Day 19: Charles the First His Cromwell

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Wireless internet is back up, at least for the moment. I bought four hours' worth at $15 and had a good chat with Jim. I hope it is 4 hours total and not four continuous hours!

I went down to Rainbow Takeaways for breakfast, having no other practical option, and bought a nearly-inedible bacon and egg sandwich on New Zealand's equivalent of Wonder Bread, which set me back $5. I choked it down, and decided that a trip to the supermarket should be my top priority.

The owner did drive me in, at about 11:30, and came back for me at 2. I spent the time in Cromwell's shopping district. The town was largely drowned by a dam in the 1970's, so everything was comparatively new, and somewhat quickly and cheaply built.

It is warm here. My bronchitis should clear up in no time. I have a very comfortable bed and a clean private room -- there's even maid service! I came back to find my bed made and a fresh towel put out. Not bad at all for $37 NZ a night -- which is $28 US.

The owner was really, really kind; she came back when she said she would and she even carried most of my groceries in. They were heavy, because I had followed her advice and purchased only canned goods. Apparently some of those who stay here have been known to steal food from the refrigerator.

I also managed to buy that trial-size bottle of liquor that I've been trying to find since I got off the plane. I don't need it at the moment, but if my shoulder acts up, I will. Needless to say, I won't be leaving it out in the common areas either.

While I was in town, I took pictures of the famous fruit statue, mentioned in all the guidebooks. There was a small skateboarding park around the edges of the statue. The town runs a local museum; it said "Admission by gold coin donation." So I gave them $2 and belatedly realized that the NZ $1 coin is also gold. I was thinking of Canada's.
Oh, well; they can probably use the money.

The museum didn't have much -- mostly old gold-mining tools and some older household equipment; the latter were things I had seen my grandmother use, so it was a little startling to find them in a museum.

There were several anecdotes about the pioneer women of Otago, one of which is interesting enough to repeat here. Apparently a woman named Mary Ann came to town in the mid-1800's. She announced that her fiancee was close behind her and that they would be marrying soon, and she ordered a wedding-cake from the local baker.

The fiancee never arrived. A search was made, but he was nowhere to be found. In the end, most philosophically, Mary Ann raffled off her wedding cake, and raised enough money to travel on to Bendigo, where, as the first white woman in town, she no doubt had her choice of prospective husbands.

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Photos

Beautiful Downtown Cromwell
That's an artificial stream.

Fruit Statue
As featured in all the guidebooks