Sunday 29th January 2023
Every Sunday there’s a farmers market in Oamaru so we decided to check it out. It was a bit smaller than we were expecting, with a couple of butchers, a cheese stall, some fruit and veg stalls, a few other local producers, and a handful of food/drink trucks.
Being foodies, our main reason for visiting the farmers market was to find some tasty food. We shared a cheese roll from one food truck. We’d heard cheese rolls were a thing on the South Island, but didn’t really know what to expect . It ended up being a rolled up bit of bread with cheese in the middle, toasted in a toastie machine, and was very tasty!
One of the butchers was offering bacon butties, so we gave one of them a go. Unsurprisingly, it was an excellent buttie.
There was also a food truck doing Bahn Mi which we were highly tempted by, but in the end passed as thought it’d be a bit too greedy, even for our standards.
So instead we set off to explore Oamaru. Just across the road from the farmers market is Customs House Gallery, a small art gallery that’s free to enter.
Our next stop was Steampunk HQ, which has a $10 per person entry fee. It’s well worth the money, Pete and I both loved this very quirky and unique museum. It was such fun to walk around and see all the crazy and clever sculptures, mainly made from old vehicles and bits of scrap metal.
We next walked through the Victorian Precinct, a very picturesque area of Oamaru with lots or quaint and interesting shops.
Above one such shop is a model railway club, which opens its doors to the public at weekends for a $2 entry fee. We decided to go and have a look, and it was a pretty impressive set up. I hope they never have to relocate, and it must take days to dismantle and re-set up!
A couple of doors down was a limestone sculpture studio, so we had a quick look inside (no photos were allowed inside). Some of the sculptures were extremely intricate and beautiful, but also well outside our budget!
We were planning on visiting Whitestone City, but it was temporarily closed until 1pm. So we decided to walk back to the farmer’s market for the Bahn Mi we’d been eyeing up this morning. It was not the most authentic (served on baguette rather than Bahn Mi bread) but was delicious and excellent value. The pork belly was perfectly cooked and the filling was a very generous portion.
After eating, we walked the length of Holmes Wharf to enjoy the fantastic views back to shore (and out to sea). I was surprised by how windy it was, the buildings of the town clearly provide a lot of shelter. Right by the wharf is also a very cool looking steampunk style children’s playground. We were half tempted to half a go, if only we were a couple of decades (or more….) younger!
We then walked back to Whitestone City, which by this time had now reopened. It’s another slightly quirky museum, this time a reminder of times gone by. My favourite part was the penny farthing merry go round, which was quite fun to ride. The museum doesn’t has a fixed entrance fee, but instead asks for a donation of what you feel it’s worth.
We next drove to The Natural Dairy to buy some famously good milk. I just hope it lives up to its reputation.
On the way back to our Airbnb we stopped off at the supermarket to pick up some food for dinner tonight.
We then went to Bushy Beach Scenic Reserve to try our luck again at spotting some yellow eyed penguins. We’re there much earlier than we were yesterday, so will hopefully have a better chance of seeing some. Again, there were loads of seals which were pretty cool to see. After about an hour, we also saw two penguins! They were quite distant and so we could only just make them out (though we could clearly tell they were penguins) so unfortunately taking a good photo on my iPhone was out of the question! We waited another 1/2 hour or so, but didn’t see any more. Still, it was a pretty relaxing place to spend some time.
We headed back to Fantail Cottage to cook dinner. To start we had some green shelled Marlborough mussels, cooked with white wine, onion, garlic, and a dash of cream, and accompanied by the Hunters sparkling white wine we’d bought on our Marlborough Valley wine door. Our main course was a creamy chicken, mushroom, and garlic pasta. It felt very good to cook again, we’ve not had much opportunity since we started travelling and I really miss it!
Predictably we ended the night with an episode of Stranger Things on Netflix and the rest of our wine.
Emma and Pete’s Asian Adventure 