Grahame Sydney country...north to Christchurch

We're just back from a three week trip home to New Zealand - these trip postings are in reverse order so perhaps scroll down to Towards the Canterbury, not so Plains post and start there...

When I lived in Paris a few years ago I had three Grahame Sydney prints on my wall to remind me of home. I've always had a passion for landscape painting, and his evocative wide open portraits of the Central Otago and Maniatoto are hauntingly beautiful.

Timeless Land

Ahuriri Saddle

Road West Ida Valley

On this day we traveled north to Christchurch on a mad dash to get there by sunset. From Roxborough, north to St Bathans and then east to Palmerston - surrounded by Grahame's canvases all the way.

Robbie and the kids were booked on the Picton ferry the following day and it would take them a morning to get there so we were on a mission.

A full day on the road needed to start on time. Luckily we woke early - in fact, we hadn't got much sleep as the rain followed us north and the heavy drops on the roof of the campervan didn't provide the lullaby effect we'd hoped for. When I got up Robbie was already dressed and sitting up front working on a work proposal.

We got a text from Tina saying she'd been listening to the news and asking us if we were warm enough...once we hit the road it was soon pretty evident what she meant - it was snowing!

The fruit trees and hills from Roxborough north to Alex were dusted in snow (and we'd just left snow in the Midwest!).

Just up the road from Roxborough, where we'd stayed the night, is Fruitlands, or Bald Hill Flat as it used to be called during the late 1800s (and before that Speargrass Flat). Originally the area was a strong hub for the goldminers working the sluicings - hence the name Bald Hill as the miners had turned the hills flat.

Mum's Dad grew up here, and there are records of him attending school at Bald Hill Flat from 1879-1883 before they moved back to Caversham, Dunedin. His father was running the hotel and store in Bald Hill Flat during this time. We passed the old building on the main road and stopped to take some photos - although it seems there is some confusion as to whether it was this building (left) or what is now the Fruitlands Gallery (right) just up the road. Here are photos of both...

We stopped for caffeine and a hearty breakfast at the Court House Cafe (can highly recommend!) in Alexandra then started to wend our way north following the Heritage Gold Trail through Ophir where we met one of this ladies working at the local post office (only open a few hours a day), where the kids got to see a postcard to Milwaukee (yes, I posted ourselves a postcard) being stamped behind the scenes.

There were cyclists everyone and we read that the area is now well traversed by tourists traveling the heritage trail by bike.

St Bathans was wonderful. A small settlement with only a pub (Robbie still can't work out why anyone would ever want to live there - "there isn't even a store!" - yes, that's the reason some people would move there!), but a haunted pub with a magical past (and I know for a fact that Grahame Sydney hangs out at the Vulcan Hotel!).

I'll let the pictures tell the story...

On the way to Ranfurly I made Robbie stop while I took pictures of some old beehives on the side of the road. The kids thought I was absolutely crazy because I was taking so many photos - and now, stopping to photograph some old crates on the side of the road...I was definitely loopy!...more painting inspiration!

We started to leave the stormy skies behind, finally, as we rose up out of the Maniototo and headed across to Palmerston and the coast. Lunch was more blue cod at Fleurs, a famous fish shanty just off the beach at Moeraki, a little south of Oamaru.

Just along the road are the Moeraki Boulders - prehistoric looking stone eggs just plonked on the beach..

And then it was on to Oamaru and some cheesecake at the Whitestone cheese cafe (boy, wish I could get my hands on that place - it SO needed a transformation. Considering how terrific their cheese if, the cafe should have been brilliant, and not in their industrial looking warehouse/factory). We took a wander round the historic old part of town filled with glistening Oamaru stone.

More memories of my childhood - Lane's Emulsion - one spoonful each day before my afternoon nap!

And then via an intensely straight, well worn, well-remembered 250km of roadway we were back in Christchurch and my road trip was over. I remained in Christchurch to spend some quality time with Tina and Mum, while Robbie and the kids wandered north to Auckland via Picton, Taupo and Waitomo.

The South Island is a gloriously magical place. I probably need to spend a month in St Bathans on the end of a paint brush. Maybe Robbie could spend the time traveling to and from Ranfurly, going to the shop for us...