March 7, 2016 Blenheim to Christchurch

Today was a drive day.  We loaded the van and were on the road by 9:30 am.  Blenheim wasn’t much of a town so we headed straight south. 

The first detour was a salt works down at Lake Grasmere.  While we were driving to the facility we met some other tourists on their way back on the wrong side of the road. It was pretty scary as it highlighted how easy it would be to make a mistake.    The salt panning was really quite a large operation as the salt pans must have covered several square miles.  The sea water was flooded into successively more concentrated pans until it was let into the last pan and then the salt was scraped up with large front end loaders and loaded into rail cars.  The salt looked quite gray so it must be forwarded to another facility for final processing.  

Agnes took the wheel and had her first open road experience on the left side.  She did very well negotiating what was a very narrow road by North American standards.  Agnes felt like it was pretty stressful.  Jos said she did very well and will have no problems with a little more experience.

We traveled along the coast line watching the sea crashing along the beach. There were lots a great spots to stop and see the seals along the coast.  The road was incredibly twisting and had a bunch of really small single lane tunnels.  There were signs advising that passing trucks was not allowed in the tunnels.  How that would be possible is hard to imagine as the tunnels were no more than 10 wide.  There were some high black clouds which were looking really menacing and which obscured the mountain tops.  However it did not rain and even though it was pretty windy it was still nice and warm.  We stopped at the Ohau stream walk and walked in about one kilometer to a great water fall.  The stream is where New Zealand Fur seal pups are nurtured during the winter months.  There were only 4 pups in the stream as breeding season has not started. 

We are in great three bedroom apt tonight.  It is an Airbnb and is extremely well equipped.  Jos and I ducked out to get beer and saw some lamb chops in the supermarket.  So Jos and I cooked supper. We had grilled lamb chops, sautéed mushrooms, corn on the cob, and baby potatoes.  Lamb chops were a real treat for us. Getting good lamb in Canada is not a real possibility.   What a great supper topping off a great day.

Bet nobody knows what a “trundler”  is.

Terry