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Published: March 25th 2011
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March 18-20 Queenstown
Also known as the ‘Adrenaline Capital of the World’ and for a good reason. If there is a hill, there is a platform on it for jumping, flying, or diving off of. The there is the jumping out of perfectly good airplanes, sliding along cables and swinging over cliffs. You name it, if it creates an adrenaline rush, it is here. Our only attempt at fun was riding the cable car to the top of the hill and then playing around on the luge track. No jumping off of things.
Otherwise, another pretty, touristy community in amongst the mountains. We decided to have a few laid back days walking around the area and sitting on the beach. Though I hate to admit it, but the warm sweaters have come out and I even bought a scarf from the street market. It was only 13 degrees yesterday and quite cold at night. The trees are even changing colour. We are south of the 45th parallel and getting closer and closer to the Antarctica.
Tomorrow we head still farther southeast to Dunedin, on the east coast.
March 21-23 Dunedin - The Gaelic name for Edinburgh
This
city was NZ’s first, being established in the late 1800’s. And as I type this (on the 23rd) we are seeing the sun for the first time here. All of a sudden it is a fairly pretty place.
The city is old, with many old buildings, including the cathedrals, manors, office buildings, and train station. We have spent a fair bit of time wandering around admiring them and then today took a double decker bus tour. Part of the tour included many of the places we had already seen, but also took us to Baldwin Street which at 19 degrees is reportedly the steepest residential street in the world. Wouldn’t want to live at the top of it. We also spent an hour touring through the Olveston Manor. Initially we weren’t going to do this but it turned out to be the best part of the tour. The Olveston family were collectors of artifacts from around the world so between their collections and the beauty of their home, it was an hour well spent.
But our two previous days here have also been interesting. On the evening we first arrived in Dunedin, we toured the Speight’s Brewery It was more
of a historical tour than an actual brewery tour as we were taken through and shown many of the ‘ways it way. As always, the best was at the end when we got to sample the different brews created there. Still not converted to a beer drinker though.
The next day was one of the best. Getting up reasonably early, we walked to the train station and caught the historical train through the Taieri Gorge to Pukerangi and back. The station itself was well worth the visit. It has the original stain glass, lead windows, high tin ceilings, wooden floors and such that one would expect from the glorious days of riches. The train was from the early era when most of the cars had open window - just like the present ones in Thailand. Fortunately the car we were in was an air conditioned one with soft seats. The trip itself took us through New Zealand’s longest tunnel, at 2kms in length, through some farm land and then up through the gorge. The combination of the schist rock and deep ravines did make for a spectacular trip.
Then once we arrived back in Dunedin, we decided to stop at
Luge Track
At Queenstown the Cadbury Chocolate Factory to book a tour. We got in right away as the next toured started minutes after we arrived. Yes, it was a dream tour seeing how they made all that wonderful chocolate. The smells were absolutely divine. They even have a huge chocolate water fall that splattered chocolate all over the place, including a bit on us. Best part was all the free chocolate the tour guide gave away. Only down side is that I love chocolate, not chocolate coated candy, so Darrel got a lot more than I did. Hmmm.
Tomorrow we start our journey back north where we will hopefully find some more warm weather before heading home. Weather is predicted to be 9 degrees here in Dunedin tonight. Burrrr.
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darlene
non-member comment
Spring is coming!
Still are enjoying your travels even if I'm remiss in commenting very often. Your photos are really great. Darrel is definately good for perspective. The Cadbury tour made me crave alittle chocolate and guess who wishes he were with you at the beer factory or whatever it was called. This is definately your incredible journey, keep on smelling the roses!