Things that caught my eye

On my trip home from Dunedin and my uncles funeral I took the long way to everywhere. All the old places I used to go to, basically I went down memory lane. So many of the off the road small towns are run down and shops empty. It was sad to see. Other things, like the gorgeous floral baskets that adorn all the shop frontages in Oamaru, were amazing.

I woke in the morning in Dunedin and from the door where I was sleeping this was my view - misty morning. What the mist did was accentuate the colours of the flowers.

View from the door

the flowers looked like they were glowing

Then on my travels around Warrington, Seacliff and Karitane I spotted lots of old signs. I had read about a man doing photos of these kinds of signs, calling them ghost signs, as he said they were part of our history that tells quite a social tale and will soon be lost. 

Then on to Oamaru where I am always so taken by the hanging baskets. What a progressive city council to organise this. It really beautifies the town.

 A stop at Riverstone Kitchen where I wandered through the most amazing garden. Broccoli the size of my handbag, oh I was so envious. I need a big garden too!!! I could not partake of anything there as they were getting ready for dinner service. But I wandered the amazing vege garden for about 30 minutes. Unfortunately a lot of my photos there went weird so I can't show you the magnificence of the place.

The last place that amazed me for the change that has occured was at Hands Ashford in Asburton. One of the staff has bought the shop out and the shop and cafe have been modernised, re equiped and was amazing.

I bought a hank of baby alpaca wool to make a scarf. It is superfine, spun at lace weight. So should be gorgeous.

Funny but Fantastic

As you know from my last blog post, we went to Oamaru for the long weekend. We are calling this the PPP weekend (a bit crude but - Piss Poor Planning). This is not about forgetting things, or breaking stuff etc, this is about going for an event without checking whether it is actually on!!

Yes that is right folks - we went for a Victorian Festival that is held every year. So off we trotted, absolutely sure that the last time we found out about it, it was on the way home from my sisters place on Labour Weekend. NOOOOOO. The Victorian Festival is on Show Weekend!!!

So guess where we are regoing in three weeks time? Yes - to a Victorian Weekend in Oamaru. Well actually we are going to stay with my sister in Dunedin and then head back with them in tow. And yes we will be making a booking for Annies Victorian Tea Rooms for lunch.

Eli on the Penny Farthing

Jakob rode the Penny Farthing really well

In spite of our PPP we had an awesome weekend and are likely to put Oamaru on our destination list again. The Botanical Gardens are amazing and the kids play area was enjoyed by us all as well. Great time walking around the sea and wharf areas, lots to do, excellent swimming pool. The boys had a fantastic time on the Penny Farthings

Victorian afternoon tea

Waitresses clearing the table - cake trolley on the left

What a fabulous and funny weekend we have had - more of that on a later blogpost. I am currently printing like mad, a pile of work stuff, before heading out to the office at the shed. So while I am doing that here is a quick glimpse at the most amazing find in Oamaru.

Aaron had just done the wrong thing with his plate (must teach  some manners)

We went to Oamaru for the historic centre which we have gone to before and was great fun. On the corner of the Victorian prescient we found a new tearooms which has only been open just over a year. Annies Victorian Tea Rooms. Opening Day newspaper article . It is 1 Tees St, Oamaru. I cannot give you a website as she does not have one but there are also articles about her in the Historic Places Trust website.

Tea for me

This is a true Victorian Tea Rooms. We just happened upon it by fantastic design. Everything about it is authentic. They all wear the old uniforms, even the cooks in the kitchen whom you do not see. They cut the bread at the table if you order bread, butter and jam. If you order cake then the trolley is brought to your table and you select the cake, it is cut in front of you and served up with cream and berries if you wish. Even the boys icecream sundaes arrived in china cups, homemade (and gorgeous) icecream. We all had tea and took a while there. It was so fantastic that we went back the next day for lunch (Sunday) and on that day to cap it all off there was a man tinkling the ivories in the corner.

They also follow etiquette of the time. The boys and I went in first while Aaron was at a bookstore, he had said to order for him. The waitress would not take an order for a Gentleman " as without the gentleman being present as it does not pay to order as you may order something that the gentleman does not really like".
This is the place to take your mother, your grandmother, your sister..... Having said that the boys and Aaron really enjoyed it too. It slowed you down for a while and made you appreciate the little things. Fantastic.

Next time we go back we are going to go in period costume.

Cutting the bread for bread, butter and jam for Eli

A happy Jakob

Serving the cake up

Jakob having to select a cake