Blackball

Went on a lovely scenic ride to a place called Blackball today.  The weather is gorgeous, sun is shining and very hot.  As you can see from the photo below, Blackball was really overcrowded today and we really struggled to cross the busy main road which runs through the centre of the town!

We visited a little shop which was run by a lady called Wendy, she was selling all manner of things from handmade necklaces to old sweet machines and bits of china.  I bought Eloise a nice little charm to pin on her bag for $10.

Wendy owned some cats and dogs, the dog had two puppies in the backyard, so we all went round to see them, very cute.  A little white cat popped through the fence to say hello, it was very friendly and Eloise didn’t waste much time in introducing herself to it.  Another cat appeared a while later, so Eloise was in her element.

After the little gift shop we walked down the street to the Blackball Salami Shop.  This shop appeared in a DVD called ‘Hunger for the Wild’, which is about two New Zealand chefs called Logan & Brown who travel around the West Coast and cook up a storm with local produce.  You can try all the different salami’s, even Eloise enjoyed them, so we bought a selection for us to have for lunch. Here is a photo of Eloise and her Nan in the Salami Shop and also one of us by the Salami Shop van outside!

Yum yum, all of this salami tasting gave us a raging thirst, so we headed to the Blackball Hilton for drinks.  It’s actually called ‘Formerly The Blackball Hilton’ as they got into some strife using the name ‘Hilton’!!!

This is totally random but in need of a mention, Eloise spotted these two dragonflies mating, worth a looksee don’t you think?  ‘DO NOT DISTURB’ !!!!

The little garden at the back of the hotel was really nice, so we found a bench, parked our bums and enjoyed a pint of shandy.  Eloise did a bit of exploring around the garden and found an old bread oven.  And then we tried to call you guys from the local phone box, but unfortunately there wasn’t a phone in it!!

It’s such a hard life sitting in the sun drinking beer, so we decided to trek across town to the local store where we bought some delicious ice-creams.

We sat outside the salami shop in the shade to eat them and watched the world go by.  Well, two kids on bikes actually!  But hey, who’s counting!  Wish you were here!