Blogs from Invercargill, South Island, New Zealand, Oceania

Relacja z nastepnych dwoch tygodni moze byc nudna - o czym tu pisac, oprocz kilku zdarzen i spostrzezen z dlugiej trasy, wyrysowanej na mapce? Opisy przyrody? Po prawdzie, pierwszy raz w zyciu doznalem czegos w rodzaju przesytu pieknych widoczkow i tesknoty za normalna cywilizacja. Najlepiej chyba isc po kolei. Od noclegu przy ujsciu Rangitikei do Opunake: Jechalem tzw. surfers highway, po drodze wcialem kluski z wolowina z puszki. Trudno skarzyc sie na nazwe "beef chunks", bo rzeczywiscie byly w srodku wiecej niz dwa kawalki wolowiny, ale naprawde niewiele wiecej. Ten postoj zapamietam poprzez dwie laciate swinki dopraszajace sie udzialu w posilku. Ja z kolei mialem raczej ochote na warchlaka z rusztu, w koncu skonczylo sie na pustych marzeniach z obydwu stron. Nocleg w Opunake, na pobicznej plazy. Obok biwakowala para surferow z Austrii. Potem znow wyrzucalem ... read more

Day 5 – Friday the 18th of March We were hoping to get the last of the sights of Dunedin done today before heading to Invercargill. Yesterday we booked in to do the Taieri Gorge Railway, known as one of the world’s great train trips, on the back of a recommendation from a 80-ish year old lady on our Cadbury tour. We um’d and ah’d about doing it as it’s a little on the pricey side but eventually we bit the bullet and booked. Because it was a Friday we were able to do the journey from Dunedin to Middlemarch (Normally it only goes to Pukerangi). We departed the Dunedin Railway station at 9.30am. It was a 77km train ride and many of the vantage points are only accessible by train – the track being privately ... read more

With the sun retreating and the grandeur of the alpine mountains sliding away behind us we drove into the very pleasant rolling hills of the Central Otago Region. Yellowed grasses waved in the breeze and sheep covered every hill. It is beautiful countryside and as we meandered along the small back roads in search of a campsite we came across the so called 'Elephant Rocks'. Tucked into a valley these huge boulders do look as if they are crouching animals huddled together. It was used as a setting for the recent Chronicles of Narnia film, and its easy to see why. No houses in sight for miles and miles, only acres of green green pastures speckled with amazing rock formations, the perfect setting for a fanatsy film. After a few wrong turns where we found ourselves ... read more