February 16
Twizel to Lawrence
I awoke to see bright sunshine outside. I organised myself in a leisurely fashion and set off with my camera. There were blue skies and sunshine in one direction, dark clouds in the other.
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I reached the cafe with its own playground, at least 400 metres from the motel, ordered bacon and eggs and donned my sweater. The dark clouds appeared to be winning. I ate my breakfast with a very strong coffee, watching as lots of others arrived to eat, and started to feel cold.
Once I'm back at the motel, I'll be switching from shorts to trousers. I ignored the last impulse and remained in shorts, a good decision as the blue sky won out and it became quite warm.
The road starts on the flat, following the Ahuriri Valley, and gradually rises onto the Lindis Pass. There are lots of brown fields with bright green irrigated areas. This is ironic, given what's happening further North.The Pass is pretty, without being exciting or challenging. Right at the top there were road works and there were more on the other side. They didn't hold me up for too long, however. |
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Eventually, after an hour and a half, I reached Tarras, my designated coffee stop. The sky was blue and the sun was bright. I sat in the garden, had a good coffee and took some photos. The weather was glorious.
Left: Tarras - my normal coffee stop |
I drove along the edge of the lake to Cromwell and then looped round the industrial estate looking for the Quartz Reef winery. As usual, I found it by accident. It must be the ugliest winery I have ever visited, a tin shed in the middle of an industrial estate.
The staff are lovely and the wine is excellent. I had a chat, tasted some and bought enough to give as presents on the rest of my journey.
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In the centre of town, I took the obligatory photo of the big fruit, had lunch in a cafe and did a little shopping.
The road out follows the Clutha Valley and I have driven it many times. The area is famed for its fruit and I stopped at a couple of roadside stalls searching for plums for Barbara. They turned out to be on sale at supermarket prices so I didn't buy.
I arrived safely at Barbara and Stephen's and settled in for an evening of food and conversation.