Oxford and beyond

Why was a trip to Oxford another thing on our “must do” list?  Because of Jo Seagar’s Cafe, of course.  Jo and her family had relocated here several years ago from the North Island, and runs her thriving Cafe, Cook School and Kitchen Store in this pretty little town.  The walls are hung with paintings for sale, showing various New Zealand farming scenes.  The staff rearranged the tables to enable the eight of us to sit together, then we perused the menu and in no time at all our hearty delicious orders arrived.  All coffees came with a piece of Jo’s famous fudge on the saucer, so yummy.  Was it worth the long drive out from Christchurch– you bet!  Check it all out on www.joseagar.com we can certainly recommend it.

Our stop for lunch

Just down the street was the Oxford Historic Jail, built in 1876, a tiny building with sturdy doors festooned with large bolts and padlocks to keep the felons safely contained.  The jail was lovingly restored in 2002.

Oxford Historic Jail

Who is this locked away

And to show just what happens to bad people in this town, the set of stocks is still in use.  It’s most uncomfortable, Robin said, bent over like that.  He’s just lucky that no one threw rotten tomatoes at him.

  Robin in the stocks

This old granite wheel was in use at the old flour mill in Russels Road on Gamons Creek.  It is thought that the mills stones were originally used as ballast and came out on a ship from England in the late 1800s.

Old granite mill stone

Taking a different road back to our campsite we stopped at the Waimakariri River Gorge Bridge.  Keen fisherman come here and try their luck with hooking Chinook salmon and brown trout, with the limit being two of each.  The fisherman we spoke to wasn’t admitting to anything – he’d had no luck at all, he said.  Don’t know if we believed him though. 

Fishing on the Waimakariri River

The bridge over the river rose majestically up on tall supports and cars, trucks and even the occasional caravan rumbled across.  We saw several logging trucks loaded up with Radiata pine travelling on their way to the mill.  There is free camping allowed on an upper grassed area with toilets and fresh water available, no doubt this is much utilised by keen fishermen, or even campers who want to stay in an attractive riverside setting.

Waimakariri River Gorge Bridge

Our round trip took us along the inland Scenic Route where paddocks of golden hay were being baled, past prison buildings and the airport, so we saw a lot of the interesting area.  We arrived back at The Mousehole just before the rain set in.  Robin picked up a few wild mushrooms in the orchard and got chatting to another camper.  “Guess what all the lumps and bumps in the ground are?” he was asked.  “They were all caused by the big earthquake last February when the ground across the whole area rippled”.  That’s amazing, and tomorrow is the anniversary of the devastating earthquake when so many lost their lives.