Driving back to Christchurch

Our final day in New Zealand was to be spent on the road. The drive from Wanaka to Christchurch takes roughly six and half hours.
In spite of Colin's interest in the daily weather forecasts I had made my own predictions. We were to have sunshine for every day of our holiday but it was allowed to rain on the last day because there would be less distraction to hold us up! Someone "up there" was listening and we had our holiday in sunshine and our trip back to Christchurch in the rain!
I just had to take a last parting shot of the Central Otago hills as they looked in the drab weather just to show how lucky we were to see them with the sun on them. It would be difficult to get excited about the scenery when it looks this grey - the sunlight accentuating all the shadows made these same hills look fascinating and "photographable".
In a pretty area called the "Waitaki Valley" where there were lush green fields in flat land in a valley between low hills I spotted what looked to be a mud brick house set back from the road. In spite of the light rain I just had to investigate! The gate into the field in which this fenced house stood was locked closed with a hefty chain so my shots had to be taken from the road, I zoomed in with the Samsung (I wanted to be as quick as possible and not get wet so didn't have time to fiddle with the settings on the SLR!) and took a shot of the sign, I couldn't read it from the road so I was hoping that I had held the camera still enough to enable me to enlarge the picture and so read the sign.
Since the content is interesting I have replaced the text using Photoshop so that you can read it too. (If not click on the picture and it will take you to a larger version.)
Once we had passed through the Waitaki Valley the hills disappeared and the landscape became so flat that it was featureless and in the rain totally boring! When we reached a "Driver Reviver" cafe I received a free cup of coffee (being the driver) while Colin had to pay for his! It was a welcome break - and there was a pot-belly stove in the dining area so I sat with my back to it and warmed up inside and out! Its amazing how chilled the damp and greyness can make you feel. The waitress commented on the boring road too so it wasn't just me that felt it!
Colin took over the driving for the last hour so I was able to take a dreadful picture of the scenery from inside the car. The foreground is whizzing past so has motion blur and there is so little of the land to be seen because of the flatness and the sky - well the sky is wet! What you can make out is that there are long hedges that line the paddocks - they are presumably wind breaks as they are about 15 meters tall or more and consist of pine trees mostly but other trees are used too. We were amused that the huge sprinklers that irrigate the pastures were all operating.
Our NZ trip is over. I could not post this report on our last day until today for lack of internet connection. I trust you have enjoyed sharing our experiences and feel inspired to visit New Zealand yourself.
AJ