The villa at Timaru was almost my last night in New Zealand but this is not the last blog, well after getting, Blog of the day two days running, I tought you deserved more.

The Villa overlooked the Pacific Ocean that I will be traversing tomorrow as work beckons back home.

The views may look great but unlike Australia it is not soft white sands that greets the feet but either rocks or grey sands.

We were not in hurry with only some 120kms to travel so we decided to investigate more of the urban landscapes between Timaru and Christchurch.

A drive around the Port of Timaru and the headland again revealed some very nice old buildings interspersed with industrial developments mainly associated with the export of goods from the surrounding countryside.

As we made our way North on SH1 we called into Temuka and took the time to look at the facades of many building of the late Victorian era, unfortunately many now in sad need of some TLC and most importantly tenants.

Ashburton was given the once over and a fuly restored Grand Hotel served a delicious coffee then it was time to join for a Sunday a fairly busy SH1. Traffic commercially was the usual twin trailer milk tankers and the twin steer longbeds with a semi trailer attached carrying both general freight and livestock. The implement dealers were well stocked after the previous financial year being a record for new tractor and machinery sales.

The road stop at Dunsandel proudly displays Runner Up plagues for many years and we know why. Service is the way to grow business and this place met our lunchtime request with "kitchens closed at 3pm" fine you might say but it was only just past 2pm.

Arriving in Christchurch we did a dry run to drop off the hire car as it is a 3.30am start in the morning so things must run smoothly.

That done and a close by refueling stop located we still had spare time so we drove back into the city centre to look at the earthquake effects and the reconstructions in parts different to those we studied last month.

There is still many buildings that are either just shells with facades held in place by giant steel beams or in many cases only a stone foundation left and the area used as a car park. I guess in time the city will again prosper and substain its growth without the massive Government & Insurance spendings currently proping it up.