Catching up

Well we are just back from holiday and catching up on everyone. 

First of all I'd like to say thank you to those of you who have visited from the GYB party. 

I promise I will get back to you soon. I was using a tablet while away but couldn't really figure out how to comment although I did visit some of you. 

And I didn't really want to spend too much time on it anyway, not fair to my GKB.

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As we usually do at this time of the year we went up to the caravan at Cromwell for a few days.
It was so hot we didn't really enjoy it, the temps hovered around 30C most days.
The grass is burnt to a stubble and the area round about is tinder dry.

tent and cabin area at camping ground,
that brown stuff is grass

One very hot day we decided to get in the car and go 

for a run up the road a bit to visit a cousin we hadn't seen for a while. 

No matter if they weren't there, the car was air conditioned!

I got out at the top of the Lindis Pass to take a couple of photo's 

and it was quite a pleasant temperature.

 Of course we are up in the mountains here, 

or should I say the foothills, 971 metres above sea level.

Then on up to Omarama where my GKB's cousin lives.

She and her partner run the camping grounds/motels there.

Unfortunately they weren't home but we had a back up plan

 and visited friends who run a B& B which was just around the corner.

After a very pleasant hour or so we headed home again

 through some lovely countryside.

The pic above was taken from the parking lot at Tarras, which someone has described as:

like being dropped in the middle of nowhere. 

There is a tiny (and I mean tiny) shopping village with about 6 tiny shops and a school, 

 a parking lot and a solitary unmanned petrol pump.

Nothing else in sight. Lovely views though.

We were actually hoping to make a comfort stop but the facilities were padlocked! Ugh!

And this picture is Lake Dunstan just up from where we were staying.

We drove alongside the lake for a while and it is quite pretty in places.

My GKB goes trout fishing here and sometimes brings home tea.

The dark green areas you can see are the vineyards/wineries.

It is good wine growing country and dotted with vineyards.

While we were away we also celebrated our wedding anniversary 

and took ourselves out for dinner.

A waitress kindly took our photo, two in fact. 

My GKB looks good in this one and I look better in the other one.

 Oh well, you can't win them all can you,  haha.

And this is what we had, vegetarian fettuccine. 

Not because we are vegetarians but I don't like mushrooms

and that is what was in the other pasta dish. 

And my GKB just follows his leader :)

We had a really nice evening out.

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Now we are away to deliver

fresh stone fruit to the family, 

have a wonderful week, 

Diana

joining in the fun at:

Roses of Inspirationl

Still 'heading to the caravan'

Last time I wrote about the trail to the caravan 

I think I left you at Ettrick in apple and pear country, 

where we had just had scones and coffee for morning tea.

Drive up the road for just quarter of an hour  and we come

 to the hydro town of Roxburgh in the Teviot Valley.

 This was once a thriving gold field town 

but now has only a small population of approx 750.

If we are leaving home a bit later we usually drive on to Roxburgh for a bite of lunch at one of the local tearooms. 

Like Lawrence it has become a service town and 

a stop for tourists, so has quite a few cafes 

and one or two boutique style shops.

Next door to the tearooms is a little shop I like to go into and browse (ahem). They have some beautiful stuff and I have been known to part with my money and come out with something 

that I like but don't necessarily need. 

Like Christmas decorations in May. Oh well.

The dam was built in the 1950's and is reputably 

a great place for trout and salmon fishing, 

although my GKB has never stopped to find out. 

Back in the car and now we don't stop until 

we get to Alexandra where we sometimes

 stop off to buy a few groceries. This was another major 

gold mining area and has a great museum of the era.

My grandparents were up here in the early 1900's as young marrieds and I remember my grandmother talking 

about the bitterly cold winters and the ground 

being frozen solid to a depth of 3 feet for months on end.

The land in the Teviot and Alexandra areas

 is so dry and barren and I always feel sorry

 for the pioneer women who first came through here.

The clock on the hill was a great marvel when it was first put up, and you can drive up to it and have a great view over the town.

The Clutha river passes through the town, flows on  down to Roxburgh, and has the most volume of water

 in any river in the country. I love the beautiful colour it is. Someone once described it as being turquoise and 

on a good day it is. You can't tell from my photo though.

We're nearly at our destination now but first a detour into Clyde.

This is where my GKB and I sometimes come to buy an ice cream and sit and just be. It is a sleepy little place apart from when it has it's wine and food festival. This is orchard country, stone fruit, with the odd vineyard thrown in for good measure.

A lot of the orginal buildings are still in use, 

like the hotel in the picture above. 

The city fathers have done a good job of 

preserving the historical feel of the old town while there

are also a lot of new homes being built on the outskirts.

Oh, did I mention this is where My GKB and I were married?

In a little stone church just around the corner

 from this street above.

I have a photo of the church, taken just recently,

 but do you think I can find it? No.

Now up the hill, past the Clyde dam and into the gorge. 

Twenty minutes driving beside Lake Dunstan 

and we arrive at our destination. Cromwell.

Set the caravan up, make a coffee and relax.

Orchards, vineyards and the lake on the doorstep 

and only an hour or two driving gets you to

 most of the southern tourist spots if you want to go.

What more do you need?

Well, I hope you've enjoyed your little trip through the gold towns. 

We always do.

Have a good week,

Diana

Along the roadside

We, my GKB and I, have just had a very relaxing five day weekend away at our caravan. Wonderful, relaxing days in the autumn sun. Brisk mornings and evenings and warm sunny days.

Lazy afternoons down by the lake, fishing... well there wasn't a fish rising anywhere, let alone biting, but what a pleasant way to spend our time.

On the drive up and back we took some snaps along the way, some pretty and some just a little unusual.

A stand of toetoe (pronounced toytoy) next to flax when we were stopped at some road works.

Giant pumpkins at a roadside stall.

More giants, rabbit sculptures in a small town along the way. I don't know what they were made of but they were some sort of metal. A rather watchful looking trio. Cute.

 And finally, a pond in the Cromwell Gorge on the opposite side of the road to the Lake. Rugged territory.

I've been home long enough now to feel like I haven't been away, oh dear. Getting back to work does that.

Have a good week, you all.

Central bunnies and Dunstan gold

I have just finished cleaning and tidying the room the 2 little boys use when they are here - for playing in, not sleeping. I found among other things, a bright red plate with what looked like someones science project growing in it, lurking under the couch. Anyway that is a job I have been putting off and it is now done - just looking at the mess was daunting, mainly toys scattered about amongst cushions and blankets but daunting all the same. It only took about 20 minutes when I finally got round to it.

What has this got to do with bunnies or gold you may ask? Well nothing really except that Easter has just been and gone and  I believe the Easter Bunny was very good to these two wee fellows :D) And Easter is a season of golden promise.

But we, the GKB and me, did happen to be in Central Otago when the big Easter bunny shoot was being judged in Alexandra and went to have a look at what all the fuss was about, not realizing really what we were walking into. We had wondered why we couldn't get a car park anywhere and had to park down a side street and could see a couple of marquees in the playing field so went to be nosy. Thousands (22,904 according to the paper) of bunnies lined up on the field waiting to be counted and judged. Probably hundreds of hares, lots of ferrets - I loved the creamy brown coats on some of them - six turkeys and a goat. And a little black rabbit ...

The presentations were being done as we walked through and a young bloke from Aussie was getting a bit of stick for not being able to understand proper English, but it was all in good fun and he got a prize for being the competitor who had travelled furthest to compete.

I know a few young blokes in Aussie who would probably love to make up a part of team sometime in the future, it's real man stuff, helps to keep the rabbit population under control in a small way. Oh did I mention there were also several dozen of those Aussie pest, the 'possum among the count?

And Dunstan Gold. Beautiful autumn colours on the poplar trees. I love these trees. Although close up they are not very inspiring to look at and you would probably never pick them for a landscaping project the wow factor in the autumn couldn't be any better. If you are lucky to see them en masse in the autumn, and if you are lucky enough to see them from above and from a distance they are the most glorious trees about. They turn bright golden before the leaves drop. To me they look like golden fingers stretching to the heavens and it is not hard to believe that God's creation is reaching up to Him in worship. Every branch is pointing skywards, each little baby branch is reaching skyward, the leaves all reach to the sky - absolutely beautiful.

Strangely this year, and I guess it has been such a funny season, some of the trees were bare of leaves at the top, were golden in the middle and still had some green growth at the bottom, but still lovely in a quirky way.

So that is my bunnies and gold story from my Easter break away in Cromwell in Central Otago. (An extra week would have been good, oh well...)