Head south young man

Sunday saw us making the long trip south on our way to Pat & Bill's. Something like 250 miles across the flat planes of Canterbury. 

Pat had thoughtfully given us some helpful information about where we might like to stop on the way. 

Our first stop was at the Temuka pottery shop for coffee (and tea). Now the maximum speed on roads in New Zealand is 100 kph - that's 60 mph in English. State highway 1, which we were travelling on, is a two way road with occasional passing places. If anyone needs to overtake in between then you just pull over toward the hard shoulder and let them through. But we didn't need to do that too often - nobody seemed to be in that much of a hurry. There wasn't that much traffic about, with the exception of many vintage cars all going the opposite way. But, where these cars were going slightly slower than everyone else, there was no great queue behind them, the following cars just reduced speed and eased past when the could. I suppose that what I am trying to convey is how polite and laid back are the drivers over here! Nobody seems to be in a mad rush to get anywhere. They have time and consideration for others. 

For lunch we stopped for fish and chips in Oamaru in the rusty cafe. The cafe stands alongside an old jetty, part of the old port. Children were playing in the water and in a play area that was more like a mini theme park than play area. 

Oamaru was a thriving port until the 1970s. With the closure of the port and the New Zealand economy stalled, Oamaru found itself hard hit. In response it started to re-invent itself, becoming one of the first New Zealand towns to realise its built heritage was an asset. Oamaru is a shabby but exciting town bringing life back into the old port buildings. 

Once again into the car and off toward Karitane where we found a waterside camping site alongside the beach. Imagine waking up to this in the morning. 

We then drove up to the lookout point to see the views. 

Looking good. 

After that a drive along the coast road, a nice change from SH1. We twisted round and round, up and down and arrived at Pat and Bill's in time for supper - and, of course, a few beers!