Holdens and Hermitage

Holden heaven

We learnt by accident some days ago that our time in Timaru coincided with the National Holden meet.  After a hotel breakfast which we had pre-ordered last night, but didn’t need, we said our goodbyes to my cuz and left for the hall where the Holdens had assembled.

Even though I don’t have a strong interest in cars, it was impressive to see the love and money that had been showered on these old vehicles to keep them mint.  It was a Holden heaven for those who have a love for the marque, in fact a marque that’s diminishing in the world of globalisation.

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Duntroon’s old pub

We left Timaru with me in the driver’s seat for a change, bound for Duntroon.  It was a large (double the time) detour towards a nightstop at Tekapo.  The route took us through a very long straight road called Seven Mile Road.

The reason for the detour was to see the old country pub here at Duntroon.  Brent, our host in Christchurch from three nights ago had bought the rundown retired pub and given it a new lease of life.  Being on the end of a popular cycle trail, he gets a lot of business from cyclists.

After a light bite here, we took a look at a couple of the nicely done-up rooms available.

Duntroon’s old pub has been given a new lease of life.

The Hermitage

After my short hour at the wheel, Kim took over the driving.  It would be about 2h to get to Tekapo for our nightstop.  That would be far too early, so we decided to do a side-trip en route to The Hermitage Hotel where we would get a view of Mount Cook.

This would be a first for both of us.  That drive of 2h took us inland before hugging the shores of Lake Pukaki, which is normally stunning in milky turquoise.  But with the cloud cover it was lifeless today.

The Hermitage Hotel’s cafe was absolutely buzzing with visitors being Easter Saturday.  We sat on the deck with our cuppa tea and hot cross bun to enjoy the view of New Zealand’s highest mountain at 3724m. Even though it’s much lower than Mount Kinabalu, it’s a difficult mountain and you can’t take 10 year old kids up to the summit. Or the ordinary adult.

The wind-chill took us back inside to finish our cuppa before we did our final leg of the drive towards Tekapo.

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Tekapo

I took over the driving again from the Hermitage to Tekapo but with strong cross-winds, I didn’t feel comfortable with the sway of our small car. Kim offered to take over and we reached Tekapo around 1600.

We had organised a homestay room which turned out nicely, once we had found it.  Homes here have no post boxes and many don’t have street numbers.  Fortunately, ours did have a small sign with its number on the house.  The homestay was in a new extension to an old home, very clean and only a short walk from town.

After a rest (or rather baking) on the sunny deck, we walked to town for dinner with the obligatory detour to the Church of the Good Shepherd.  We checked out the dinner choices and combined with our host’s advice, we turned up at a Japanese and Thai place around 1800.

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We were lucky we didn’t turn up too late.  We were second on their waiting list and had quite a wait.  Other people who had waited for a table then had lengthy waits for their food.

When our turn came at 1900, they told us we could only have the table till 2000.  We were good with that but to ensure we got out quickly, they brought out our meals within minutes!

Kim’s tummy was feeling bloated up after several nights of western food.  The white boy can’t cope with white people food.  But the Tom Yum soup and a stirfry seemed to settle his bloatedness.

Night sky

Tekapo and the surrounding area is famous for its night sky, being so far away from major towns.  Without light pollution or clouds, one can have a good view of the heavens above, and get oriented with the constellations with a suitable app on the phone.

We hopped in the car when darkness had truly fallen and drove to the church area.  While it was dark, it was also super windy and cold.  We lost interest within minutes and returned to the homestay for the night.