May 9
Dunedin to Oamaru

The weekend saw most of Otago have its normal monthly rain in a day. Typical! Monday morning produced very dull skies and gentle drizzle. I drove into town, had a wander and then a coffee and a bacon sandwich in a pleasant and elderly cafe. The drizzle continued to fall as I left town and, as the motorway climbs over the hill, it met the clouds coming down. Luckily this didn't last long and I was out in the open again as I returned to sea level.
A very pretty coffee	Dull & dreary in the Octagon

Blue Skin Bay is pretty enough but it was still very cloudy. I would have liked to wander down to the beach but the railway line offered a most inconvenient barrier. I turned onto the coast road which undulates through a series of small villages, criss-crossing the railway line at regular intervals and offering a few glorious cliff top views.
	Blueskin Bay
Lots of railway crossings	The coast road at Warrington

Karitane	Karitane
	At Karitane, the road drops right down to sea level at a very small harbour. There were even a few signs of the sun, which came and went rapidly for the rest of the morning.   Left: Karitane

Back on the main road I stopped at Katiki Beach, where there was actually enough sun to cast shadows on the deserted sand. Within a few minutes, however, it had gone and it was almost drizzling again.

	Katikati Beach - sunshine at last
Katikati Beach - even some shadows	Brydone Hotel, Oamaru

Oamaru was my planned destination and I drove through the old town seeking accommodation. Finding nothing other than the big hotel, which the WWW said was full, I parked and wandered in on the off-chance. The receptionist said they didn't have many rooms but gave me a key so that I could examine one. I feared the worst but found a room with a large bed, a large lounge and all the obvious facilities.

There was plenty of room for me but holding a party might have been difficult. I signed on the dotted line and then drove North for lunch.

The Riverstone Kitchen has just won the Cuisine Restaurant of the Year trophy, is in the middle of nowhere, and is in an unprepossessing corrugated iron building.

The grounds contained a varied assortment of stuff, including rows of large pumpkins. Luckily, none of them appeared to have made their way into my lunch.

The view across the garden to the row of excavators was "interesting", the staff were extremely professional and the fish stew (Bouillabaisse by another name) was to die for. Full of clams, half a crab and a fish head with attachments.

I made quite a mess but the waitress had obviously seen my eating style before and had issued me with two large napkins and one large finger bowl.

The Ostler Blue House Vines Riesling, from the neighbouring Waitaki Valley, which accompanied it was crisp and dry.

The Riverstone Kitchen	Across the garden
Fish stew	A mess afterwards

I was good, turned down a second glass of wine and rejected the sweet menu. I ordered coffee and suggested to the waitress that they should offer something small and chocolaty to go with it. The puddings were all large and the ones sitting on the counter looked amazing.

By now the sun was pouring through the plastic sheeting which served as a moveable window/wall. Dining there on a sunny evening with the window raised would be a very enjoyable experience. The main problem is that it is miles from anywhere. I’m sure a taxi from Oamaru would cost a fortune.

A well designed restaurant	Pumpkins in  the garden - not in my food
An assortment of stuff
Pretty in pink	Noisy local

The shop in the grounds was an amazing mix of good cooking stuff and an eclectic assortment of collectibles (junk?) There was even an aviary, full of relatively quiet birdies. and a sulphur-crested cockatoo hanging around in a tree making lots of noise.

Back at Oamaru, I found the hotel car park, dragged my bags several miles along dark corridors to my room and dumped them there. (The following morning, I drove to the front door, parked outside & carried my bags a very short distance!) The town is best known for its white stone buildings, which went up in the 1870s and '80s, when the town was in a boom based on wheat and other agricultural exports.

Oamaru Opera House	National Bank, Oamaru
The Woolstore, Oamaru	The Criterion, Oamaru

When the commodities markets collapsed in the 1890s, the town went into decline, where it remained for 50 years. This meant that no one needed either the buildings or the land they stood upon, so they remained intact. Many of them have now been restored as a unique Victorian commercial and industrial area in the Southern hemisphere.

	The Merc & Credit Building
Fleur's, Oamaru

At the end of the main street is the Loan & Mercantile building, now the Oamaru home of Fleur Sullivan, one of New Zealand's most famous restaurateurs. It is a huge barn of a place, much of which is awaiting restoration.

I booked a table for dinner, ordered a perry and then spotted the engraving of Quatre Bras hanging on the wall. I told the barman all about the family connection and he said that it belonged to Fleur but he had no idea where she had acquired it. He promised to tell her all about it's history. I walked back to the hotel by way of the harbour, taking a few photos as I went. Once back at the hotel, I had a rest and prepared myself for dinner.

Oamaru beach

I returned to the restaurant and was directed to my end of a long refectory table, where I was soon joined by a couple from Christchurch, who occupied the other end.

Oamaru at night	Warm blue cod and white bean salad

We chatted throughout and I had a very enjoyable evening. The first course was an Italianate warm blue cod and white bean salad, with lots of olive oil. The braised lamb shoulder was also excellent, very similar to a dish that I cook at home. As a combination, however, they weren't successful as both contained lots of white beans. As I also had a lot of white beans in my fish stew at lunchtime, I was slightly over-beaned.

When I discussed the issue with the waiter/barman, he agreed that I had a point and that they should have labelled the dishes a little better. Individually, they were both very good.

The wine list was interesting so I had a Maude Chardonnay with the salad and then two glasses of pinot noir with the lamb. One was the house pinot, made by Sam Neil's Two Paddocks, as a cheap special. The other was from Three Miners. I was able to identify them (I'm pleased to say) and the Three Miners was markedly superior.

When we had finished eating, we abandoned to the bar, where my new friends had a tasting of New Zealand Whiskies and I tried a couple of glasses of the white port from Aurum Estate, which visited last year. I also tried an aperitif from Pasquali in the Hakataramea Valley. Both wines were good and worthy of attention in the future. Throughout these tastings we were given excellent support by the waiter/barman, also an emigre from Christchurch, who was very good at his job. The waitress, one of Fleur’s granddaughters, was also excellent.

We emerged to find that there had been some rain while we were eating but that it was now a lovely warm and still evening. We walked back to the hotel together as, quite by chance, we were all staying there.