Woke to a drizzle of rain - the sort you would have to stand still in for 10 minutes to get wet through. Headed off down the street to get some sustenance, a final stroll around the city, then checked out and on the road north to Christchurch.
Verdict: Dunedin is a lovely place with some beautifully preserved historic buildings. Another day here would have been welcomed as there was much more to see and we barely scratched the surface. All they need to do to make this a great place is build a decent golf course.
The drive to Christchurch was fairly average. Saw a tourist drive sign advising that the Moeraki Boulders were next turn right so we pulled in to have a squizza at them. Parked and walked a couple of km along the beach all the while being sandblasted by airbound sand driven in front of a 30 knot wind originating from the southernmost parts of the world. We didn't know what we had expected to see but frankly they were disappointing. Maybe if we were geologists we would have found these orb shaped hunks of tessellated rock vaguely interesting but it wasn't worth being sandblasted and frozen to the bone to see. Even worse when we found there was another carpark to a tourist hut and restaurant right at the site and we could have parked there and taken a short walk down to the beach.
(Moeraki Boulders)
Followed the east coast up to Oamaru - a large township featuring many magnificient well preserved historic buildings and beautiful street gardens.
(Oamaru War Memorial)
View : www.oamaruonline.com
Next was Timaru, an unimposing place with an absence of parking. Eventually found a parking spot (in a loading zone) on the outskirts of town and had the dining experience of a lifetime at a suburban Mexican restaurant. What possessed me to choose this place? It provided the worst eating experience of the trip - even topping the Korean in Queenstown. Jean ordered a spicy beef burger the size of a large pumpkin that contained a kilo of beef rissole that repeated on her for the rest of the afternoon. I ordered a seafood bisque which turned out to be an eating experience I will never forget. It consisted of washing up water made on a sour cream base with a couple of miniscule mussels and shreaded seafood sticks. Virtually inedible. I took it as a personal attack on Aussies as we had recently beaten them in the tri nations & he was taking the opportunity to get square. Anyway, we left most of it there so he would have plenty to catch some other unsuspecting victim, and went to look for another dog.
www.beds-n-leisure.com/Timaru.htm (* this site may have to be typed in)
Rolled into Christchurch mid afternoon and checked back into the same motel and went in search of Clearwater Resort, the scene of tomorrow's game. We found it about 15mins away and took the opportunity to have a look around the resort. This is a very well maintained resort featuring a links style course which was in top condition as it was being set up for the NZ PGA in a fortnight's time.
Returned to the Kingsgate for a couple of cleansers (taken for medicinal purposes in an attempt to get the lingering lunch taste from our mouths) then off for another early evening stroll in search of a fine dining establishment. Lots of choices in this part of the city and we settled for an Italian one chosen simply because it was full and looked the goods. Had to wait for a table and were shown to the bar where the owner bought us a couple of drinks and filled in time with a pleasant chat. By this time the attempted poisoning from earlier in the day was forgotten and we again sat down to an enjoyable dining experience before calling it a night.
0 comments:
Post a Comment