A tour of Cromwell

Sunday 31st May: A dry but bitterly cold day. Today a blanket of snow was predicted to sweep up from the south and cover NZ, but it seemed to miss Cromwell. Cromwell (pop 2700) is an old gold-mining town, but then in the 1980s the river was dammed and the old town buildings were soon on their way to being submerged. A local group sought to rescue some of the buildings and rebuild them on higher ground, now called the Old Town.
First thing the boys went to play on the playground and the girls in the next caravan joined them. We observed an interesting difference between the Kiwi and Pom children. As it was 0 degrees outside ours were in thermal tops, shirts, sweaters and coats, with socks and wellies. The two girls were in pyjamas and bare feet!
We decided to go on a walk to see some of the sights, and as we left the campsite, Christine the nurse drove past again! It was a 20 minute walk down to the Old Town, where a short row of old buildings now house a café, art gallery etc. (see photo) However some buildings were not saved – this one is the old picture house and dance hall (see photo)
From there we walked to the new town, where there is a shopping precinct and four large fruit sculptures – an apple, pear, nectarine and apricot (another photo). We had burgers for lunch and found a great playground to play in with a huge zip wire, or flying fox as they call it here (photo). From there is was time to walk home, and as we did so… Christine the nurse drove past again!
We got back to the campsite at about 4pm and the boys played while I got tea ready.