Waking to a glorious red sun rise at Waimate, we were soon packed up and on our way, heading south.
Our first stop on the way out of town was to the Havoc Prime Pork Products, the home of happy pigs they like to say on their advertising. Havoc Pork has a good name and we were keen to try some of their meat, and bought butterfly pork steaks, pork sausages and bacon.
It is obviously time to “gather in the sheaves”, as we passed farm after farm with machinery busy cutting and baling the crops.
Our stop for the night was at rural Awamoko Domain, a NZMCA pop for members. One of the campervans staying overnight was well travelled, according to the map painted on the rear of his van and had travelled extensively. This well dressed gentleman was nattily dressed with a bow tie, and related that he has been “on the road” for many years. Seems he has a camper both here and back in UK and spends 6 months in each place. What a life – the ultimate traveller.
It was a short trip in the afternoon up the road to Duntroon. There was a tiny restored wooden jail building and a set of stocks which seems to be a common sight down here in the South Island, perhaps the early settlers were rather a lawless bunch down this way? We didn’t know if the pretty St Martins Anglican Church was still used as it had a couple of ponies in the grounds keeping the grass in check. But the real reason we were in this tiny place was to visit the “Vanished World Centre”.
Eons ago all this area was covered by the sea and strange sea creatures swam lazily by. One such creature was the large dolphin named Waipatia. Scientists discovered the almost complete set of bones, skull and teeth in the 1990s from limestone nearby. All sorts of other interesting cast copies of various fossils are on display, with the precious original fossils held at the University of Otago.
We then jumped into the cars to follow part of the Vanished World Trail which first led us to “Earthquakes” We plodded up a hill track in the hot sunshine to gaze at the huge slabs of rocks which have broken away to expose fossils of an ancient seabed.
Elephants Rocks is a limestone formation shaped by erosion and at a glance could pass for a herd of lumpy grey elephants standing motionless on the green farmland. The rock formations were huge and full of interesting shapes.
Lastly we walked up to check out the Anatini Whale Fossil, covered by perspex for protection. Honeycomb rocks were close by, and we could see the remains of ancient shells still embedded in the limestone.
We then took a circuitous route along country back roads to camp. After all that walking looking at fossils it was time for a well deserved cuppa.
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