Eclectic Journey

Friday, 18 December 

On Thursday, Ned wanted to get at least a bit above Christchurch before stopping. As well, he was tired of driving so we spent that night at the Wayside Motor Lodge in Woodend. It is run by Mike Rostron, a former R&R disc jockey in South Africa.

On Friday, we departed at 9AM, intent upon clicking off some kilometers.

Mainline Station - outside

An hour or so up the road, just before the berg of Cheviot, we spotted the flag of the Netherlands at a darling roadside cafe called Mainline Station. We met chef-owner, John and the delightful server, Heidi (who was wearing blinking holiday earrings and a reindeer headband).

Mainline Station - inside 

Mainline Station - Garden

We ate in the magnificent garden, as the weather was good. There is even a pond for waterfowl. Everyone, including Heidi and John, work both the kitchen and the garden.

Chef John with "kitchen knife" 

My order was... orgasmic! It was a "toasty" that started with fresh out-of-the-oven home baked bread upon which was smeared a decadent mushroom béchamel. Upon that was stacked "hot" (spicy) pork, fresh garden tomatoes, cheese, bread&butter pickles (? - but it worked!). The smoked paprika set it all off oh-so-nicely!






John and Heidi both recommended that we drive the 28 kms loop out to Gore Bay.
There, we encountered yet another geological wonder (see Moereki Boulders post) - the Cathedral Gully.

The wind-sculpted sandstone spires reminded us of both Cappadocia in Turkey and Bryce Canyon in Utah.

BTW, there is a darling B&B in the sweet beach community out there that may be a "go back to" kind of place, especially with the Mainline Station Cafe so nearby.

Further up the coast we stopped at the touristic beach community of Kaikoura on the Kaikoura Peninsula. It's a magnificent juxtaposition of snow-capped mountains ringing the coastal shore and pastoral meadows (with requisite sheep...).  It's no wonder Peter Jackson chose to film Lord of the Rings here. 

This is what the Kaikoura Peninsula looks like from albatross-eye view.

 In addition to the magnificent scenery, the Kaikoura Cheese Tasting and Locavore Store was a hit. We learned that the sheep that produce milk for cheese are a different variety from the Merinos and such that produce wool. We didn't ask about the variety that are featured on many a menu, but we did purchase sheep cheese here and learned that the Kaikoura cheeses are featured at Cloudy Bay Winery. 

A bit further up the coast we came upon Nin's Bin, which we had read about.

 We had a delightful picnic lunch there - dining on whitefish, chips, and some... cheese!

After Blenheim we headed west toward Nelson, our destination. We wound up-up-up into volcanic forests that resemble both Flagstaff and parts of Oregon and Washington. I didn't get photos as we will be reversing the trip on Sunday en route to Picton.