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Published: October 8th 2005
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Cadbury World
Brian is a snack for the Cadbury Bunny. Good day from Dunedin (pronounced "DONE-ee-din"), the most Scottish city in NZ. It's our second to last stop before coming home.
We woke up this morning, and the air of excitement and anticipation was all around. Today we would visit Brian's mecca. His dream come true. His most heartfelt wish. The Cadbury Chocolate Factory. Cadbury makes 80% of the chocolate consumed in NZ, and it's far better than the candy-store chocolate we can get at home. (Hershey and Nestle have a corner on the market in the US, so we only get a couple of kinds of Cadbury's. The selection here is mind-boggling in comparison.)
Before we even entered the building, we could smell the chocolate. Upon entering we walked through a small interpretive center and learned about the history of chocolate and the company. (The Cadbury family were Quakers, who were very concerned about good conditions for their workers, and their employees are still very well-paid and well taken care of today. People don't leave once they get a job there. The employee discount probably has a little to do with it too.) Then our guide Marie collected us and promptly gave us a sample Chocolate Fish (chocolate
Milford Sound
Brian on the Milford Mariner in Milford Sound (the Maori name for the falls in the background translates as Cloud on the Water). covered strawberry marshmallow, in the shape of a fish) and shower-cap type covers for our hair. We looked stunning.
We walked through the chocolate making operations, and our pants got tighter with every inhale, so laden with chocolate fumes was the air. The chocolate chip machine was especially cool. We also saw the workers packaging Easter bunnies, and watched a short video of the making of Cadbury Cream Eggs. (Brian: "I'm getting chills.")
If there were nothing else besides the Cadbury factory to see in Dunedin, we'd be satisfied with our trip here, but it's actually a very nice university city with lots of beautiful architecture, museums, and nice and walkable. We're planning to visit the Otago Museum (Otago is the region in which Dunedin lies) and the steepest street in the world before we turn in our rental car and fly to Auckland for our last day here.
Yesterday we drove (Brian drove, Geri uh..."navigated") all the way through the Catlins to Dunedin (9.5 hours with stops) from Milford Sound, in the Fiordlands. (Geri could not stop saying "Norwegian Blue, beautiful plumeage...He must be pining for the fiords" over and over. If you get that joke,
Milford Mariner
Geri in front of the Milford Mariner, our home for 17 hours. you're a dork too.) The Catlins are filled with picturesque rolling impossibly green hills and the brightest blue bays. The sheep here seemed to live the life all other sheep in the world only dream of. We saw lambs jumping and cavorting in a way that we thought only happened in children's story books. Along the way, we stopped at Curio Bay, where a petrified jurassic forest (180 million years old) stands on a beach. We also visited Nugget Point for spectacular views of the Pacific.
We stopped for lunch in the town of Invercargill. If anyone reading this is planning a trip to NZ and wondering if Invercargill is worth their time, it's really not. The town itself is kind of bleak, and the people we ran into were uncharacteristically unpleasant. It was also the location of the first dirty bathroom we've seen in this country that seems to be fanatically invested in clean, fresh-smelling bathrooms. Of course we were only in Invercargill for an hour, so your mileage may vary.
We were in Milford Sound for an overnight cruise up the Sound and back. We boarded at 4:15 pm on Wednesday and cruised out into the
Humboldt Falls
Brian at the Humboldt Falls (524ft tall - the falls, not Brian). Sound. (Milford Sound is actually a Fiord. Sounds are V-shaped, and carved by rivers; fiords are U-shaped, carved by glaciers. In NZ they pronounce glacier "glay-see-er" which Geri thinks is much more elegant than the American "glay-shur.")
We had hoped to go kayaking, but the conditions were deemed too windy (which was very dissapointing, especially considering our experience with the Mad Mile at Abel Tasman Park was windier, and that was a piece of cake). Instead we boarded a tender craft (small metal motor boat) with the ship's nature guide, Sandy. It was our great luck to spot four Fiorldland Crested Penguins, which are the rarest and shyest penguin in the world. They only reside in the NZ Fiordlands, and there are only 2,000 mating pairs left. In the bay where we saw them, there are only six, so seeing four was quite a rare treat. We watched them swimming, catching fish, bathing and hopping along the shore rocks.
We got back on the ship for a delicious dinner (more kumera! yum!) and got to know a nice couple from Syndey who were also on their honeymoon. After dinner we watched a slide show about the history and wildlife of Milford Sound, and then went to the top deck of the ship for a short astronomy lesson. Because neither of us has been to the Southern Hemisphere before, we were unfamiliar with all of the constellations. Our guide Calin showed us how to find the Southern Cross, the Southern astronomical pole, Scorpio and two galaxies. We also saw Venus, which is exactly the same thing Captain Cook did in the 18th century. On one of his voyages to the Fiordlands, he stopped to track the transit of Venus.
We slept in a tiny but very comfortable cabin with a bathroom the size of a postage stamp. Everything was great until we tried to take showers and found that there was only hot water. Kiwis heat their water to scalding temperatures, and without any cold to temper it, we couldn't get under the shower for even a second. Creative use of washcloths ensued.
At breakfast, Geri enjoyed eggs and hashbrowns, while Brian opted for Rice Krispies. The first spoonful caused a look of disgust, confusion and betrayal to cross his face. The staff had inadvertantly filled the sugar bowl with salt, and if you know Brian, you know how much sugar he puts on his cereal. A fresh bowl was dispatched, with real sugar on top, and the day was saved.
After breakfast we visited the Milford Deep Underwater Observatory. The water in Milford Sound is unique, because it consists of a layer of freshwater darkened by tanin gathered from the mountains, covering another layer of very cold seawater. The tanin at the top prevents light from reaching the seawater, so the fish that live in the Sound's seawater are usually only found in the very deepest parts of the ocean where there is no light. The observatory is 10 meters below the surface, and allowed us to view fish, sponges, starfish, and other curiosities we've never seen before. While seals and dolphins occasionally have been spotted there, the only large mammal we saw was Ben, one of the Observatory divers, cleaning the lights.
The drive to Milford Sound from Te Anau was along the spectacular Milford Road. It winds through mountains and forests, including a tunnel that is no more than a narrow hole carved through a granite mountain. We were up high enough that we even got caught in a couple of tiny snow flurries. We stopped at a few places to hike and take in the scenery, including Humboldt Falls. At two of our stops we came across Keas, green alpine parrots native to the area. They are known for being very clever and cheeky, and also for eating the rubber off of car windshields. They eyed our car, but we made an escape before any damage was done.
Tomorrow we'll spend the day in Auckland before hopping on a plane back to the US. We're sad to leave, and are already planning our next trip.
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Mom
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CHOCOLATE
A chocolate factory--OH...MY...GOD!!!!!!!!!