Timaru

We spent the morning exploring Dunedin. A visit to the train station is mandatory, a delightful renaissance-style building.

Duneden Train Station was full of photographers but not too many train passengers

It was coolish that morning and there was a wedding couple having a photo shoot out on the platform. The bride looked so cold she was almost blue in her sleeveless gown but it was clear that never the photographer nor the groom was going to relent. We wandered about the downtown area, did a bit of shopping which included a trip to a Cadbury's chocolate factory and then enjoyed a flat white at a Starbucks. On the way out of town we looked at but did not attempt to drive on the steepest road in the world (as sanctified by the Guiness book). As I recall the rise was 1:2.87. It was very steep and would be the perfect setting for long boarders interested in trying to break existing land speed records. Our lunch stop that day was at the Moeraki Boulders Scenic Reserve. Almost perfectly spherical with some of the larger ones with a circumference of maybe 15 feet, these boulders are clustered along a small stretch of yet another amazing beach. I won't get into how they were formed, nor the Maori legends about them, but both of these ancient tales are fascinating.

The Moeraki Boulders are in one small section of the beach

The main reason for choosing Timaru as a destination was to have a visit with one of Stu's cousins, Caryl and her husband Graham. We had been in touch via email and the plan was to arrive late afternoon for a tour of the farm followed by tea. Their place is situated perhaps 30kms or so west of Timaru in an area of beatuiful rolling hills. Up to that point the GPS system on our iPad had not failed us and so after lunch we confidently input their address and set off. Our route took us off the main hiway well south of Timaru and we stated to climb into the hills. We were not overly concerned when the seal turned into gravel roads that seemed to get narrower & narrower and bumpier and bumpier. At one point we were driving along and noted a road sign with a large exclamation point on it and then around the corner the road dipped down and proceeded through a river. Not over a river - there was no bridge - you had to ford the river if you wanted to cross. Now when I say river I am probably exaggerating a little but from one bank to the other was maybe 30 or 40 feet and when we got out to have a closer look there was a foot or more of water rushing across which was creating a very pleasant little waterfall on the downstream side. Kim was all set the ford the river. Julie was not. While it was clear the ford was used regularly there was no evidence that it had been used recently as the gravel road was completely dry on both sides. Was this because the volume of water was too high at the moment and the locals knew better? Not having much experience fording rivers we decided to err on the side of caution even though this was going to make us late. All I could think about was the phonecall to the campervan rental company: "uh, hello, your vehicle is currently just downstream from a ford up the hills behind Timaru. We seem to have flooded the engine and can't get it started. Please help."

A river runs through it and over it

We learned later from Graham that although the water was a bit high we would have been fine. Anyway, we finally arrived at the farm and had a delightful visit with Caryl and Graham. Tea turned out to be a roast leg of lamb with all the trimmings. The smell of the roast pervaded the house and the yard and was amazing as was the meal itself. The evening flew by. We were assured that there were no more fords to cross on the route to Timaru and the trip to our campsite was uneventful.