Hurunui Hotel, North Canterbury, New Zealand

Daughter E requested some driving practise and wondered if I had my blip. I had just finished uploading yesterdays blip of our daughters and had nothing for today. So off we went with Daughter E at the wheel.

The skies were blue with a few little puffy clouds around the hills, lots of traffic as people were heading home from their Summer holidays. The landscape had golden brown paddocks with dark green pine trees standing out, so terriably dry from our hot Nor West winds and the rain we've had completely gone. Some smaller rivers have dried up leaving beds of silvery grey stones.

We came across the Hurunui Hotel - a famous hotel in NZ as its held its liqour licence continuously since July 1860. The original owner, John Hastie, was granted a conditional licence for the 'Hurunui Accommodation House'. Conditions included; 'that he keep eight beds in four bedrooms; shelter for six horses; provided stock yards for yoking up cattle; provide horses for travellers to ford the river; and also direct strangers to a safe fording place.' A good set of conditions for those times.

We had a good look around as attached to the Hotel is a cafe and winery - moving with the times. A lovely area in North Canterbury worth visiting again.

We had a great afternoon, thanks to Daughter E behind the wheel - she did an awesome job! Time to think about tea and get a few jobs done. Its felt like Sunday for me today, not sure why but its only Friday - Enjoy the weekend :)