Dunedin to Akaroa

Feb. 27-28

The Morekai boulders

Our first stop north from Dunedin was the Morekai Boulders.  These round boulders apparently formed in an ancient sea and appear as the cliff erodes. The Maori have a different story about their origin. They are quite the tourist attraction to Jake’s mystification.  But any excuse for a driving break. 

3rd prize wool

Second stop was the A&P show in Omarau.  The Agriculture and Pastoral show is the kiwi equivalent of a county fair.  This was the North Otago A&P.  There were displays of talent in singing and dancing by children (talent was questionable in some cases).  A huge number of giant tractors and farm equipment as well as cars, utes (pickup trucks) and ATVs.  The sheep judging was going on (who knew there were so many sheep breeds?) and we saw the results of the wool judging with score sheets.  The pony jumping was also going on as we arrived. 

We checked out all the farming equipment displays and food options and settled on scallop sandwiches with an iced coffee for me.  The scallops in NZ (and maybe most countries except the US) are served whole with the roe.  Why they take the row off in the US is a total mystery to me because it is delicious.  I thought I’d lost a scallop from my sandwich only to discover it 10 minutes later balanced on my sunglasses’ lens which were slung around my neck. Other options were steamed green lipped mussels, whitebait patties (see the West Coast), bacon butties (like a bacon sandwich), spiraled fried potatoes and sweet potatoes, and the usual hotdogs and hamburgers and kebabs.    

Grand prize sheep

Why do goat tenders wear white?

Towards the end of the parade

We checked out the home production entries of jams, jellies, scones, and cakes, knitted items, vegetables and flowers.  Very similar to county fairs.  The grand parade at 1pm was led by a group of bagpipers in full regalia and followed by groupings of the prize winning animals at the show.  The grand prize sheep was in a pen in the back of a pickup truck, all the other sheep and animals had to walk. 

Our last camp site

From Omarau we headed north and stopped for the evening at the holiday camp in Temuka.  The campground is on the town domain, public park like area, so before you get to it you pass the public mini golf course, skateboard park and pool.  The holiday camp was privately run and very nice.  It wasn’t particularly crowded so we had a whole section to ourselves not far from the “amenities” block (toilets, showers, and kitchen).  I took a walk into town to buy some breakfast items.  All the stores had closed at noon except for a few convenience stores.  There’s not a lot in Temuka, but it is pleasant enough.  We walked back into town a little later to have dinner at the Jolly Potter, recommended by the I-Site lady in Timaru.  It was an Irish Pub with Guinness and Murphy’s on tap as well as other local beers and a decent selection of wines by the glass.  We ordered the typical pub fare of chicken satay and Cajun chicken.  Decently cooked, not great.  Maybe fish and chips would have been better?  The rhubarb crumble was not what we expected being more like some rhubarb jam on a very moist cake, but it was tasty.

This was our last night of camping, so in the morning we deposited our entire set of camping gear in the donation bin of the Op Shop, supporting the local SPCA.

The drive north from there was really flat and pretty dull.  After an hour and half or so we got to the outskirts of Christchurch and branched off to the east for the Akaroa peninsula.  We stopped in Lincoln for breakfast (we had just had a yogurt and banana back at the campground) at the Rustic Bakery.  Really good muffins!  From there the drive gets much more interesting as you go along the coast and up through the hills to Akaroa.