Day 24 Kaka Point to Dunedin

Had a fun farewell with our hosts and made our way north.  The one hour drive took us all day!  Yes, of course we made a little detour and found a lot of New Zealand that we had never expected. Took ourselves off to Beaumont along the Clutha River, very beautiful drive.  Continued onwards to Roxburgh which is an amazing lovely country town and a great place to stop and wait-a-while.   The countryside continued to change as we continued to Alexandra.  Here we stopped and had some lunch, found a bank, fuelled up and continued on our loop. Some country towns had the most magnificent display of flowers seen.  Colours galore and one house better than the next, just like it was a competition keeping up with the Jones’s.   Next places were Ranfurly, Keyburn with a right turn to Midlemarch and Mosgiel.  Wow, what a road the last half hour or so, so much so that I was quite dizzy and nearly carsick by the time we reached the outskirts of Dunedin.  Should be used to going up and down mountains, bends galore.

On our travels we actually found that some farmers had to irrigate.  Not sure what they were growing.  This is a first that we have seen in the South Island.  The Walking Spray Booms were the largest we have ever seen.

Passed many deer farms, more sheep than we had seen before, Plus goats and cattle. The other tiny townships we travelled through also had plenty of lovely small Hotels.  Looks like the farmers  and other workers must have a wow of a time when not working!

There was still a small amount of snow in some of the ranges, but definitely the last of the season.  Tomorrow is the start of Summer!

Broom shrubs are in full flower right now and in total abundance throughout the day.  We can see how this is an absolutely noxious weed and a problem for the farmers.  So many Hill-slopes and many paddocks were totally covered in them, though for us to see them in full bloom of such mass yellow flowers and a large variety of coloured Lupins is quite beautiful for the traveller.  Today, we again traversed through areas where logging of pine trees took place and passed many heavy laden trucks filled with huge logs.

Mad Betty was good and ensured we found our destinations throughout the day and our B&B Farmstay.  Mind you she was way out on the distances re the property, but we saw it, so no great issue.  It is a lovely small farm, where sheep and chooks greeted us.  Our cottage is cosy and we have everything for our needs to make our next 2 days lovely.

I braved the walk up the hill to see the ocean.  The wind was incredible not to mention freezing.  Found the next door neighbour has Alpacas.  Gosh they have so much character and of course I took many photographs, but need to spend more time with them tomorrow.