Naseby

 

No.2 on Bruce’s wish list (after catching the salmon) was to go to Naseby to go for a run. He could not bear to let his son do something that he hadn’t done.

We left Dunedin at our usual leisurely hour of around 11.30am and headed down the highway towards Middlemarch, Ranfurly and Naseby.

Middlemarch was around 53kms away so we stopped there for lunch. We called in to the most unlikely little cafe – it looked very plain and unassuming from the outside, and only one car parked outside. It was called the Kissing Gate cafe.

In this case appearances were truly deceptive.  The cafe was full, and the food was homecooked and really nice. I had a bowl of the nicest vegetable soup I have ever had from a cafe, along with home-made wholemeal bread. Bruce had a bagel stuffed with smoked chicken and spinach and other goodies. The coffee was hot.

That gave us the sustenance to carry on our journey. It was really from there that the landscape began changing from the type of farmland you would see anywhere in New Zealand, to what could only be described as alpine rock garden on a grand scale. Apparently this area is called the Rock and Pillar Range.

The temperature change in this area was very noticeable – the thermometer in the motorhome said the outside temperature was 8 degrees at one stage.

Naseby was about a hour from Middlemarch and is supposed to be a historic town. Some of the buildings are very old, but a lot of the history seems to be in buildings that are no longer there, but their sites are remembered. The place was cold, and mostly shut! There was a cafe open with 4 people in it. Bruce rang Daniel to see what time the town opened! We had to laugh at some of the advertising that told us all about the wonderful goods sold in the I-Site – it was shut until Saturday!

Still, we had to get Bruce doing this run that Daniel was the family trail blazer for, so we made our way out to the Coal Pit Lake Reserve. It was a lovely spot, but still very cold. I can imagine it being a winter wonderland when the dam freezes and people can ice skate on it; and a summer haven when the temperatures are high on a sunny day (if that ever happens here).

Bruce completed his 160m run (just a tiny percentage of Daniel’s 160km run) but he still felt proud of himself for doing it. I guess the bonus is that my husband lives on!

We carried on to Ranfurly after that to stay a night in the new NZMCA park there. What a lovely park it is too!. The town itself is considerably bigger than Naseby, and it actually had people in it.

 

Ranfurly is one of the important towns for the Rail Trail (used by cyclists), so there are a few bikes around and the shops to support them. We are told there is a big reserve here that welcomes dogs so we will try that out in the morning.

Tomorrow, we intend to head to Alexandra on our way to the Catlins.