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Published: November 17th 2013
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We then had the drive back on the winding roads with breathtaking views and through that little tunnel again. It was funny how it seemed shorter on the way back. It did help that we were following a line of cars and the lights helped so you could see where you were going. I wonder what happens when a car has a problem in there. We stopped at Mirror Lake and never did figure why it had that name. It was very clean and you could see the fish and the vegetative growth very clearly. Then it was time for our afternoon sprinkle and we arrived in Te Anau, found our hotel and found we could use the internet for free for 20 minutes. I really don’t understand why the WIFI is such a problem here. Generally the cheaper and older motels will give you free WIFI. Sometimes the reception is excellent and sometimes it is weak. But at the more upscale motels/hotels you have to pay for it and the reception may not be great. Somebody should educate me about this little matter!!
Our room was fine but it is a tourist town even at this time of year. Many
of the restaurants are not open and they are expensive. So it was sharing a meal again – not that it is a problem, as portion sizes are generous. The next day, it is still raining. Ken was disappointed. He picked the restaurant because they had all-day breakfast. They did not serve pancakes!! Not a happy camper.
So then we continue on through the hills and lakes and sheep, over old bridges and winding roads and all the pastoral scenes. Eventually, we arrived in Invercargill. We found a motel and the gal running it had lived in St Albert in Lacombe Park back in the 90’s. She was working as a Nanny. It has to be a small world. It is an interesting city. They have a huge park in the centre of the town. It had a little zoo with ostriches, a moose, deer, etc. It also had the rose gardens and a golf course. It is a wonderful place to go for a walk. There was an interesting water tower. And then we drove to Bluff, the Oyster Capital and saw the spectacular views of the surrounding pounding waters and cliffs.
The road along the coast to Dunedin proved
to be even more winding and with a change in the terrain but still very up and down the hills. As we drove we began to notice many parked cars and some old trailers and little old sheds. At one point someone left a door open and you could see a tiny kitchen and a mattress. Something had to be going on. There were just too many cars and too many sheds all along the sea. We came upon an info centre and café. And it was lunchtime to us. Sure enough, it is the Whitebait season. Even though we had already sampled sandwiches, we really didn’t know what they were. They are tiny, wormlike fish, caught in a very fine net. Not sure I will have any more. They are mixed with egg and a little flour and fried and traditionally served between 2 slices of white bread. We continued on our scenic ocean road, at one point we had 14 km of gravel, but we did see a petrified forest and very rough seas hitting the rocks.
Finally, we arrived in Dunedin. Michael, you said it reminded you of coming into Edinburgh. We obviously came in on different
roads! The city has stupendous views and a street that is listed in the Guinness book of records as the steepest in the world. It also had a Cadbury chocolate factory. We found it interesting because Richard Cadbury married Elizabeth Head back in 1796. Their son John became interested in chocolate and introduced it into his father’s tea and coffee business. I will have to investigate the genealogy part of that when we get home. In driving around, we also came across Salmond College. Knowing that there is Scottish background in my grandmother’s family, that is more genealogy to investigate. The Botanical gardens are a very peaceful beautiful walk in the middle of the city. The Larnach castle has an interesting history. It is far away from the city and one cannot imagine getting the workers to go the distances over that kind of terrain carrying the materials necessary to complete the building of this mansion back in the late 1800’s. It was no wonder his wife left him. Who would want to be isolated in the middle of the beautiful views but with no one to appreciate them with you.
We have decided that all of New Zealand is
full of mountains both snow-covered and just rocky, green hills, deep gorges, views that you will just never see anywhere else. No words can describe how the rolling hills change to yet another spectacular view. Leaving Dunedin was just a normal type of drive and we decided to go inland to the small town of Geraldine. Very pretty town with the English style of gardens and flowers. when we left in the morning the traffic coming into town was bumper to bumper. I wanted to turn around and go back because I suspected there was a market. Someone else didn't agree with me and so on we went!! Leaving the pastoral farmlands, you started climbing the mountains and going through the passes and again your heart stops because of the beauty of this landscape. We arrived in Lyttelton expecting to find this quaint little village where the people of Christchurch come to visit on their weekends and the cruise ships visit regularly. We didn’t realize that this town was severely affected by the 2010 Earthquake. Their berthing docks for the cruise ships were just gone. They have to make decisions about building floating docks and that just may not happen
because of the expense. The economy is really changed because they are used to having at least 82 cruise ships visit every year. The cargo ships can still come in and so the port is still operating but some of the buildings(including houses) on the waterfront do not have rebuilding approval. Leaving to go back to Christchurch, you go through a rather long tunnel and you wonder how that tunnel survived and if you were in it at the time of an earthquake, what would happen!! Sections of the highway were being completely redone, so it was a slow drive to Kaikoura.
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