On the road

We set off this morning to drive from Oamaru to Ranfurly via Palmerston on what is known as “the pig route”. It’s a very scenic route through a stunning landscape.  It was a beautiful sunny day with blue skies and we thoroughly enjoyed the drive.  We duly arrived in Ranfurly, which was much smaller than I remembered from when we cycled through on the Otago Rail Trail back in 2013.  We managed to find a café and had a light lunch then popped across the road to visit a gallery where some beautiful photographs were displayed.  The owner of the gallery was also the photographer and framer.

Not long after we left Ranfurly to drive to Honey Cottage at Millers Flat the rain started, not driving rain but heavy enough to hide the scenery and drop the temperature.  We drove through the Roxburgh Village but didn’t stop because of the rain.  We’ll return in the morning before heading to Lawrence.

We settled into Honey Cottage, got a fire going, did Wordle and Quordle and I also managed to dip into blip journals before driving to the Millers Flat Tavern to meet a group of friends we used to walk with in Auckland.  They’ve been cycling one of the cycle trails and were staying nearby.  We’d arranged some time ago to meet up with them for dinner tonight and again when they finish the trail in Lawrence tomorrow.  One of them, who moved back to Australia around the time we left on our overseas trip last year.  A will be coming back to Oamaru with us tomorrow and staying until Sunday, when we’ll drive her to Christchurch to catch her flight back to Australia.  We had a lovely evening with them and a delicious meal and went back to their accommodation for a hot drink and some chocolate before returning to Honey Cottage.  It’s dark in the country so the stars in the sky were absolutely stunning.

I only took one photo today, of the old Ranfurly Station which is now an Information Centre.