Day 16: Timaru to Lyttleton
Drove into Timaru and parked at the beach for a stroll around the town. Most of it is cut off from the shoreline by a huge container handling terminal, but this isn't so bad since the beach is all dirty grey volcanic gravel, and very depressing. But while I walked alongside it I did see something new to me; a seabird dropping oysters on rocks in order to break them open. The first time I thought it might be an accident; but when it did it a second time with the same oyster, I decided it was for real.
Found a way into Timaru past the oil depot, and began at the north end of town, where they have made a brave attempt to lay out pleasure gardens and a panorama that runs down to the river. There were some nice roses, and yet another aviary--walk-through, this time--but under a grey gloomy sky it all looked very dreary.
Timaru itself is laid out fairly oddly. Apparently there were two rival town plans, both of which got started before they decided to merge, which may explain part of it. There are newish stretches and some nice spots, but also sections that look quite run down. It's the first time I've seen all the charity shops in town on one street, side by side. There are nice churches and and old railway station, now serviced by buses, where I had a bowl of latte--i.e. a big flat cup--before walking back to the car.
Just inland from the main road there is a town called Pleasant Point which has a railway museum, so I decided to drop in. I was lucky enough to arrive on a 'steaming day', when they were running not one but two vehicles over the remaining 2km of line. One was a rebuilt Model T Ford, with capacity for 20 people, though I was the sole passenger. I took it from the town down to the museum itself, and was shown around by the driver. They have a dedicated and apparently quite successful team working on restoring old engines and carriages, and they now get tour groups coming through. Among the exhibits was a 'radio car' from 1929, designed to travel around NZ by rain extolling the benefits of this wonderful new technology.
Caught the train back with a tour group and looked around for lunch; but nothing palatable was to be had in Pleasant Point or anywhere else until I got back to the main road and found myself in Temuka, where I stopped on the way down. I got a bacon and egg pasty at the same shop where I had tried my first Afghan. Outside the larger cities the choice of food seems to be mostly between places selling horrible sausage rolls and pies for five dollars, and places selling slightly less horrible sausage rolls and pies for twelve dollars. Even the supermarkets have a very meagre range of lunch products. And Eggs Benedict are very 'in' for some reason, but I have yet to encounter a Caesar salad.
Turned off the road again and took the back route to Christchurch, through Malvern, which was nicer driving but significantly longer, particularly when I was stopped at a temporary traffic light for roadworks, or stuck behind a truck. Quite tired when I got into Christchurch at 6 pm or so, and more tired by the time I got to Lyttleton on the other side of the city. This is somewhere I visited for a day last time I was here, and words really can't do it justice; it's a largish village hurled up and down the sides of a steep valley, with a busy port at the bottom and a single main street. Think of it as a mixture of Paddington and Double Bay. There are two bars and a brewery on the main street and plethora of coffee shops, but the supermarket is pretty good too. The accommodation is a two-room cottage with an internal toilet and shower, about a quarter of the way up one of the steepest streets in town. I had visions of seeing my little Honda roll past backwards on its way to the main street, but so far the handbrake cable has held.
And so to bed with a tablet, to recover my bearings after too much time behind the wheel.
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