Back to the East Coast - day 8, ending in Oamaru

 We decided we wanted to get out of town by 9am, and we did pretty well to do so as planned. Stop one was Cromwell. We liked the big fruit sign (but didn't feel the need to get a photo) and drove past the orchards from whom we have had stone fruit deliveries in the past.

Our first stop was a cafe for a coffee. An injured Davie has slowed us down for sure. We found an op shop which had not one, but three identical sequined tops - and with some encouragement and fun, all three kids were festuned and photographed - expect them to appear on a community newsletter one day.

The sparkly tops

The signs helped us realise we were not where we wanted to be

We knew there was a heritage village somewhere in Cromwell, and thankfully there were signs to tell us where to go. Back into the car - and what a delight. There are many buildings rebuilt and moved after they were flooded in the making of the Clyde Dam. There are cafes, lovely gift stores and cool displays. 

The next stop was Alexandra for lunch. We thought we found the best and safest place to eat, but messages seemed mixed, so we tried the next suggested safe place, but it didn't display good practices to ensure cross contamination doesn't occur. (gf stuff not on the top shelf, non dedicated gf tongs etc). The third option looked safe, but a proper establishment, with set tables and waiting to be seated. Back to place number one, messages better understood, then some delicious gf 3 cheese toasties arrived. It all took more time than it needed to, but hey.

Most of the journey taken today was well off the tourist route. It was glorious driving, mostly the only car on the road, and easy passing when you caught up with something goung slower. I convinced the family that a stop at Moeraki Bolders was a good idea. The conversations were getting heated, and a bit circular - so off we went, despite the tide being in.

Sleepy, sleepy

Onto the East Caost again

Into some lovely accomodation here in Oamaru, the pain in Davie's leg means he needs a snooze after a long drive. We'll need to get to the grocery store to help with Breakfast. Fortunately we are nice and close to Whitestone Cheese for our factory tour tomorrow.

We tried to make a brownie, but the oven didn't seem to heat up properly. After the second 20 minutes had passed, with the dial right up we gave up and went off to Scott's Brewery for loaded fries and gf beer.

There is an excellently themed playground near by, with plenty of dodgy play equipment.

A very steep slide

Once it was dark we went penguin hunting. They are noisy, smelly and so much fun.

After penguin watching we came home and made cheese toasties and tried to get the microwve to cook the corn and the oven to cook the brownie. Well, in the end, we burnt the brownie. Apparently using the cook top is the password for getting the oven to work. Sigh.

The weather report for tomorrow isn't so great - so we will play things by ear to see what we do when we leave Oamaru to head into the mountains for our last two nights.