The Road to Christchurch

All three of us were headed to CHCH but R+R had booked a bus before I had offered them a lift - not such a bad deal as it was a very cheap ticket. It was due to be a 6hr drive so I set off in good time to allow myself decent stops en-route. I headed out of Wanaka passing the airport complex where the driving range and Beerworks Brewery are situated. The first skydivers of the day were heading Earth bound. The road headed north east and was unexpectedly flat to begin with before heading skywards to get over the Lindis Pass - I wasn't expecting to climb to 950m and was unprepared for such an alpine crossing, but the snow was thin and I was descending before the snow started to fall. Soon I was in Twizel, a small town constructed in the 1960's for the workers who built the nearby hydro power station. Few people decided to leave once the construction had finished and clung on to the community that had been created. Further north was Lake Tekapo - a lake full of 'rock flour' that gave it a wonderful blue hue. The snow was coming thick and fast now but luckily was not settling. I took a quick peek at the 'Church of the Old Sheppard' that takes and idyllic location at the head of the lake. Beside this is a small memorial to sheep-dogs. As was walking back a tour bus of Japanese people packed into the tiny church - not sure how they all fitted but origami must have been employed! From here to my lunch stop in Fairlie I passed thousands of cairns that had been erected at the side of the road. This strange feature must have stretched for 10-15km. My guidebook did not shed any light on this but I guess it was something that passers by regularly add to. In Fairlie I stopped at the Old Library cafe and was greeted by a Scottish accent. I gorged myself on the biggest plate of potato skins you have ever seen, smothered with tomato sauce, cheese, cream cheese and chives! With the stuff I couldn't eat in a doggy-bag I headed on to CHCH passing merino sheep farms with signs proudly declaring 'Your ICEBREAKER comes from here!' Wearing mine, i smiled at this. The Canterbury Plains from Ashburton to CHCH are boring by NZ standards so I pushed on to make the city by dark. Of course - this meant hitting the city at rush hour. Without taking a incorrect turn, I was outside The Old Countryhouse before long.