The distance constraints of traveling by bike have been lifted since we connected with Jay in Invercargill! It’s sort of amazing that we were able to travel to destinations to see specific things and not worry about wind, or trucks or gravel roads. And so, after Lake Dunstan we went to Te Anau and then Milford Sound and now we are heading all the way across the South Island to see new places and things. The end destination of this trip is Christchurch and the SailGP, but along the way we’ll stop into Dunedin, Oamaru, Timaru and Geraldine.
Travel by car is quite different than travel by bike…the destinations are more accessible but the travel itself is less interesting, and certainly burns a lot less calories!
We stopped in Dunedin just for lunch and got just a tiny taste of what it’s like. Oamaru got more time, an unexpectedly funky mix of steampunk hippies and perfectly kept neo-classical buildings. The Victorian precinct in the southern part of Oamaru’s main commercial district ranks as one of New Zealand’s most impressive streetscapes due to the many prominent 19th century buildings constructed from the local stone.
And then we drove up to Timaru, but stayed in Geraldine since everything was booked in Timaru for reasons unknown, until we saw half a dozen classic cars in the parking lot of our hotel and Jay found out that there was a massive classic car show in Timaru. Wow…this is amazing. Jay is a walking talking encyclopedia of cars old and new, able to instantly date and describe make and model number of cars going back 100 years. And so we’re going!
Jay had also booked for us (pretty cool person to travel with, huh?) a tour of Māori Rock art, meeting at a museum a 10-minute walk from the car show. And so, after glutting ourselves on cars, we went to the museum and then drove with the guide to a site with Māori rock art. It was cool to see it and hear about the history of its creation as much as they know, which is surprisingly little.
And then, we went up to Christchurch, since we are going to the SailGP race tomorrow. The area our hotel is in had lots of ethnic restaurants and so we had wonderful Korean food for dinner.
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