After leaving Christchurch Sunday evening, we drove south as far as Geraldine, en route to Dunedin to see Emily and Brian at their new homestead.

Geraldine is lovely… you climb out of Canterbury farm country into the hills and trees and it feels like a whole other world. It bills itself as the gateway to travel in the mountains, and gateway seemed right. We saw about as many ginormous farm machines as European backpackers on the Main Street.

We had Sunday dinner in one of the exactly two restaurants open on a Sunday night. Our motel was super clean and recently refreshed… quite a contrast to our Chch digs.

This butcher shop looked like a museum diorama, but is actually a butcher shop.

We strolled through a really pretty park.

Our morning coffees at the slightly funky Running Duck cafe provided a spontaneous art appreciation pop quiz… name the style of painting or artist most closely associated with each latte. I’m going with post-Impressionism for the heart and abstract expressionism for the other.

A lovely little town to stop over in.