Day 95

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Finally had to say goodbye to Dunedin today, been a superb few days enjoying the city, and the surrounding countryside, I suspect memories of here will linger on for many years, its been the most vibrant and fun place to spend time, the people were amazing, the food was great, the hills were, well, very steep, and it’s a wonder we’ve escaped with the car still going! So, yes, today we left Dunedin. We’re sort of heading home now, back to the North Island, and there wasn’t really a great deal that we wanted to see on the East coast. One notable exception were the Moeraki Boulders. There are basically large round rocks which, due to a geological quirk, were created millions of years ago and are being basically washed out of the coastline as the shoreline erodes. Think giant stone balls and you’re on the right track. Anyway, they sit on the beach minding their own business and trying to avoid, I suspect, all the tourists who pitch along to photograph them. Today, I was one of them and, with tripod and neutral density filter to hand, this was our one tourist stop from Dunedin to Christchurch today. Was impressive to see them, and I managed to get some decent pics with the filter on to allow long time exposures, but mostly it was a case of trying to avoid getting people in any of my photos, especially hard when you’re doing 30 second exposures! From there, we basically just carried on up the SH1. We stopped to swap drivers half way, and, before long, we were in Christchurch, and heading for the Top 10 Holiday park. The top10 card we got the other week has now already paid for itself as, given the option, Helen said she’d prefer to stay in a cabin while we are here, a decision which was vindicated a while later when it chucked it down, so pleased to be indoors, with a power socket to connect into, even if we still have to head outside for the toilet or running water, a cabin is literally just a lockable room with a bed in it, but it feels palatial and I am certainly looking forward to sleeping on something which isn’t going to deflate overnight like my airbed has been! Not much to report today, did a bit of shopping for tea, managed to spend FIFTEEN dollars on a pregnancy magazine, so am now terrifyingly up to date with which type of baby buggy is going to define me as a parent, and horrified at how much they cost!!! 😉 Still, a dry and warm night awaits the three of us this evening, so that’s good. Tomorrow, I’m meeting up with an old friend of mine in town, so that should be good, and then its sight seeing until we’ve done all we want to and then, I suspect, it’ll be time to head back to Picton and bring our South Island trip to an end… Will be very sad to leave this wonderful Island behind, but be glad to catch up with friends and family when we do return oop North!

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