Private flight training institutes in Oamaru are popular - especially very popular among Indians. When I searched Google to know the reason for this, I learned that the air traffic over Oamaru is low. There are cafes and restaurants on both sides of New Zealand's State Highway 1. In the middle of the afternoon, people are walking with their pets.
We parked the car near a pizza shop for our convenience. The person who billed and cooked the pizza for us was a newly joined employee of Indian origin. Wearing a turban, he was a new hire. He was running the shop alone. Generally, Indians living in New Zealand do not exchange big greetings when they see people from their birth country. He appeared to be from the state of Punjab or Haryana. For me, who was used to affectionately calling people "Paaji" in India, there was a little hesitation to call this man that.
We decided to take the pizza in Oamaru and eat it in the car. With the pizza smelling delicious, I parked the car at a rest stop about fifteen minutes from Oamaru. Our stop was near the continuously flowing Waitaki River. Beyond the river is the Canterbury region. The Waitaki River is a major braided river, 209 kilometers (130 miles) long, located in New Zealand's South Island; it drains from the Mackenzie Basin, flows through three hydroelectric dams, and empties into the Pacific Ocean. If you look at Google Maps, you can see its braided shape. This river is also famous for recreational fishing.
It is a winding road from Dunedin to Oamaru. Then to Timaru, there aren't that many curves - except for the braids of the Waitaki River. The Pacific Ocean to the east, and to the west, defining the Canterbury and North Otago plains, are flat or gently sloping pastures, crop fields, and livestock fences. Because SH1 (State Highway 1) is the only main road passing through the vast expanse of the Canterbury Plains and the southern rural areas, millions of farm animals can be seen grazing very close to the areas where vehicles travel at a speed of 100 km/h.
If I drive the car to the west of SH1 - rugged inland roads - that was a desire that arose in my mind. I made a mental note of these routes to travel again on my motorcycle. For me, traveling with my daughter, and that too in a small car, the smooth Timaru highway was suitable. The two of us rested for a while in Timaru. Timaru is a port city. Here in 1903, even before the Wright brothers, Richard Pearse supposedly made an unconfirmed powered flight. Sitting in the car, I learned about this curly-haired inventor on the internet.
As soon as she ate the pizza in Oamaru, my daughter, embraced by sleep, woke up suddenly as if she was floating in the sky in a dream and saw a thunderstorm.