Further South to Invercargill

After a night in Lumsden, we had a leisurely drive to Invercargill, via Cromwell, where we ended up staying 4 nights. The reason for this was that we both contracted head colds – probably from the crowds at Arrowtown. Catching a cold is always a bit of a problem because Bruce always thinks he is dying and I always get wheezy. Therefore, I wanted to be where I could get to a doctor if needed. Fortunately, I was able to manage it myself, and no medics were required.

We used this layover time to get our laundry done, restock the pantry and catch up on blogs.

When Bruce was feeling better he wanted to re-visit Bill Richardson’s Transport Museum. We had been there before, so I elected not to go this time, so Bruce had plenty of time to wander around on his own.

The first car he came to on his journey was a bright red mini. This had significance to him because he had a similar car that he lovingly restored and painted (so you couldn’t see the bog).

The red Bedford truck was the same as the one his father had when Bruce was young. Bruce sat his driver’s license in a similar one in Wellington, about 55 years ago.

The three wheeler truck took his fancy.

John Britten was a great NZ inventer of motorbikes, but he hand built his own motorhome between 1972 and 1975. He made all the cabinetry and as he had also had a bit of a try at glass blowing, he also made the stained glass windows.

Note the wooden spokes on the wheels!.

While on the topics of campers, Bruce also loved the VW camper

And then the caravan, built in 1956, and still has the original paint on one wall.

The next to take his fancy was the fiat – a predecessor to our motorhome. From this:

to this:

The hamburger car appealed to him just because it was so different, and a product of someone’s whacky imagination.

For some reason, the tea towel collection also appealed to him, but especially the tractor tea towel, because it has a tractor just like Ruby on it.

All in all, Bruce had Judy free time for about 3 hours and thoroughly enjoyed himself.