Southern Adventure - Part Five - Home from Tuatapere

So, the Monday saw us wearily but happily getting back into the van, bidding farewell to Callan and Stacey, and getting on the road again. Driving from Tuatapere to Dunedin is surprisingly direct; you're more or less heading due east as far as Clinton when you pick up SH1 the rest of the way. It includes SH93, better known as the Gore bypass road between Mataura and Clinton. I remember this road well from shuttling between Dunedin and Invercargill in my teens and 20s. It used to be narrow, gravel, windy and hard work, now it's sealed, wide and just like any other highway.  

Mostly East. Very little North.

As the miles drifted by we listened to an audiobook Merv had recommended to us - "An Officer Not A Gentleman" by Mandy Hickson. A great 'read', it had us on the edges of our seats as we drove.

We were in Dunedin just at dinner time. It was great to see my mum. She's doing well in her wee house and her garden is spectacular again. The neighbour with the rat "problem" is keeping her entertained. The problem seems to be with the neighbour, not the rats. 

Roslyn Mills building. Angela's mum worked there!

View from my mum's window

The next morning, as is becoming tradition, we headed to No7 Balmac for brunch before getting back on the road. Next stop Christchurch.

Iced coffee#1 at No7 Balmac

Experimenting with Angles

A few hours of nice easy drive later we were in Riccarton Macpac, taking back our two failed water bladders. "Oh yes, those ones are problematic, we've changed suppliers now." Great. "We'll happily replace them for you." I asked for a refund instead of another two problematic water bladders that would almost certainly fail in the same way.

Then we checked into our fav little motel, Ashford Motor Lodge. We had a anti vaxxer in the room next door who we could hear alternating between watching down-the-rabbit-hole youtube videos and talking to other down-the-rabbit-hole people. Until two in the morning. It's a shame for her. Imagine having your whole identity defined by something like that.

After getting our key and dropping our bags we were off to see Toby and Tessa, and Steph and Sam. And David (Tessa and Steph's Dad)! He was convalescing at their place. 

We headed to Pomeroy Inn for dinner. Yum.

Next morning - Little Poms cafe for breakfast of course.

Same Angle different city

Hi Toby! Hi Tessa! Look at those iced chocolates.

Ducks (and ducklings) on the Avon

We got a few jobs done - Briscoes for Tessa's christmas present and to filch some old boxes, packing Toby's stuff into aforementioned boxes and loading them into the van, visiting the pet shop that Tessa is working at (they didn't have the right sort of kibble but they did have toys and a special eating mat). All this meant we were off just a little late, at 12pm.  Our road trip luck ran out this afternoon and it was a really slow drive behind trucks and slow cars, meaning we didn't make Picton and the ferry queue until 5:15pm. It was great though, having Toby in the van with us. We chatted away and listened to various podcasts and stuff. Fun.

A strange set of events took place in the ferry queue. Some lanes of cars were boarded but ours wasn't. We waited. Then a policeman wandered over to a car in the next lane. He talked to the driver for what seemed like ages, it appeared to be a fairly jovial chat. That is until he opened her car door, took her keys, and took her away with him! Only then we boarded, about 30 min late. I wonder what all that was about.

What an great holiday! It felt like we packed so much into our time off. So many different adventures. Road tripping. Stewart Island. Invercargill. Tuatapere. Humpridge. Christchurch with Toby and Tessa. Great scenery and great company. Thanks so much to Callan and Stacey for organising most of it, and Andrew for squeezing some time out of his insane schedule to come join us. 

Moxley likes the sleeping blanket we put out for her