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Published: January 19th 2009
Church Picnic
Photo taken at Century Park last Sunday.Having been on call on Thursday night, we decided to take the two and half hour drive south to Dunedin, a college town of 122,000 plus some 27,000 students (who, by the way, are on summer holiday). On the way, we stopped at the highly recommended Fleur's Place (www.fleursplace.com) next to Moeraki Bay. We ate a delightful meal under the watchful eye of Fleur herself. It is hard to believe it has only been six years since she discovered the small fishing village of Moeraki and decided it would be a nice place to start a restaurant. She had been in the business previously, but quit. It was it hit from the start, and is a legend with the locals and Fodor's. Reservations suggested, although on a Friday afternoon, we were able to be seated immediately, chose the seat by the door, looking out over the Bay and the South Pacific.
On to Dunedin and the local I Center (one stop tourist center for bookings and recommendations). We made reservations for our room in a Backpackers facility, for the Speit's Brewery tour, and for the Historic bus tour the next morning. Unfortunately, the last Cadbury's factory tour had already started,
Getting Lost in Timaru
There's an ocean around here, somewhere, isn't there? So people have been asking what do I do all day while Jack is saving lives?? I walk, walk, walk, getting lost on purpose...to know this lovely town. I did find some beautiful walkways by Caroline bay...will send in another posting. Also, walking is a good antidote for all the delicious food NZ offers and the overeating sampling it all!! and, as we found out the next morning, the weekend tours are abbreviated, so we put that off until our next visit. Interesting how so many of the corporations don't work on the weekends. Not efficient by American standards, but I think it's a cultural thing. We did a lot of walking around town, bought some tramping shoes for later adventures, and managed to get involved in a demonstration in the Octagon in the center of town in the rain.
We left town after that, driving through driving rain (not rain for driving), on the wrong side of the road, of course, thinking that many of the outdoor activities we had hoped to accomplish would be better done at a later date. At the suggestion of the same anesthesia tech that suggested Fleurs, we stopped at the Moeraki Boulders for a cuppa. It is about an hour north of Dunedin, hour and a half south of Timaru. It really started raining whilst we were sipping, but then cleared up so we were able to go down and check out the boulders. They are very strange...dinosaur eggs? giant turtle carapaces? prehistoric Cadbury Eggs? Very interesting. No one is sure how
Fleurs Place
Here we are just arriving at Fleurs...looks pretty rustic. they formed, but seem to think that they may have formed from concretions in the sand of the sea floor in a way similar to pearls in an oyster. Yeah, right.
On back to Timaru, and a phone call to Alex, a native Russian anesthetist, former member of the Army in Afganistan who had offered to bring a computer desk from his other home in Christchurch. I managed to snag it just before he and his wife left to go back up there, and spent the rest of the evening putting it together without directions.
Some have written asking about the work situation here, and I do want to address that, but will probably do it next weekend when I am on call, and can't travel out of town. Let me say this, I am working more than I would like, and have been impressed with the acuity of the cases here. Some sick folks.
Jack has incredible faith in my driving!! He has taken to it immediately....not me!! I feel like I am doing something illegal every time I'm behind the wheel...Have caused untold frustrations to multiple Kiwis unfortunate enough to be any where near my
Tabled in...
Somehow we got seated immediately...all I had to do was mention CPMG...right! vehicle. So far this has been the hardest thing for me to adjust to besides understanding English 'down under'!
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Matt Lewis
non-member comment
Wow
Jack and Nahid, we are jealous and amazed at your adventures. It is fun to follow along. Thanks for the blog, keep it up mates!