The "Annie" road has only just been properly paved which we were glad of as it goes up and down across the gorgeous hills and valleys in to country that doesn't look as if it has changed for centuries. Farmers and their dogs, lots of livestock and huge farms.
There was a dreadful earthquake here in 1931 which levelled both this town and neighbouring Hastings killing hundreds of people. As Art Deco was very popular at the time, the centre of the city was rebuilt in that genre and though they are lovely I just couldn't get over the fact that most of this lovely architecture was just visible at the top of the buildings with big modern shops built underneath, kind of spoilt it for me.
The smell of fish was a little strong but them what did we expect! The buildings were nice down here too, lots of pubs full of fishermen. So all in all I did get to like it all in the end; it is a diverse town with some very expensive real estate up on the hills surrounding the port too. It was also nice to see the railway here, we don't get to see too many trains down South and it is just one of those things that you miss when you don't see them any more. |
So much so it deserves another one, smaller than the pano one above.
Time for dinner, stew in the slow cooker that has been on all day with some added Kickstarter Chilli Paste from a recipe by Annabel Langbein (who we saw in the Koru airport lounge in Auckland on the way home - I was very excited to see her. She doesn't live far from us so I knew it wouldn't be long before we bumped in to her eventually - she is smaller than I thought!!) so hope it is good.
Oh and I have to show you the clouds we had overhead the other day too, I put this one of FB too.
And we made milkshake last night using some of the black boy peaches from our tree which I had frozen, they ripen so quickly that it is a much better way to utilise them, just added milk and vanilla ice cream and some pureed peach and there you have it - it was yum!
And our car Dolores passed her WoF today which is great, the same thing as an MOT, good girl!
TTFN, thank you for looking, love and care for one another.
xxx