#8  Invercagill to Moeraki: retracing steps
Four years ago we drove the east coast of the south island from north to south, now it's time to go south to north.  Patsy has decided to haunt some second hand shops for NZ wool sweaters, and we scored at two different places.  Also about ten days ago Patsy had read a really interesting article in an older (1999) New Zealand Geographic magazine on NZ flax known as harakeke.  It is quite unlike our flax.  It comes from the leaves of a lilly like plant that grows about 5-7 foot.  The fibers in the leaves are scrapped, processed and spun or woven.  The harakeke was a critical staple for the Maori, providing them with shelter, rope, and clothing.  Throughout the trip Patsy has been working with the fibre. If you remember back in one of the first blogs, Patsy's friend had an exhibition of a ceremonial cape she made with harakeke.  As we drove out of Dunedin, I noticed a second hand book store, and sure enough, they had a copy.  Patsy was ecstatic.

Heading north, of course, more sheep, here's two just for the cute factor.

As we moved north, we got our first glimpse of the east coast: a beautiful beach; we lunched nearby on an estuary. 
Then, as we proceeded north, all of a sudden, our vista were swallowed up by clouds and fog
Soon we were back at one of our favorite spots: Moeraki Boulders.  Formed millions of years ago and deposited here on the shore, these are odd formations to be sure.  If you would like to learn more about these, here is a link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moeraki_Boulders


 

Driving a few more km to Hampden, we found our comfortable place for the night.  Two bed room, full kitchen, full bath, living area, free WiFi,,,about $85 US dollars.  These are the kind of places we stayed in most of the time.
 And of course, A typical NZ pavlova for dessert: meringue with fruit and ice cream.
Tomorrow we look forward to spending about five days with our good friends the Ashfords. 

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