Beauty in Landscapes and Art (Day 100)

So here we are in triple figures. We have reached day 100. One Hundred days since we have been in the UK. 8 Countries, 14 flights and numerous beds later!

We got our stuff together, left a clean and tidy pad for Robin to return home to, and off we drove South, heading for Sawyers Bay via Timaru. We didn’t have much time in Timaru, just a quick stop off for lunch, Tim had his hair cut. Not too much to write home about here. We missed Te Ana Maouri Rock Art Museum – it was shutting in 20 minutes. Rather than spend any more time there, we carried on driving down to our destination. The scenery was beautiful, Mountains to our right and at times the turquoise sea with frothy white surf to our left. We drove through Oamaru which looked nice. The town looked well cared for with a Victorian streetscape and landscape with a bed of white roses and another with blue delphiniums standing tall. The intriguing thing was that it also housed the Head Quarters for SteamPunk!

We eventually turned off State Highway 1 and the road changed from smooth and straight, to bumpy and wiggly. We climbed over and round a number of hills with the signs of quite a few road slippages. After seeing the amazing panoramic views over the sweeping bay of Port Chalmers, we descended into Saywers Bay to our Airbnb for the night.

After dropping our Rucksacks off, we drove to Port Chalmers to have a walk and find somewhere to eat. We parked the car, looking on TripAdvisor, our friendly food guru, we found Carey’s Bay Historical Hotel, booked a table in 20 minutes giving us time to walk there. Just as we were starting our walk, I spied a room beyond a window with amazing artwork. The owner invited us in. Wow. Delightful large geometric colourful artwork plus sculptures made out of parts of a piano. Chris, the artist is a great guy, loves the Beatles, originates from the North Island. He showed us round and was keen for us to take photos of his beautiful artwork. There is more on his facebook page @Christopherflavellart.

We arrived at the Hotel, walking passed the Docklands. This imposing Hotel was built in 1874 and I can imagine way before the large Shipping Containers were there. I expect the owners were miffed when the Docks were built, spoiling the scenery and ambience of the place. Our meal was delicious, a huge plate of seafood and the largest green lipped mussels I have ever seen. A great end to our 100th day of travelling.