Time to Head North Again...

Tuesday 22 July

After a wonderful long weekend with the Fernandi, Tuesday morning was pretty chilled - Louis went for a swim & I bought a bunch of crates to set to work on Project Pajero - rearranging our weight distribution and putting a few more things in the car rather than Banjo. After passing it many times on the route back from the pool, we finally got a chance to stop and snap a picture of this bizarre Freddie Mercury mural - to me it gives Terry Thomas vibes, though Ella reckons it's more Robbie Rotten from Lazy Town!

Back at the NZMCA, Louis sorted out the bikes and I emptied and repacked the Pajero’s boot using the new crates. After a light lunch we girded our loins & hit the hills out of Dunedin.

Almost immediately we found ourselves in a huge, long, slow queue as we hit the third or fourth big incline… found out later we were being held up by an enormous, heavy, wide caterpillar truck which made towing Banjo look like child’s play!

Heading up SH1 towards Oamaru then on towards Timaru, the landscape had the familiarity of a road well travelled - passing previous picnic stops, overnight camps and epic coastal views.

At Pareora we headed towards the coast and set up camp for the night at the Old Pareora School which now offers around 30 pitches for a koha, donation. I thought I’d take a walk down to the beach in the dark - but stumbled instead upon a huge Silver Ferns meat processing plant. The beach was protected by a long rocky barrier so I never reached the sand, but looking at the vast factory was fascinating and made me consider vegetarianism for a few short minutes… until I remembered we had delicious beef & caramelised onion burgers lined up for dinner! My taste buds always over rule my ethical forays into plant-based eating 😬