Queenstown to Cromwell to Alexandra to Palmerston to Oamaru to Timaru to Christchurch. Seven hours, but what a terrific seven hours! To tell the truth, we weren’t expecting this route to be as good as the “inland route,” which we found to be like driving through Switzerland and Austria. We had been told it was just okay. Au contraire! It was magnificent! We passed through hours of beautiful farmland and what looked like The Wrinkled Mountains (as we called them)….many folds and crevices. Lots of sheep. Everything as neat as a pin (in fact, NZ is one of the cleanest countries we have ever visited!). We laughed about so many distant mountains looking like Hobbitville. It was charming and lovely and peaceful. We hardly passed a dozen cars in several hours. THEN we hit the coast north of Palmerston, and as you can see, more idyllic coastal scenes and photos. Earlier in the week, there was talk of a cyclone hitting the country, with predictions of lots of rain over the weekend. We went through some patches of rain, but only toward the end of our journey. It was a great…and sunny…day for traveling. Our advice if you are ever in this glorious country: drive, just to drive. The scenery is so amazing, and the journey is the destination. Thanks, New Zealand!
