The next morning we we drove into Invergcargill to check out the downtown. Their main street, Dee Street, is looking a little downtrodden but this Sunday morning the cafes were buzzing with people.
We checked out the city's iconic Victorian water tower still in use as a backup today.
Then we walked through Otakaro park where we came across this umbrella sculpture.
It's both a sundial and it shows the location of the stars over Invercargill.
Of course we had to stop for a coffee and a date scone.
This was the cafe of Langlands Hotel and a bit upscale from our usual NZ bakery. Just as we were leaving the cafe it started pouring buckets. So we had to take a break from exp,orange the city.
When the rain stopped we drove on to Queen's Park site of a small zoo with emus, alpaca, goats and other barnyard animals.
But the pride of Queen's Park is its 135 year old tuatara named Henry. Tuataras are the last species of an ancient type of reptile not related to lizards or snakes.
Tuatara enclosure
And not all of them are made of concrete. But none as old as Henry.
And here's Henry
We were delighted to meet him and then we beat a hasty retreat to the Cheeky Llama, the park's cafe, for lunch.
They make an excellent sweet potato soup. Fun fact: Sweet potatoes originated in South America and the Maori were cultivating them when Europeans arrived. The Maori name for sweet potato is kumara and the Quechua (of Peru) name is kumar!
Our next plan was to walk the Estuary Boardwalk but just as we parked the van a terribly blown rainstorm began. We ran back to the van and headed back to the caravan park. One might say we Amble(d) on Inn. Nice campground with a duck pond right next to the camping area.
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