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| Trash & treasure at the market |
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| Blueskin Community Market |
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| Frances' white bait n bacon buttie |
Today we left Arthur and Kate and headed northwest to Lake
Ohau Lodge for a couple of days skiing.
After filling the car with petrol and
getting some more NZ dollars we headed back through Dunedin
and up the coast. Because of the distance we had to travel we planned as few
stops as possible. That was the plan. After about only 30 minutes we
encountered a local community market and decided to have a look.
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White Bait Patties, Bacon Butties and...
Bacon & White Bait Butties |
It was mainly
a 'boot' sale with lots of the usual stuff, similar to the Magpie Markets at Lawson. By now we were getting peckish, so we decided to have snack. I chose a lamb
samosa which was very tasty, if a little oily and Frances
had a 'bait n bacon buttie'. A what! It consisted of a whitebait omelette,
slices of bacon, sandwiched between buttered bread - a 'buttie'! It tasted
pretty damn good.
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| Ah, tasting... |
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Some of the variety of cheeses at
Evensdale Cheese |
Only a short while later, we encountered the Evensdale Cheese
factory and had to stop again.
They produce a range of soft cheeses and after
tasting most of them, bought some Camembert which
was more crumbly and tasty than we're used
to.
After all, we needed something to snack on while skiing.
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| Moeraki Boulders |
These stops were playing havoc with our schedule and we firmly
decided no more stops. That lasted until we arrived at the
Moeraki boulders Arthur had told us
about them earlier and so when we saw the sign, we pulled into the carpark, not
knowing what to expect.
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| The cafe with domed roof |
They turned out to be spherical boulders about 1.5m in
diameter along the shoreline. These boulders are grey-coloured septarian
concretions (they grow like pearls in a shell within the muddy coastal soil),
which have been exhumed from the mudstone enclosing them and concentrated on
the beach by coastal erosion. They were pretty weird, poking out of the
shoreline, but definitely worth the time to stop and see them. The adjacent
cafe had hemispherical roofing which echoed the shapes of the boulders.
By now it was early afternoon, and I needed a coffee, so we
pulled into a small nearby supermarket with a coffee sign outside. They also
had gelato which looked very good, so we ordered a rum 'n' raisin kiddie cone
for $2.50 - you know let's not overdo it. Well it was the biggest, tastiest,
kiddie cone we'd ever had, enough for 4 people and excellent! Full of ice-cream
and coffee we definitely decided not to stop again until we arrived at the Lake
Ohau Lodge - which we did.
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Early evening at lake Ohau Lodge with
the ski fields in the background |
The lodge is located at the base of a mountain, and by the
shores of a huge blue lake. We watched the sun set and moon rise over the
mountains across the lake as we settled in before dinner. The Lodge is know for
its food, and we were pleasantly surprised by the meal that night - Mushroom
and Walnut Soup, followed by Grilled Lamb or Roast Duck, and finished off by a
Sticky Date pudding, helped along by a local Dartmoor Rd Merlot Cab Franc
Hawkes Bay.
