Week 10 - 25th & 26th November

Christchurch Downtown, Botanic Gardens, New Brighton Pier
Thursday Nov 26th, 2009

This morning before we headed out for the day, we had a duck knocking at our door. It was a mother duck with ten very new little ducklings. I fed them a slice of bread but had to stop when the main flock arrived. The ducklings were so cute.

Christchurch is NZ’s garden city. Their Botanic Gardens are the country’s most prominent gardens. We spent over three hours wandering through them. The rose garden was at its very best and both Alan and I loved it. I loved all the little birds that came in hopes that I would feed them. They were quite pretty.

The downtown is quite pretty with streets blocked off to regular traffic only allowing the trams to pass through. We had a look around Ballantynes Department store. They are quite like the Bay and Sears at Christmas with an amazing food section containing treats from all over the world. Their Christmas displays are not quite what we are used to, but they do have a small Christmas section. I didn’t find anything to bring home there.

We drove to New Brighton and the pier. This pier is very long. We saw fishermen at the end of it, as well, there were men catching crabs. It was quite fun. I couldn’t believe how long the beach was…quite impressive. Many people were out trying to surf, but the waves weren’t co-operating!

Tomorrow maybe we will go on the crater drive.

Christchurch, Antarctic Display
Wednesday Nov 25th, 2009

We visited the Antarctic Display. It was quite an interesting stop. You first enter a room that takes you through the cycles of time when in the Antarctic. Though it didn’t snow and it wasn’t too cold. Next was the snow room. Here you put on proper Antarctic snow gear and go into a room that is very cold. You can see the snow and ice. They even have an ice slide to play on.

Next we went into an area that was multi-technical. Lots of great information on the expeditions and the technology from pas t to present. I particularly enjoyed the daily pictures that are posted to their computer – fascinating.

Also they have a simulated sun and earth that can be hand turned to show how the sun hits the earth. A school group went through at that time and loved this.

They have a blue penguin viewing, outdoor, indoor, underwater and inside the nests. We watched them feed the penguins. These penguins have all been rescued, many have wings or that no longer work, one is blind…they were still cute.

Finally, there is a movie of the Antarctic that had beautiful footage of the ice, the rock formations and the stations past and present. Alan and I thoroughly enjoyed this visit.

Oh, I forgot, we finished with a ride on a Hagglund. We rode in the back of the caboose. Well that certainly turned out to be the highlight of the trip. Seat belted in, we had hand straps to clutch from the ceiling. This is a water tight vehicle. We went through a course that would rival any rollercoaster in Wonderland. My stomach was left behind…everyone was shrieking. It even traversed a three foot gap between two hills. The last segment of the trip was through a three meter deep pool of water. This vehicle can float and its tracks can propel it forward in the water. That was quite exciting.

Week 9 - 21st & 22nd Nov.

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 street 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 but 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 and 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

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 like 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 we 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.