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Published: December 1st 2005
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Dunedin
As viewed from the Otago Peninsula Today we had some time to wander about Dunedin for awhile. Dunedin was originally settled by Scots (its name is Gaelic for “Edinburgh”) and still maintains that Scottish influence. Even the people on the street looked more Scottish - lots of fair skin and red hair. We started with a yummy breakfast at Ra Café Bar, on The Octagon in central Dunedin. Then we spent some time wandering around the Octagon, looking at all the plaques dedicated to writers and poets from Dunedin.
Dunedin is a college town - Otago University swells the city’s population by tens of thousands during the school year. As a result, Dunedin has a burgeoning music scene. Ben and I made our way to Real Groovy Records, an NZ chain that has a wide selection. Ben got some recommendations from a (fair, redheaded) shop clerk, then we took some selections to a listening station and made a few purchases. Probably the best thing we bought was by SJD - a one-man-band from a guy named Sean Donnelley that is an interesting mix of pop songwriting, guitars and synths. Meanwhile, Rich and Gary found some cool clothes at Hallensteins.
Next it was off to Larnach Castle, New
Zealand’s only castle. This meant driving back onto the Otago Peninsula which is in itself a treat. The castle is located on top of the peninsula’s ridge, so it has great views of the harbour and of the Pacific. We spent our time wandering through the gardens, which had an immense variety of plants and flowers along with statues, gazebos and winding paths. Many of the large flowers had proportionally-large insects crawling atop them; apparently they taste as good as they look!
Then it was time to start making our way northward to Oamaru. After an hour or so of rolling hills and seaside views, we reached Moeraki. Here is a beach where the famed Moeraki Boulders lie. I wasn’t sure these would be terribly impressive, but it turned out they were. Theoretically, they are the result of small mineral deposits around which additional stone collected over millennia to create perfectly-round boulders. From a distance they just look like a bunch of big rocks; but up close they are amazing. There seemed to be some kind of decay process going on that had caused some boulders to implode, while others were forming an alien-looking pattern of seams on their surfaces.
Some boulders were half-emerging from the cliffside, implying that there are many more boulders under the beach and hidden in the cliffs. Once again we were lucky to have the beach to ourselves, it being past 5pm and the nearby café/restaurant being closed. The ability to enjoy phenomenal scenery in peace and silence is a real treat.
Next we made our way to Oamaru, a town that bills itself as “Penguin Capital” because of its colony of blue penguins. Before heading out to see them, we stopped at the Old Post Office, now turned into a bar and grill that served good pub food. They had no tables available, but the barmaid invited us to take a “leaner” in the back. We thought this meant an outdoor table, but soon realized this meant a bar-height table. We sat in the lounge (which also served as the billiard room and the casino) and ate/drank to the sounds of locals enjoying their Friday night with friends, the chatter of slot machines and the faint pulse of music videos on a flat-panel TV.
After a wander through Oamaru’s downtown (all shut down at 6pm on a Friday but the classical limestone architecture was
Castle gardens
A nice place for one's morning constitutional! nice to wander amongst) we headed to the coast for our date with the blue penguins. First we got a behind-the-scenes tour where our guide Louise explained the facility to us. Similarly to the Penguin Place facility, this place had set up 200 nesting boxes to provide shelter for the blue penguins to raise their chicks. Every night at dusk, the penguins return from their fishing expedition to feed their chicks and spend the evening with their families. The males and females go fishing on alternate days while the chicks are young. Once the chicks are old enough to be left alone in the nest, both the males and females go out fishing. We got to peer down into one nesting box and see the two mature chicks there, waiting for Mom & Dad to return home with some food.
On the way back to facility, Louise was telling us more about the colony when suddenly she took a wrong step and disappeared over the side of the 1’ high boardwalk! I felt for her as I’d done the same thing a couple of days ago as we walked in the forests along the Haast River. She seemed to be
OK if a bit embarrassed.
Then sunset drew near (it being about 9:00pm) and we were seated in the large outdoor pavilion to watch the penguins come in to shore. Way out on the waves, we saw small groupings of heads bobbing out of the water until the penguins came near shore and began emerging onto the beach. Huge groups (known as “rafts”) of 20-40 penguins arrived in waves - first emerging onto the beach and preening, then beginning to climb the rocky ramp up toward the nests. Despite having been repeatedly asked not to take photographs, some people didn’t get the hint at first. And many people outright ignored the requests that we keep quiet to avoid startling the penguins. Despite all this distraction, we got to see these cute birds (smallest penguins in the world) make their way to shore and begin whooping it up with their mates and chicks.
We lingered longer than most, so we got to see additional waves come to shore and then got to watch various penguins wandering around the colony in the dim light. Once we got in our car to head out, we had to take the “penguin crossing” signs very
seriously as a number of penguins emerged near the road and were indeed crossing it. All told there were dozens of penguins all around us. What an amazing experience - we talked about it all the way along our 90-minute drive in the darkness to Timaru for the night. Due to the 15 hours of sunlight each day, we’d rarely driven in the dark and this road was especially enjoyable at night. There were no road lights and few house lights to be seen; only the occasional passing headlights or glowing taillights bobbing up and down the hills ahead.
We’d called ahead to let the hotel in Timaru know we’d be late, and (because this is New Zealand) he’d therefore left our room keys in our unlocked rooms for us. Now it’s time to sleep and look forward to our dramatic excursion tomorrow: a 4-wheel-drive journey to Mount Sunday, the location of Edoras (the Rohan city on a hill) in Lord of the Rings and a place of incredible and unspoiled beauty we’d only briefly glimpsed last time we were here.
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