Dunedin to Timaru

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We watched tele this morning and were sickened by the events in America, so many questions and few answers. Our thought are with those parents today no one should experience what they are going through and can only try to imagine how they might be feeling.
It is such a beautiful day here and this reminds us that we must cherish each day. Steve is doing his best to cheer me up, I saw a road on the map and said we should take it, good job we didn't it was a railway line! Try to imagine Devon with no cars, no cream teas and hot sunshine and that is where we are, travelling up from Dunedin to Timaru. There are few villages on the way and the roadside has bright pink Livingstone Daisy's lots of Broome, and trees of many varieties. We stopped at Shag Point, to view the Shags and Seals and Sea lions and Penguins, we saw all except the elusive yellow eyed Penguin, beautiful area with seaweed that made it look like an alien landscape. Some seabirds were squawking loudly and this time it wasn't Steve that was annoying them but a small bird that was encroaching on their territory. We drove to Moeraki boulders, parked and walked along the beach to where these giant boulders were, again so strange they looked like alien eggs, some had cracked open and you could see that they appeared to be formed by limestone deposits on existing rocks that were eroded by the sea into round boulders, of course the Maoris have a different explanation. We then walked back and there was a cafe and a shop so had to stop, coffee great as always, great gift shop too. We continued on our journey and arrived at Omaru, quite a large town that seemed to go on and on a ribbon development. We stopped and had an all day breakfast looked around the centre with its Victorian facades then continued on to Timaru. It was so hot and we were glad to arrive. The towns all seem shut and everywhere is empty have they all gone to a party and not told us? No it's just that there aren't many people here. We found a motel and headed for the beach. We walked through the gardens and board dune walk and arrived at the beach which had wood debris over it. Steve went in for a swim but the breeze was enough to cool me off. There were at least lots of other people there all having fun, some swimming some paddling and others just playing on the beach. After Steve dried off we went back showered and shopped and ate a delicious Chicken salad on our balcony overlooking the sea.

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Comments

[Liz Murdoch]

New Zealand
Dear Pauline and Steve Enjoyed reading your New Zealand blog and the great experiences you have had. Give our regards to Rob and Amanda. Hope you have a fabulous Christmas, Love Liz & Dave x