Arrowtown, South Island, New Zealand
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Today we decided to pick up a rental car and spend the day enjoying the local Otago district at our own leisure - while tours are great it is always good to be able to move at your own pace. So took the car our to Arrowtown. I've been to Arrowtown once before as they used parts of the Arrow River for
The Lord of the Rings so this time it was to find out more about the old gold-mining town. Parking the car we walked along one of the tracks they built for the 150th anniversary of the town's founding that followed the Arrow River. Being mid-morning the sun was low and with the dense tree cover nice and cool as we walked down the 4.2km track. Then up in to Buckingham Street and back to the tourist information centre. It was there I found that Saint Mary of the Cross had established a local school: making a pilgrimage to her tomb and attending the canonisation it seemed along natural to walk the short distance up to Saint Joseph's Church. Very interesting! I knew she had been to New Zealand for health reasons, and that the Sisters of Saint Joseph of the Sacred Heart had established schools throughout New Zealand; so this was an accidental and pleasant find. The cottage had been restored in recent years but the inside was set up to provide some idea of what the small school room would have been like in the nineteenth century. After making a small donation it was time to slowly make our way back to the car. But not before stopping by Patagonia's Chocolaterie and Gelaterria to enjoy a fig and pitacchio with marscapone and berry ... mmmm.
