Worlds steepest street – Baldwin Street, Mount Cargill, 
Moraki boulders, Moraki Harbour – Lunch at Fleurs
Sunday Nov 22nd, 2009
Today we carry on to Oamaru. On our way out of the city we check out the world’s steepest street. It is recognized by the Guinness World book of records. Baldwin Street was originally designed by William Baldwin, a member of Otago council in the late 1800’s. The s
treet is 161 m long and climbs a vertical height of 47.2 m from beginning to end. At its steepest point, the climb is 1 in 2.86 with an average climb of 1 in 3.41.
On the hill, we meet a runner (over 60 years old) with a tee-shirt that claims Worlds Steepest Hill World Record Runner. We chat with this fellow for a bit and he runs up and down this hill 60 times a day as part of this fitness regime. Apparently, he has also been recognized by the Guinness world book of records.
He recommends we go to the top of Mount Cargill. He even offers to drive up with us bu
t we have the back of the car packed with stuff and there are no available seats for him. He also says don’t forget to stop in Moeraki harbour and go to Fleurs for lunch. Have the blue cod and tell them I sent you. We thank him, take the
directions and head to Mount Cargill.
Mount Cargill is a very high spot and it gives perfect panoramic views for 360 degrees. There is the Pacific Ocean to the East, Dunedin to the south, and mountains in all other directions.
The GPS suggests an alternate route to Moeraki, which we of course take.The scenery is once again stunning and we are able to drive through a narrow gorge just outside of town. One car wide! Then up to the mountain side we go and down the other side. It is beautiful country.
At Moeraki we head to the beach. Luckily the tide is low and we can see the boulders in the distance. There are lots of people milling about an
d it is not to difficult to tell that this is one of NZ’s popular tourist attractions. As we get closer we can tell that these boulders are similar to the ones we saw in Kohtou but more uniform in size and shape.
We wander up and down the beach looking at all the boulders, waiting for our turn to take pictures between the tourists. Here we meet Tom and Chad Adams from the previous night. They tell us to go back and see Shag Point as they have seals, penguins and lots of sea life. We thank them for the tip and carry on our way.
In the tiny town of Moeraki we find the restaurant “Fleurs” right at the dock. It looks like an old weathered fishing building and you have to look twice to realize it is a restaurant. I can imagine it has been here for 100 years. A place where fisherman stored their nets and life revolved around the sea.
Here we explain to the waiter how we found the place…he did ask…and what an amazing lunch we had. They served us a baked whole blue cod with steamed vegetables and on top of the fish are lots of slivered almonds, capers and butter. We devoured all the fish… what a wonderful meal.
Shag point is a short drive back toward Dunedin but we think from Chad’s description that it is worth it. Out at the point we see two yellow eyed penguins,
seals, and lots of sea birds. It seems this was a mining area as there are lots of signs to stay on the track due to open holes. The mining information indicates that a thriving coal mine once existed on this point and the drifts go way out under the sea. Due to the problem with water in the tunnels eventually the mine was closed and the mine features removed.
We continue our drive to Oamaru. One of the locals suggested we head to the harbour around seven in the evening to see the blue penguins, or fairy penguins. You can take a tour that costs $110 or do it ourselves…we went ourselves. We put on most of our coats, I put on my scarf and hat and wished I had mittens. There is a fence up from the shore line to protect an area for penguin nesting. Inside the large enclosure are penguin boxes around local shrubs. We met a fellow looking over a fence and he explained that these penguins come in at night in waves or groups, usually when it is dusk. We watch for a long while with him and it is very windy and chilly, but we persist.
Finally, as the sun hits the horizon, you can see what looks like a flock of floating ducks on the sea. The crowd is building and we don’t want to move for fear we lose our vantage points. We wait, and wait, and wait with the mass coming closer to land, and then it seems to head back out to sea again. Eventually you can see little bird outlines coming ashore.
It was suggested a better view was from up the harbour, so I went there leaving Alan at the beach. Here I saw five blue penguins jump out of the water onto the rocks against the pier. The proceeded to jump up the rocks towards me then turned and headed for the penguin boxes. What an amazing sight.
Moraki boulders, Moraki Harbour – Lunch at Fleurs
Sunday Nov 22nd, 2009
Today we carry on to Oamaru. On our way out of the city we check out the world’s steepest street. It is recognized by the Guinness World book of records. Baldwin Street was originally designed by William Baldwin, a member of Otago council in the late 1800’s. The s
treet is 161 m long and climbs a vertical height of 47.2 m from beginning to end. At its steepest point, the climb is 1 in 2.86 with an average climb of 1 in 3.41.On the hill, we meet a runner (over 60 years old) with a tee-shirt that claims Worlds Steepest Hill World Record Runner. We chat with this fellow for a bit and he runs up and down this hill 60 times a day as part of this fitness regime. Apparently, he has also been recognized by the Guinness world book of records.
He recommends we go to the top of Mount Cargill. He even offers to drive up with us bu
t we have the back of the car packed with stuff and there are no available seats for him. He also says don’t forget to stop in Moeraki harbour and go to Fleurs for lunch. Have the blue cod and tell them I sent you. We thank him, take the
directions and head to Mount Cargill.Mount Cargill is a very high spot and it gives perfect panoramic views for 360 degrees. There is the Pacific Ocean to the East, Dunedin to the south, and mountains in all other directions.
The GPS suggests an alternate route to Moeraki, which we of course take.The scenery is once again stunning and we are able to drive through a narrow gorge just outside of town. One car wide! Then up to the mountain side we go and down the other side. It is beautiful country.
At Moeraki we head to the beach. Luckily the tide is low and we can see the boulders in the distance. There are lots of people milling about an
d it is not to difficult to tell that this is one of NZ’s popular tourist attractions. As we get closer we can tell that these boulders are similar to the ones we saw in Kohtou but more uniform in size and shape.
We wander up and down the beach looking at all the boulders, waiting for our turn to take pictures between the tourists. Here we meet Tom and Chad Adams from the previous night. They tell us to go back and see Shag Point as they have seals, penguins and lots of sea life. We thank them for the tip and carry on our way.
In the tiny town of Moeraki we find the restaurant “Fleurs” right at the dock. It looks like an old weathered fishing building and you have to look twice to realize it is a restaurant. I can imagine it has been here for 100 years. A place where fisherman stored their nets and life revolved around the sea.Here we explain to the waiter how we found the place…he did ask…and what an amazing lunch we had. They served us a baked whole blue cod with steamed vegetables and on top of the fish are lots of slivered almonds, capers and butter. We devoured all the fish… what a wonderful meal.
Shag point is a short drive back toward Dunedin but we think from Chad’s description that it is worth it. Out at the point we see two yellow eyed penguins,
seals, and lots of sea birds. It seems this was a mining area as there are lots of signs to stay on the track due to open holes. The mining information indicates that a thriving coal mine once existed on this point and the drifts go way out under the sea. Due to the problem with water in the tunnels eventually the mine was closed and the mine features removed.We continue our drive to Oamaru. One of the locals suggested we head to the harbour around seven in the evening to see the blue penguins, or fairy penguins. You can take a tour that costs $110 or do it ourselves…we went ourselves. We put on most of our coats, I put on my scarf and hat and wished I had mittens. There is a fence up from the shore line to protect an area for penguin nesting. Inside the large enclosure are penguin boxes around local shrubs. We met a fellow looking over a fence and he explained that these penguins come in at night in waves or groups, usually when it is dusk. We watch for a long while with him and it is very windy and chilly, but we persist.
Finally, as the sun hits the horizon, you can see what looks like a flock of floating ducks on the sea. The crowd is building and we don’t want to move for fear we lose our vantage points. We wait, and wait, and wait with the mass coming closer to land, and then it seems to head back out to sea again. Eventually you can see little bird outlines coming ashore.It was suggested a better view was from up the harbour, so I went there leaving Alan at the beach. Here I saw five blue penguins jump out of the water onto the rocks against the pier. The proceeded to jump up the rocks towards me then turned and headed for the penguin boxes. What an amazing sight.
Dunedin, Coffee in town, Botanical Gardens
Saturday Nov 21st, 2009
Saturday Nov 21st, 2009
We are up early this morning. The sky is blue, the sun warm and we cook our usual morning breakfast. The 
Australian couple we had met the night before, Sharmaine and Nigel, join us at the farmers market.
The Dunedin farmers market is just l
ike Peterborough’s market with stalls of fresh baking, vegetables, meats and wine. After the market the four of us went out to a café then w
e head off our own way. We had worn shorts as the weather was so warm when we left. However, the weather changed in a flash and we had to head back to the cabin to change and then had lunch.
After lunch we head to the art gallery, but it has limited artwork on display and was disappointing. The Cadbury company was outside handing out chocolate when we left, that was quite nice.
We later found the Dunedin Botanic Garden and see the beautiful displays of rhododendrons, azaleas, rock garden flowers, and torch flowers. I loved their bronze sculptures of Peter Pan and Wendy with the children.
We had a lovely evening back at the cabin. Spend the evening talking with Sharmaine, Nigel, then Tom and Chad Adams, American friends of Nigel’s, from North Carolina joined us. Tomorrow we are heading to Moeraki Boulders and Oamaru.
Australian couple we had met the night before, Sharmaine and Nigel, join us at the farmers market.The Dunedin farmers market is just l
ike Peterborough’s market with stalls of fresh baking, vegetables, meats and wine. After the market the four of us went out to a café then w
e head off our own way. We had worn shorts as the weather was so warm when we left. However, the weather changed in a flash and we had to head back to the cabin to change and then had lunch.After lunch we head to the art gallery, but it has limited artwork on display and was disappointing. The Cadbury company was outside handing out chocolate when we left, that was quite nice.
We later found the Dunedin Botanic Garden and see the beautiful displays of rhododendrons, azaleas, rock garden flowers, and torch flowers. I loved their bronze sculptures of Peter Pan and Wendy with the children.
We had a lovely evening back at the cabin. Spend the evening talking with Sharmaine, Nigel, then Tom and Chad Adams, American friends of Nigel’s, from North Carolina joined us. Tomorrow we are heading to Moeraki Boulders and Oamaru.
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