Lost, then lost again

Packed up at Jack's & drove south to Dunedin. Stopped at Ashburton to so Alison could send a video tape to Melanie & Monique for Christmas with the little rose beads I bought. Had lunch at Caroline Bay in Timaru, at a rose garden town park. Stopped at Oamaru to look at old buildings built of white Oamaru stone & saw where penguins come to shore to nest. They come in 1/2 hour after dark which would mean staying till 10 pm, much too late.

Took a wrong turn & ended up at a dead end. It had a little park that some people were trying to camp overnight. It was posted not to. A policeman was there shooing them out so we asked him how to get to Port Chalmers. He said he was going that way & to follow him. When he stopped at Port Chalmers, we asked him where the nearest fish & chips take-away was that might be open at this time of night. He gave directions. We ended up down near the docks where a huge crane loomed & I could see where trains were loaded on ships. There was one of those one-way roads with railroad tracks on it. The light showed green so we drove along it but I still got the willies knowing that at any moment a train may want to use it too.

We stopped in a parking area for a bit to discuss the policeman's directions when who drove up but the policeman himself. He smiled, we smiled back, & Alison said, "We're a little confused about the directions". He showed us back up the road and there was the fish 'n chips place, a little hole-in-the-wall. We ordered & decided to go on a little walk while it was cooking. Here comes the cop again. He parked his car, got out, & said that the fish 'n chips sounded real good right now & went in to order some.

We took our food to Jo's (Alison's friend) since we were going to stay with her. She lives in an A-frame house in Sawyers Bay, right between Port Chalmers and Dunedin. We had dinner, talked a bit, then she showed us to our room upstairs. It had two very comfortable beds with soft comforters. I was asleep in no time & slept all through the night.