight to get around and I only hope they do some of the same things in Wellington.   Their cycle network is growing significantly but like Wellington there is considerable opposition to it from motorists and businesses.   However, the number of cyclists is clearly growing.   I had driv...

It was raining lightly when we stepped out for breakfast.   We had a nice walk around another part of the town admiring the old architecture that has been nicely preserved.   We found the Tee’s Street Café where we had a very nice breakfast after which we returned to the hotel and checked out.     Bev was keen to go shopping in the historic precinct and as shopping is not something I am fond of, we agreed that I would sit in the café and write my blog whilst she did that.   It is a brilliant arrangement which prevents irritation and impatience.   An hour and a half later she arrived back with few purchases but satisfied to have done lots of browsing.   I had expected an armload of bags but there was only one! Various photos from our walk back from the café to the hotel   We headed north stopping for a delicious pumpkin and parmesan soup at Riverstone Café before continuing through to Timaru and turning off toward Geraldi...

  After packing up the car we indulged in our coffee addiction before heading off to Oamaru. We detoured briefly to Lake Hayes as it was still and the possiblity of a nice photo or two  presented itself.   Lake Hayes Our first stop was in Alexandra where I got petrol that was about 10% cheaper than Queenstown. Next we went to the Courthouse Café for lunch where the food has always been good when visiting previously. It did not disappoint.   In addition, it was nice to be warm enough for us to happily sit in the sun.   Best café in Alexandra   The drive to Oamaru took us through Ranfurly then on to Palmerston.   A few kilometres past Ranfurly we were detoured towards Middlemarch turning off on to a road that would take us through Macraes Flat.   I have never driven that way before, so it was interesting to see the stony and hilly environment where animals were few and far between and humans almost non-existent.   Macraes Flat is a sma...