Blogs from Oamaru, South Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 6

Hello all, We have come to the end of our Kiwi adventure and are jetting off to pastures new tomorrow - Australia!! But what an amazing time we have had in New Zealand. We had felt a little disappointed not to have had a little more time on the North Island, but the South Island has been as amazing as everyone had told us it would be, and it was great to have two weeks to truly explore every inch of it! We were at the Foz glacier when we last left off, and from there we took the most incredible scenic route through the Haast Pass towards Wanaka and Queenstown. Wanaka was a gorgeous little town on the shores of the lake - (apologies for having no photos of the town, I left the digital ... read more

Hi Folk We do hope you were able to pick up the photos from the last entry. By the way Tom we are still waiting to hear from you!! We were talking the other day about Christchurch being so English. Well Oamaru might not be as glamourous as Christchurch but it as English, well English as it used to be, down to the playing of crocquet lawn in middle of gorgeous public gardens. I don't know what it is but l can't seen to prise Nancy away from the flowers. I suppose l do understand, it is not often you get to see Spring flowers at the end of October. In the evening I managed to prise Nancy away long enough to go and see the penguins come ashore just after dusk. We were told that ... read more

a goat attacked my brother and a seal growled at hi. lol i enjoyed that. WWWWWWWHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!! im missing thaksgiving.:( anyhow we whent skiing yesterday on mount hutt. i got sun burn and my eyes are bloodhot from the wind or summtin. theres only a section of bloodshotness, so when i look down u can see the part that is still white. its creepy. HAPPY TURKEY DAY! not for me , but u get the idea.... read more

Day 531 (10.09.08) We started the day with a great trip up the Otago Peninsula. Likely enough the weather had decided to be kind to us and we had great uninterrupted views across the inlets and bays making up the spit. We didn’t have too much time though as we had a planned to get north today. A quick stop at Shag Point and more Fur Seals was great. It is also supposed to be a good place to spot the illusive Yellow Eyed Penguin - however they only come out in the late afternoon/dusk and we were a little early. We stopped to stretch our legs on the Katiki Beach - another place where you can spot the odd dolphin roaming off the coast - yet again we weren’t to be lucky. Our penultimate stop ... read more

On Saturday morning we left early for Oamaru, about an hour south of Timaru. Oamaru is especially known for its penguin colonies! We drove through the town, famous for its architecture, as many of the buildings are from the late 1800's and made of limestone, and proceeded to a unique beach where there are very unusual rocks called the "Moeraki Boulders." These large boulders are perfectly round and are located on a particular stretch of beach; they look like they were dropped out of outer space. However, they were formed in the cliffs 60 million years ago and have been "revealed" as the cliffs erode. They look like they are emerging from the cliff (see photo). Some of them look like large tortoise shells, laced with amber quartz like crystals. Others, which are broken open, ... read more