Hail stones

We had hail stones and sun at the same time..

Parked outside the Wedderburn Tavern in Central Otago

Our first month in Invercargill

Wow, we've been here for 4 weeks already.  We have aclimatised to the weather, (we do wear warmer clothes) it's blowing a howling gale from the north today, similar to the day we drove down here and it's warm. I have to say though that we have had some nice weather as well. We have certainly been using the 4 day weekends to our advantage and have discovered lots of interest down here. As an example, last weekend we took DREEEM up into Central Otago. We had the offer to stay on a property in Wedderburn which is on the Otago rail trail. We spent all of last Saturday at the Ranfurly annual Art Deco festival day which was fabulous. No going home early for us, there was so much going on with parades, locals all dressed in period costume, live music and street stalls. Warren had a go on a penny farthing (successfullly) and we were sunburnt by the end of the day. That night we dined at the Wedderburn tavern which is the one in the photo with our host family.  Sunday had us taken on a 4x4 drive to the top of their 5000 acre farm to admire the view, then some scenic discovery around Naseby and St Bathans, both small quaint gold mining towns.  We must go back for more! We have settled into Edel and Peters back garden and think we will be here for sometime. Edel and I share transport to work and they keep us active on cycling trips (Railtrail planned for Easter weekend), walks and kayaking. 

Travelling south from Whangarei to Invercargill

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Me and Mum

Recreation

We have been here for a week now and have had a chance to explore a little of this lovely city. Invercargill is a city of friendly helpful people. The streets are wide, there is very little traffic, probably because of few people living here and there are parks throughout the city which are very well presented. There are walking and cycling tracks throughout and the shops are inviting.

We have managed a few cycle tracks over the last few days, not rreally mountain biking as the city is flat but really nice tracks amongst pine forest and along the lagoon adjoining the city. There is so much to do but have work for the next 3 days so maybe next weekend....

Summer??

Is it still summer in the north? 
We have had to pull out layers of clothes that we only use in the winter in the north, not February!  Slippers, jerseys, the electric blanket has been used and we haven't used one of those for years...  Apparently we should have arrived 2 days earlier as Peter tells us they had summer here for the 2 days previous to our arrival.