Day 1 on the road to Gore

Why Gore? Most people ask when I say we're heading south. Well Waimumu actually the location of southern field days where the Young Enterprise venture Flatpak I became involved with last year will be exhibiting. Three days of small talk with farmers basically. 

We set off on a overcast morning to cross the Cook straight on the Bluebridge ferry. Big tip. There is a movie theatre and if you're not a great sea traveller, like myself, this is a quiet comfortable space to spend the rougher part of the journey. We watched a documentary on Sir Edmund Hilary's Mt Everest climb which was great. 

Still Waitangi Day on the other side of the planet we enjoyed some fun Skype conversations with Don and Sophie while showing them the beautiful sounds. 

With our car full of Flatpak stock we drove south stopping in Blenheim for brunch, saw loads of tourists seal spotting along the Kaikoira coastline - beaut blustery weather when we stopped there. 

We delivered the Flatpaks to Emily's mums house then headed to our first night stop Ashburton. 

Driving wise it was pretty interesting. We passed a burnt out car crime scene in Picton, and later read a body was found. We were detoured off SH1 through inland due to another crash. SH1 in the South Island is like a residential street really. Not very wide and varying surface quality. I couldn't believe how many unsecured rail crossings either - no barrier arms. 

It was dinner time by the time we checked into the Bella Vista Ashburton so we joined the locals in the premier South Island chain Robbies for dinner. Steve's $20 roast of the day was enormous and my steak really good. The many tvs show different sports so we settled into trying to understand Pro Kabaddi - here is a link - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kabaddi

Fraught with opportunities for match fixing this sport! Quiet Sunday night watching.