Dunedin and Otage Penisular

---

After a fretful night at Moeraki after the Christchurch earthquake and getting hold of home (thanks Dawn) we headed onto Dunedin. Dad and Sandra were making it there at the same time so we thought we’d catch up for the last time before they headed back to Christchurch to fly to North Island - as long as all flights were sorted by then. We were only about an hour away from Dunedin so instead of heading straight for the campsite we headed into town to have a look around. We wandered for a bit and went into the Library to email Robyn and Grant - the couple we met in Thailand - to say we were around if they were free to catch up. I’d forgotten that I could have walked up to the third floor of the library and spoken to Robyn as that’s where she works!!

Once back at the van we headed to the campsite so we could get there before Dad and Sandra, with a quick stop for fuel on the way - well what a mistake that was!! As we went to pull away from the pump the car wouldn’t start. Thinking I had left the ignition on or something Mark blamed the battery and said he would walk back and get one as we were in the industrial part of South Dunedin and it wouldn’t take long to find one. So an hour later when he returned with a battery having walked all the way back into town for one!! Mark put the new battery on, I turned the key and nothing happened - it obviously wasn’t the battery. So time for the AA man. Another half an hours wait was highlighted by watching half a house be transported through the street and narrowly missing the van - not that I could do much about moving it if I’d have been in the way!! When the AA man arrived he found that the ignition wasn’t picking up the battery and some of the connections seemed to be missing so he towed us around to the auto electrical garage two blocks away - Mark was in the driving seat for that, not sure I could have controlled the van with no power steering and stiff brakes!! After about half hour the guy had it fixed enough for us to be on the road with an ‘invitation’ to come and get it tidied up tomorrow so that all the connections would last us the rest of the trip. Basically someone had re- done connections to the alternator but not very well so the cables had burnt through!! We eventually made it to the holiday park and I text Dad to tell them how to get there and that we’d arrived - only to be told they were already there!! They’d actually driven through the garage where we had been sat but either didn’t notice us or it was at the point we were bring towed to the garage!!

Having spoken to Robyn we were planning on meeting the following night due to all the problems with the van and that I didn’t fancy driving to the other side of Dunedin again that day. Plus Mark was knackered after lugging the battery around on his shoulders for half an hour!! So we went for a drink with Dad and Sandra in the lodge and got a phone call to say Grant and Robyn were on their way in case Robyn got called to Christchurch (because of the earthquake) and they didn’t get a chance to see us. We had a lovely few drinks with them in the early evening before a takeaway dinner (a luxury these days!). The following day we went into town with Dad and Sandra and saw the beautiful old railway station and walked up to the Otago Museum. It was a lovely walk around it and they had some fascinating stuff on the animal kingdom but didn’t think it was as good as Christchurch’s museum. It seemed a little disjointed and didn’t quite flow like Christchurch, but hey it was a lovely afternoon spent looking at lots of different artefacts! After that we headed up to the botanical gardens and had a short walk around the flat areas of it including the rose garden - which I am reliably informed needed some tender loving care and pruning!!

We had been invited over to Grant and Robyn’s for dinner but none of us where sure what time. We hedged our bets and went for leaving at 6 pm considering Robyn doesn’t finish work until 5.30 pm. At 6 pm I got a phone call to ask if we were lost and that we were meant to be there - oops!! It was only a half hour drive over to the house - which was absolutely stunning. A fantastic A frame house overlooking a bay. With stunning views and a garden you could get lost in as well as a veg patch to die for and a cactus garden I would love!!! Have decided if they ever need a house sitter I would definitely volunteer!! It was a lovely evening shared over a few glasses of wine and beer with tales of travels and photos - great to catch up with friends.

The following day I had an appointment to go to Sara Cohen school. It is the only SEN school in Dunedin. It is a small base school with a few satellite classes in the community schools - that appears to be the way it works out here. There is a base school which takes the most severe pupils and those who could be integrated or can cope alongside mainstream are in satellite classes attached to mainstream schools - both Ferndale and Allenvale were the same. Unfortunately during my time talking to the principal of Sara Cohen I found out that Ferndale school has been condemned after the last earthquake. All pupils and staff got out safely but the buildings can’t be used again.
Again Sara Cohen is in desperate need of a new building, bigger site and new facilities but it was a welcoming and lovely school to be in for the morning. I was treated more like an old friend than a visitor as I was welcomed into the classroom and the staffroom for morning tea!! I really hope that after the ministers visit coming up shortly that they can start looking forward to the new building they so desperately need. Being in such a friendly school makes me miss Mary Rose - but not enough to come back just yet!!

After my wonderful morning we decided to head to the Otago Peninsular. It was a lovely coastal drive where you were driving next to the water for most of the trip. At the end there is an Albatross colony which you have to pay to go and see up close but you can walk around the museum and shop and if lucky, like us, see some of the birds returning to nest. They are absolutely huge. They don’t look a lot in the photos but they have an awesome wingspan and just seem to glide through the air. We saw about 5 or 6 come back to nest and then called it a day as it was rather chilly. On the drive back through the peninsular I found this lonely seal posing for the camera in the shallows and couldn’t resist a photo op!!

As Mark had been in the car all day we decided to head just out of town for a walk at the tunnel beach walkway. Its only an hours walk so a relatively short one for us - however, it doesn’t tell you that its all down hill on the way there and up hill on the way back!! It didn’t take that long to get down and it was a lovely archways with waves crashing all around them. The tunnel down to the beach was built back in the 1800’s to get down to the beach below. It was a lovely beach with caves and interesting rock formations. We would have loved to have spent more time there but the tide was coming in and we would have been rather wet if we’d have stayed much longer!! The walk back up was hell, our calves and quads were just killing us and I had thought my knee would give way at one point - it would have been quite funny to see Mark trying to carry me back up the hill if it had!! We eventually made it to the top and stopped for a well deserved cup of tea before heading off. We planned to go about half way across to Gore but once we arrived decided not to stay, so I continued to drive to the West coast and found a place at Te Anau - just as well we arrived when we did they shut the reception and the gates 10 minutes after we arrived!!

---