Day trips

We’ve had a few more day trips in and around with another trip to Dunedin to deliver a large number of boxes of books to a buyer. We headed off with Helen & Don for the day. With the books delivered safely, we all had a few things we wanted to get done before heading out for lunch.

A delicious lunch was had at Vogel Street Kitchen.

After lunch a few more chores were completed before we decided the weather was turning rather horrid so we headed back to Oamaru.

The Sunday of Queens birthday weekend and we were again on a day out to Geraldine to catch up with Bill & Linda where I was tasked with making a curry for lunch. We had a few games of cards to wile away the afternoon whilst Bill had decided to play with his new charcoal BBQ which resulted in the most deliciously tender pork belly complete with amazing crackling.

We had a call from Sandra & Barry who were down in the South Island visiting family so we arranged to meet up with them for lunch. This time it was a short drive to Hook, to a cafe not far from where they used to live, it’s just on the main road to the turnoff to Waimate. It was fantastic to catch up with them, however, in my usual fashion I forgot to take any photos.

Then there was the quick trip to Dunedin for Roy to get his first Covid-19 jab, that really was a quick trip there and back as the weather really wasn’t up to spending any time wandering around.

Our day tripping time was up, the container is finally cleared and our worldly goods sent off in all directions. Time to move on.

Happy birthday

Callum has just turned two…which means two years since we were holidaying in the UK, blissfully unaware of what lay ahead of us. Bloody Covid can pack its bags and bugger off!

Callum has grown into a cheeky, happy, and lively two year old who we love talking with every other day. Grandma and Grandad live in the TV don’t you know? The cheeky little devil has worked out how to manage the remote to call us and even add random other people into our conversations as well as turning the camera on and off.

He recently went on holiday with Mum & Dad which included visits to the beach and to the zoo.

Off to the beach and zoo with mum & dad

Time to make his birthday cake, Alex did a great job of making him a bus, his current favourite mode of transport.

Birthday cake by Mum

On his birthday, we got a call so we could watch him open his present from us, a balance bike. It didn’t take him long to figure out how to ride it, and off he went.

Later, they had family round for his birthday party, I understand he quickly tired of opening presents and he just wanted to play with his new toys that he had opened. A day or so later he opened his present from Claire & Matt – Claire is Alex’s best friend from school days.

Wow! Duplo….I think he likes it!!

Birthday smiles with his cousins Olivia and Beth.

Grandad has had his first Covid jab and the second one is scheduled for next week. I will have mine as soon as it’s my turn, then we can hopefully be there for Callum’s next birthday.

In and around Oamaru

Where oh where does time disappear? Yes, we are still in Oamaru as although we have emptied the container and everything else is tidied up we are waiting on a replacement thermocouple for my oven. Yes, I know, it’s less than a year old and it’s giving me grief, but we should be on our way again on the next few days.

We’ve had a few more trips around the district and caught up with lots of people. We had a return trip to Geraldine to see Bill & Linda, a couple of trips to Dunedin but I’ll report on those later.

Glenn & Carol pulled in beside us at the A&P Showground parking area where we spent the next week or so catching up.

Glenn & Carol’s rig next door.

Whilst they were here, the Steampunk Fire & Ice weekend was on. The following are a selection of photos from the first evening .

Church lit up against the stunning sky at dusk.

Hazy view of the street

Light show on the buildings

People gathering in the street

On their last day here we all went to Del Mar for a lovely lunch. It was a stunning day with clear blue skies and even a bit of warmth in the sun.

Lunch at Del Mar

The restaurant, we were probably the last ones to leave after lunch service hence the empty tables

And this was the view out of the window.

Over Queens birthday weekend, our eldest grandson Dante was in town playing hockey for the Mid Canterbury team so we wandered off to go and watch him play. Rugged up against the chilly breeze, we watched a couple of his games and they did reasonably well .

One of those players is Dante.

Oamaru is looking tidy with not too many empty shops and generally looking like it is slowly progressing. There are many new businesses and a flourishing business park as well a flight school in operation at the airport which is all good news for the town when many small towns are slowly decaying. There are lots of new houses being built with pockets of new developments underway and a retirement village making grand statement.

But you know a town has really progressed out of it’s staid, 1950’s conservative ethos when you see shops like the following!!!

This puts a whole new meaning into Steampunk!

Hoar frost

Real time update….we’ve emptied the container! Whoop whoop!

Another day trip, this time to Twizel where we would be visiting Helen & Don’s son Bevan and his wife Bridget who own and run Skyscape, an accommodation facility with glass roof and walls for extensive viewing of the night skies.

The travel route today

It’s been a few years since we have been along this way so it was interesting to see the changes along the way.

Just south of Kurow looking across to the hills.

It was a lovely autumnal day as we set off wandering our way up the Waitaki Valley where everything was oh so familiar. We stopped at Kurow for a coffee at a lovely new (to us) cafe where the welcome was as lovely as the coffee. Then we continued, up past Waitaki Dam, then Aviemore and Benmore Dams onto Otemetata where the temperature started to drop and the fog rolled in.

Frost and a bank of fog ahead

Fog + frost = hoar frost. We are in for a treat. There was a wow around every corner and so many photo opportunities that in the end it was better to just sit back and take in the scenery around us.

Tree decorated with the hoar frost

A selection of photos

A quick call in at the Salmon farm was on the cards and guess what?

Roy went fishing…

Fishing for compliments that is. It was too damn cold to do any fishing, but I did take this photo of him standing with the fake salmon!

Looking across to motorhomes parked alongside the canal from the salmon farm.

We got to Twizel and headed out toward Ben Oahu Range where Skyscape is located. We came out of the low lying fog to rise above it to view the landscape. What a stunning location and place to stay to view the night sky.

One of the units

We headed back down toward Twizel where Roy & I went to visit friends who just happened to arrive at the Twizel camp ground that day. It was lovely to catch up with Joe & Glenis and all their news.

On the way back to Bevan & Bridget’s the fog had yet again descended.

Getting foggy again

We came across this fence line with a great example of the frost.

Frost along the fenceline

The fog became more and more dense, until we could only see a few feet in front of us.

A slow drive back.

After a delicious roast dinner with Bevan & Bridget and their family, we headed back to Oamaru. And what do you know? The fog had cleared by the time we left. Thanks to a Helen & Don for taking us out on another wonderful trip out and about.

A couple of days in Dunedin

We had errands to run and people to see, we headed off from Oamaru to drive to Dunedin. The route was oh so familiar, with towns that brought back the “oh, that’s right..” comments from us both. Herbert, Hampden, Moeraki, Palmerston Waikouaiti, Karitane….the towns wizzed on by and no photos as I was driving and Roy didn’t take any pictures.

We arrived in Dunedin in good time and headed off to our first point of call in Kaikorai Valley. That errand attended to it was back into Dunedin to visit a few bookstores to see if they would be interested in any of our book collection.

A bit of retail therapy and a look around the central city before we headed across to Anderson’s Bay where we were staying with Dave & Di, friends from Oamaru days when they had Casa Nova House. We’ve met up with them many times before in different parts of the country and they are now settled in Dunedin.

They have been doing up a typical 1950/60’s house, which they are doing with a great sense of style and design. Already they have done such a lot and the place is unrecognisable from what they purchased. The gardens and landscaping have been done to complement the house and section making the most of their incredible views over Tomahawk Beach. I even managed to take some terrible pictures of the views!

The view from the dining room window

David is very clever at thinking through his redesign of the house, with no minute detail overlooked and every inch of the house completed to his exacting standards. They have done everything from concreting paths, re roofing, painting, building, gardening, putting in double glazing and so much more, with most of the graft done themselves. I am told that Di is an expert at screeding concrete.

View from the bedroom

We had a great time with them reminiscing over the many meetups we’ve had from Melbourne, Whangarei, Papamoa and of course Oamaru and other points in between and we look forward to many more.

Bernice, David, Di, Roy