Blogs from Oamaru, Otago, South Island, New Zealand, Oceania

Nov 6 - 8 NOTE (If you missed the last blog about Milford and Queenstown go back through the previous ones as they don’t seem to be in order. And I hope someone is reading these as the emails aren’t going out to my subscribers ...well I have to try and catch up !) Leaving Queenstown we drove along the Cromwell Gorge and aimed to take roads less travelled acros Otago and this we managed to do , as always just stopping whenever we saw a brown tourism sign . There are lots of lakes/ dams along this route and New Zealand makes much of its electricity from hydropower ...we could see why ! Driving over old suspension bridges , and quiet roads ( hardly another car ) into small towns like Clyde and Ophir we ... read more

Geo: -45.0977, 170.971Day 4: Oamaru to DunedinAnother glorious day on the Otago Peninsula as we head further south to Dunedin. First port of call was the Moeraki Boulders. You guessed it.........no it was not closed but it was high tide and all but a handful were underwater. Debi saved herself a walk along the beach and viewed these pre-historic formations from afar. I however took a few photos' close up. We had a magnificent breakfast at the cafe then headed down to the nearby fishing village, the site of one of the best seafood restaurants on the South Island (Fleurs Place). It was packed however we didn't feel like seafood at 9.00am so we headed back to Highway 1, en-route to Dunedin.The country side improved immensely as we weaved our way through the very hilly mountains ... read more

After exploring the little town of Oamaru with it's picturesque whitestone architecture, random op shops and delicious carrot cake we got on our bikes and cycled the windy coastal road meeting the Flying Kiwi bus at our beachside bush camp. The bike ride was awesome - part of it along an unused road impassable by vehicles due to the coastal erosion. Waves crashed to our left and sheep bleated from the endless farmland to our right. Using the cycle route maps provided by Flying Kiwi - within a couple of hours we reached camp. We pitched our tent with a view across the bay and part of the group went off on a tour to see the yellow eyed penguins. After chopping a few veggies and having a natter with fellow cook group helpers we headed ... read more

Once we had decided to leave Queenstown we headed for a town called Oamaru on the Otago Peninsula, as we would get there around 7pm and we had heard there is a huge ‘little blue’ penguin colony there that comes out of the sea to go ‘home’ after dusk, so we would arrive in time to see them. We got our tickets at the visitor centre then headed to the grandstand outside which overlooked the ocean where the penguins would come out from. We had to be quiet when the came out of the sea so as not to disturb them or they wouldn’t go to their nests, which were really near us. They would then head up a ramp to their nests to feed their waiting chicks. The visitors centre monitors the penguin numbers and ... read more

hi folks! silvester wollte ich unter menschen verbringen, nicht allein mit mt cook... zu hoch, zu kalt, gefaehrlich halt. und so durfte ich vom 1. auf den 2. den backpacker hueten. was hannes da so alles einfaellt... naja. ich mutierte in den tagen im swaggers zum teilzeitmitglied, jede nacht nach elf begleitete ich die neu angekommenen kinder zu den lieben pinguinen. da zahlt man naemlich keinen eintritt mehr - und das wissen nur local people! yeees! sie sind schon lieb die dinger, aber warum verlangen die leute so viel eintritt, wenn sie sie selbst doch als pest bezeichnen? das ist definitiv touriabzocke. natur gehoert nunmal nur sich selbst, oder etwa nicht? nundenn, es zog mich weiter zu den moeraki boulders. die maori glauben, es sind gottes verloren gegangene einkaufstaschen, und einige brechen auch auf nach soo ... read more