We left the hotel just before ten am and travelled
south through the northern vineyards and
then via Kaikora where the whales are in profusion and we stopped for a coffee
and cake around 12.30 after quite a successful fast drive through the
countryside as we have over 450 kilometres to complete today to get to Timaru.
The weather en-route was ranging between really great and not so great with
threats of thunderstorms which did not arrive. We then went through the Waipai
valley vineyards for about 30 minutes and ended up in a lunch time café for an
excellent sausage roll, best for a long time.
We drove around the outside of Christchurch and looking
forward to a couple of weeks hence when we can take a look at the earthquake
damage and hope they have it under control.
 |
| OUCH!!! |
South of Christchurch there is a busy place called
Asburton which we got through successfully and about 1.5 kilometres outside on
the Route 1 going South a bloody idiot in a 4x4 decided to do a u turn and did
not see us and so we were just passing him by and suddenly Jennifer shouted and
at the same time I saw this guy pulling out and so to late we hit each other and
I had to avoid cars and trucks coming the other way which we were lucky to do.
We stopped of course as the car was un driveable and I felt like punching this
guy but this would not do any good so said what was he doing for which he
apologised straight away and said he did not see us. We thing he was doing and
illegal U turn , but anyway we called the cops and he gave the same story but
as nobody hurt, thank god, they cleared off and we had to wait four hours for
the hire company to find another vehicle in Christchurch and drive it for about
50 miles to us. So we exchanged cars and arrived in Timaru rather late and our
plans for the evening had been ruined, our planned fish and chips on the beach
were out and so we ended up in the hotel with a takeaway Domino’s pizza. It
could have been a lot worse than it was so we are truly thankful it was alright
in the end.
 |
| THE CULPRIT |
And so to bed. Boy what a day!!!!!
