I took the painting kit.......yeah, not THAT much of a break!
We started from Dunedin in a big-ass van called Betty (sorry, cuzzies, my boys named her!) that hauled SIX of us( my long-suffering parents joined us) , our luggage AND 3 mountain bikes around Otago. A big thanks to my ceramicist friend Kylie Matheson, who met us at the airport to help transition some of our bulky bike boxes into storage and then back to us at the airport so we could transport the bikes in safety. What a mate!
We travelled to Clyde via Milton, Lawrence, Roxburgh and Alexandra. On these trips, I sit front and centre with camera and take photos and make mental notes. This is where I become inspired and make connections. Anyway, suffice to say I did not move out of this spot the whole trip!
In the hamlet of Clyde we stayed in a gorgeous stone house built in 1884 by the Naylor family and is still owned by a scion of that dynasty. It was a great place to start. Walls were 2 feet thick which is so unusual when all the other houses I know of in New Zealand are made to withstand earthquakes and are built of balsa wood and paper.
Next was Wanaka and we dissolved into holiday state once there. Biggest surprise of the trip was the route home( with guidance from a lovely lady in the Art Deco museum in Ranfurly who urged us to go via Middlemarch. Bless you!)
Kylie met us at the airport with the bike boxes( again, to our rescue!) and we made it home. All very happy
Here are a few photos that chronicle this trip. The paintings will follow in another blog.
