Story #4

I knew that the long drive home from Dunedin to Christchurch was starting to take its toll as a wave of tiredness slowly began to sweep over me. My two passengers were fast asleep and we were barely an hour and a half into the journey! We had planned to stop for coffee in Timaru, but I quickly made the decision to shift this stop forward as I knew there was a café just ahead and I needed the caffeine fix! After passing the billboard signs for our coffee destination I quickly pulled off the motorway and swung into an empty slot in the car park. ‘Riverstone’ was a well-known café/restaurant and it was a place I’d stopped many times on journeys to and from Dunedin. Waking the others, we grabbed our wallets and headed in.

Once inside, it was instantly clear how popular this place was.  A line of people paying for their meals stretched back from the counter for what seemed like miles. Unwilling to keep driving another 40 minutes to find another less busy café, we joined the queue. Because of the time we knew it would take to actually reach the counter itself and order our coffees, we decided that takeaway was the best option.

As we slowly began to inch forward, very slowly I might add, we chatted away making up for the lost time in the car when they had been sleeping! When the counter itself finally came into view the conversation quickly changed to the array of cakes and sweet treats laid out on top. Why is it that you are always so tempted to buy something sweet to go alongside your coffee? I couldn’t resist, my mind was made up in a matter of minutes, carrot cake it was. Delish!

Finally, we reached the front of the line and were able to order our coffees and sweet goodies! Within minutes they were in our hot little hands. It seemed a bit ridiculous to have waited all that time when our food and drinks only took a few minutes to make. Nevertheless, I was happy as I slowly sipped away on my coffee. I loved drinking out of takeaway cups; there was just something about it that made the coffee taste better. Maybe I’m dreaming but that’s what I’ve always found!

With each sip I felt the tiredness drain from my body and instead I felt alert and full and ready to get back on the road. Coffee was definitely needed and I’m glad we had stopped when we did! Now I also had two wide-awake passengers, another bonus! We hit the road dinking our drinks and eating our treats and I think I can be safe in saying the coffee lead to the best car sing-a-long ever. As we drove on and sang away I found myself thinking that although we didn’t actually sit down at a table and drink our coffees this trip to the cafe was very much still a social coffee outing. We had chatted in line for a good 20 minutes, even talked to the staff brushing off their apologies for the wait and the coffee itself had lead to a very social next few hours the rest of the way home! In my eyes this pit stop was another very successful coffee outing!