Day 24 A day in Bluff then back to Invercargill

Colin Grierson
Dec 29, 2024
3 min read

Yesterday we worked, but went out to find lunch and later, dinner. Bluff is a working town, not a tourist town there is not much of a choice of places to eat. But we found a nice little cafe (attached to a real estate office!) and had lunch there.

For dinner we went back to Oyster Cove at Stirling Point. We did not see anywhere else in the town open. My friend had commented this restaurant was 'infamous', We've found why now - it was the site of the first super spreader event during the covid 19 outbreak. A wedding reception was held here and 80 people caught the disease.

One of the many fishing boats based at Bluff returning to port

Today we will look around town then ride back to Invercargill.

The port is the reason for the town's existence so we explore there. We can't get into the container port of course, that is where all the trucks are going and where the real action is. The rest of the port is interesting though.

The ferry terminal to get to Stewart Island

A weather beaten ocean going yacht berthing here

Bulk ore terminal for Tiwai Point smelter. Yesterday a ship was moored here.

We are on our way home.

A beaten up house with a lot of Christmas Cheer

Phone call from Shervonne? Leigh and her are about to fly down to Christchurch... No! Their Jetstar flight has been cancelled due to mechanical reasons. I tell her to get in the line for customer service and find what her options are then call back. It will probably take a while... This has the potential to upset a lot of plans and bookings for the next few days, starting with Diane who is expecting them to arrive and pick up our car. Nothing to do now so we resume riding.

The tide is out as we ride past the estuary, when we rode to Bluff this view was all water, so different with the tide out.

We are in Invercargill by lunch time and look for an Asian restaurant. Mama San looks good - and is :-) Sau Keng's happy place.

Shervonne rings back, they could not get onto the Jetstar flights for today, earliest available is 2pm tomorrow. That is too late for them to fly to Christchurch and drive to Invercargill. We would have to forfeit one or two days of accommodation bookings and replan our itinerary :-( But, they can get a refund and book a (much more expensive) Air New Zealand flight due to leave in about 30 minutes. "Do it" says Sau Keng. Big relief, no replanning or new bookings are required. We call Diane to advise her of the new time and relax.

Our motel is at the far end of town, towards Wallacetown. We ride through Queens park, this is very good! We should come back and explore this properly.