The Maniototo

Last week we spent more time in one of my favorite places in Central Otago: Ranfurly. Last time we were there I had just injured my hand and wasn't really up to doing much. Well, that's not entirely true-I really enjoyed laying on the sofa and watching C4 all day, while I tried to remember when MTV actually played videos all day and called Keith home from the clinic to make me lunch. It was really hard times!

This time I didn't really have a solid excuse to be so incredibly lazy. Besides it seems that we have been experiencing a bit of an Indian summer and I had warm sunny days beckoning me outside to explore the Maniototo. And while I was still on foot, like last time, I got a chance to explore a little more of the area.

So, what is the Maniototo? Only just about the most beautiful place in Central! The sign coming into the region describes it as a 'Timeless Landscape' and couldn't agree more. It is also a sparsely populated plain surrounded by gorgeous golden hills with remnants of it's gold mining history scattered about. I haven't been anywhere in New Zealand that offers such amazing sunrises and sunsets on an incredibly regular basis-well I've heard about more about the sunrises than I have actually seen them-maybe next time the sun will be rising a little later because I know I won't be rising any earlier! I think I could just watch the sky change.

Oh and did I mention that it's fall and all the leaves are changing-amazing!

From New Zealand

From New Zealand

On top of Keith's incredibly hard work days of getting an morning tea break where he is brought cheese and chutney on crackers (without ever asking, they just bring it to him-so spoiled!) he also gets Wednesday afternoon off. We drove out to the Hamiltons, where gold was discovered in 1863, causing a huge population boom. I guess there wasn't much gold since by about 1900's the town all but disappeared. The Hamiltons Cemetery is pretty much all that's left of the town and it has been restored to preserve the history of the area. Only after going to the cemetery did we realize that all the road names were names of families who lived in the area. There is also a big old TB sanitarium out there (that I was hoping had been abandoned, but no, it's now a religious retreat-oh well!)

Since I'm not biking yet (since I bike so often usually), I decided to walk part of the Central Otago Rail Trail. I walked from Waipiata towards Kokonga. Since most people bike this trail, I was a bit of an odd site walking the trail. This inspired questions like 'did you lose your bike?' from passing cyclists. I was happy to be walking it on such a gorgeous day and you get a different (I think better) point of view of how beautiful the area is when you're not speeding past on a bike.

From New Zealand

From New Zealand

I didn't make it all the way to Kokonga, only about halfway (or 7 km) and walked back to enjoy a delicious BLT of lunch at the Waipiata Country Hotel. Here the waiter saved me from myself by informing that the BLT would be enough and that I did not need a side of chips (he was right!).

From New Zealand

Hopefully when we go back in a few weeks there will be snow on the mountains!

A few days in Ranfurly

Monday morning was a bit of mad rush. Sunday night we were saying our good byes to the family as they were getting on the road early Monday morning to drive back to Christchurch to fly back to the States. We were also up (very!) early Monday morning so we could get it Ranfurly by 8 am since Keith that was when Keith thought he had to be there to start work. Of course we were early!

Keith was filing in this week for the only doctor in Ranfurly, which meant he was on hospital call 24/7 (actually just 24/4 since we were only there for four days) and he covered the clinic-so it had the potential to get pretty crazy busy, but lucky for us it was just moderately busy.

From New Zealand

While in Ranfurly I got a chance to get up close and personal with the medical system here. After my incredibly graceful fall on the way to Milford my hand was still (and still is) really painful and the bruising on my hand was pretty gross-time for a trip to the doctor! Of course Keith is the only doc in the area, so he looked at it (for the millionth time!) and set me up with an appointment for an X-Ray. I got lucky and an X-Ray tech just happened to be in Ranfurly that day so I had my X-Ray a couples hours later. The tech thought I had a small fracture at the base of my 5th metacarpal (aka pinky), Keith agreed and I got a lovely fiberglass splint . The cost for all of this was a whopping zero dollars-doesn't socialized medicine suck! ;) Since we filed an ACC (Accident Compensation Corporation) claim, my lovely spill onto the gravel was covered.

From New Zealand

This kind of hindered my plans of driving around and taking pictures of the area. Using my big camera has been a challenge and I was pretty sure I couldn't really drive with my one hand, so I was on foot. But that wasn't really a problem, Ranfurly is an adorable little town with a strong art deco theme, and it's so small it doesn't take much walking to feel like you're in the middle of nowhere!

From New Zealand

From New Zealand

The Central Otago Rail Trail goes through Ranfurly (so everyone assumed I fell off my bike on the trail-that would be such a better story!). Most people bike the rail trail and along the trail towards Ranfurly they have a collection of cute old bikes that goes along with their art deco personality.

From New Zealand

From New Zealand

I have to mention Forry's, the restaurant where I had breakfast on the last day we were there. I had be be out of the place we were staying early because the volunteer cleaning ladies were coming, so I went out for breakfast. Forry's had been recommended to me by a women working at the local museum, but I have to say it didn't look like much when I walked it. It said it had breakfast but I didn't see any menus, so I walked up and asked and found our my choices were cold breakfast (cereal and stuff) or hot breakfast (a delicious plate of sausage, bacon, toast, eggs, tomatoes and hasbrowns). I really wanted the hot breakfast but I knew I couldn't cut up and eat just about everything in the hot breakfast with my not very coordinated or strong left hard-so disappointed! So I said to the waitress: I guess I'll get the cold breakfast because I can't cut up anything. I couldn't believe what she said next! She offered to cut up everything so I could get the hot breakfast! You have got to be kidding me! People are so freaking nice here! And it was such a delicious breakfast-go to Forry's if you go to Ranfurly!

On Thursday Keith got a report back from the actual radiologist in Dunedin who said that my hand is not broken, which is good because it should heal faster. Dr. Keith says I should still wear my big splint for another week but hopefully after that the pain will have gone away! I really hope so! Just because it's not broken doesn't mean it doesn't hurt like the dickens!!

One more thing! Today it's BJ's 6th birthday! A big happy birthday to the best puppy in the world!