Tekapo to Timaru
From Lake Tekapo (part of the Makenzie Region) to Timaru (in the Southern Canterbury region) you pass Burkes Pass (with Three Creeks selling wooden furniture and arts and crafts), Kimpbell (with a beautiful art gallery), Fairlie (with the Gem Alpaca Stud), Cave (that had a population of 1 in 2006 according to Wikipedia) and a few other small places. Each has its own unique character.
In Timaru we stayed at the Top 10 Holiday Park - they allow pets because the city hosts quite a few animal shows, I was told. Thing is, it's great if you're the only cat in a pet-friendly holiday camp, but if there are other cats, especially a big grey one you don't along with so well, it might be another matter.
Poor Ferrari had a bit of a scrap and came home with a little mark on the nose. Her nemesis visited our motorhome a couple of times and showed no sign of haste when I chased it away. Apart from that, we loved our stay and Ferrari had time for a few walkabouts.
Timaru is a truly rustic city with old brick buildings, and an art gallery boasting work of students from different schools in the area. The botanic garden leads to the beach and historical lighthouse. It also has a huge amphitheatre and fragrant rose garden. It is well used by the community.
Just a little nick on the nose... poor baby!
Some of the rustic old buildings
At the entrance to the Timaru Botanic Gardens. A pot used at a whaling station during 1839 -1840.
Statue in Timaru Botanic Garden
"The Face of Peace" was created by Margriet Windhausen in remembrance of those who fought in WWI. The face is hollow (convex) in the back so when you walk past behind it, it literally looks as though the eyes follow you.
Statue in the Trevor Griffiths Rose Garden in Timaru
Caroline Bay
Blackett's Lighthouse - engineer John Blackett designed it - was erected in 1876 on The Terrace and first lit on 1July 1878. It was moved to Maori Park ten years after decommissioning and moved to where it now stands above the Benvenue Cliffs at Caroline Bay in November 2010.
Timaru Art Gallery
One of the sculptures outside the gallery done by a Zimbabwean artist
One of the Primary schools' student-artwork exhibited outside the gallery.