I woke early from the cries of the seagulls wheeling about the
irrigation pond adjacent to the camping ground, but soon fell asleep again. It
was pleasing to wake again at a much more respectable hour proving that we are
slipping back into holiday mode, totally independent of working people’s
schedules. We spent the entire morning messing about with installation and
other sundry matters, including the fitting of the new car seat covers. These
are “mink” a la chinois (yeah,
right!); actually more like licked cat fur, if you understand the analogy. But
they do, for now, look quite good and serve to give my husband the comfort of a
Lazyboy armchair he has been seeking
for some time.
After lunch and after the other ten camping parties had long gone, we
resumed our trip southbound on the main highway, crossed the Rangitata River,
yet another very wide braided river, then turned westward toward Geraldine on
the highway that would take us on through to Mount Cook (Plan B which has
actually become Plan A since abandoning the initial sampling of Golden Bay). We
paused at Geraldine, a charming town well established in its rural setting.
This lovely village has a population of just less than 2,500 and most of
the services that the average rural service centre requires. We had a key cut
in the local Hammer Hardware and patronised the Fresh Choice supermarket, the
first of many we will no doubt use during this South Island trip.
The Geraldine area was first settled by Europeans in the 1840s and in
1854, the first bark hut was built in what is now the main street, Talbot
Street. Sheep runs were soon established in the area together with pit saw
milling of the native bush. The bush was cleared and wheat crops planted across
the plains.
Originally called Talbot Forest, Geraldine was renamed FitzGerald in
1857 after the first superintendent of Canterbury. The name was finally changed
to Geraldine, which was the FitzGeralds’ family name in Ireland. Geraldine
became a Town Board in 1884 and a Borough in 1905. It was incorporated in the
Ashburton electorate in 1908, when its hotels were closed. It remained “dry”
until 1950 when the Geraldine Licencing Trust Hotel opened.
Chris has been consumed by the problem of lack of appropriate storage in
our bathroom; there is a good looking cabinet incorporating the hand basin, but
actually not very practical for our own purposes. We have purchased hanging
caddies which proved only to be a temporary measure. He was sure that any RV
service and supply centre could provide answers, hence we altered our planned
route; we headed back to the Timaru on the coast.
Southern RV produced their catalogues and assured us they could have any
product delivered to us before the end of the week, but when we measured up the
possibilities, the solution was still as far off as before. We googled Bunnings, but there is none in Timaru, which
did surprise us. However we were able to locate the Mitre 10 and headed there
in the scant hope of resolving our problem, now viewed from a more lateral
view. We emerged from there with storage baskets, a temporary measure but not
entirely satisfying my husband. Alas the task could be likened to a terrier not
willing to release his bone. I had had enough of chasing around urban suppliers
for bits and pieces. Chris suggested we check out the spots available by the
Timaru Council for self-contained motorhomes at Caroline Bay, but I was keen to
escape the town, albeit this rural centre.
This was not the first time we had visited Timaru, and this time we
really are not doing it justice. Previous visits we have spent several days,
exploring the excellent art gallery and doing some of the many walks promoted
in the area.
Timaru is a major port city, the area populated by almost 47,000 folk,
the city just short of 32,000. It serves the prosperous agricultural hinterland
with links to Geraldine, Temuka passed through today and Pleasant Point we will
travel through tomorrow. It is the second largest urban centre in the
Canterbury region.
European settlement began with the construction of a whaling station in
1839 at Patiti Point, another free camping spot we could have chosen to stay.
It was not until 1859 when the ship SS
Strathallan arrived from England carrying a party of 120 immigrants that
solid European settlement began.
After numerous shipwrecks off the coast, an artificial port was developed
in 1877. This was the beginning of on-going work that provided for reclamation of
Caroline Bay which is also a camping spot we considered for our overnight
refuge.
The last time we were here coincided with an election, and political
tragicks that we are, we just had to sit glued to the television until the
results were final. Alas, our television gave up the ghost, or rather rattled a
connection that was subsequently repaired by a wonderful chap here in Timaru,
but that night we sought solution by patronising one of the Clubs which had
several televisions available for their members. But … we were ignorant of the
fact that these clubs do not allow for political variations and as such do not risk
the broadcast of such potential inflammatory sessions. We paid out for dinner
at the club before learning we were to be deprived of the visual joy of
election results. Instead we retreated to the Port and listened to the results
on our radio, checking out the statistics from time to time on the
computer. I cannot remember the results
of that particular election but I do remember our grief at the lack of engagement.
Just back tracking to Temuka, which we passed through today; back in the
day or more particularly in the 1970s, Temuka was famous for its pottery. We, modern
young women of the day, in the 1970s, bought up pottery from the local potter,
or my mother who turned out enough to stock a sales / exhibition annually, but
all the time wishing we could afford to afford Temuka pottery, so clearly
identified, so sophisticated, or so we thought. When we came through here last
time, six years or so ago, we called into the Temuka factory shop and I was
somewhat disappointed that they had moved with the times and their wares were
no longer so unique that a layman such as myself was unable to identify
“Temuka”.
We did on that visit discover a clutch of wonderfully talented artists
working and exhibiting out of an old factory, perhaps a Dairy Company building?
Today, as we drove through, I was unable to find the building and so we were
unable to repeat that excellent experience.
Back to Timaru, we pulled away from the Mitre 10, and Chris asked for my
recommendations. As I have already mentioned, I was feeling all shopped-out and
suggested we return north to this racecourse POP and so we did. It is en route
to our next planned destination, is a NZMCA blessed camp with an Iron Maiden to
take our $6 per van per night and here we are. With a little luck we will have
little contact with urban centres for the next few days or weeks apart from
enough to buy the odd loaf of bread.
I have already spied a pair of trotters in training so we should be
treated to many more in the early hours of the morning should we be awake. It
is otherwise a very quiet spot; only two other parties in here as the sun
readies itself for bed.
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