Last week Ken and I shared a suitcase and went on a mini South Island road trip. Destination – Geraldine.
Geraldine is a really small down in the South Island – not unlike Greytown in a lot of ways (small cottages, arts and crafts and really good coffee). It is a couple of hours south of Christchurch and then inland a little.
We flew in to Christchurch and spent the night with Ken’s sister and her partner. Rather exciting actually – Adrienne and Nick are the first of Ken’s family that I have met .. except the kids of course!
On Friday morning we wandered down to the Woolston Tannery.
The Tanneries was a huge industry in Woolston for almost 80 years and could have employed up to 1500 people. The buildings are being restored brick by brick and for the last couple of years have been home to The Brewery – where we went for brunch.
Before we ate we wandered through some of the restored areas and peeked inside the shops which are starting to take up residence. Its the ceiling that got me though .. well the glass and light did.
There is a lot more information – both historical and present day – about the Woolston Tannery on the great blog that they have set up – link here
After brunch we threw our suitcase in the car and got on the road. The long long straight road. It was a dreary grey day with low lying cloud so we threw on some tunes and made our way south.
We held our breath for as long as we could over the super long bridges!
After a couple of hours, we turned off the main highway and found ourselves amongst trees and fog and then we found the little town of Geraldine.
We settled in to our room at the motel and then I heard …. my mother!
I hadn’t seen my Mom in a wee while so I ran straight to the sound of her voice for a big hug. All the family was arriving and sorting out their rooms so once Mom was organised we went on a supermarket run for some nibbles and some wine.
Our Friday night was spent catching up, eating fish and chips and learning our lines for the song that we were going to be singing at the wedding the next day. Families are loud and crazy aren’t they?!
Saturday morning was so clear compared to the previous day.
Once we were all dressed and ready, Mom and Ken and I went to search of second breakfast (Ken had already made us coffee and toast) and we explored the tiny main street. I’m very happy to report that we found great coffee and very good eggs!
We had a wee drive around and took some photographs .. as you do!
Then it was time to get ready for the wedding!
I’ve created an album on Flickr for Jolene and Gareth. This week I need to get them written to disk and then I can make the little book for them.
