Advertisement
Published: January 29th 2007
Edit Blog Post
Moreaki Boulders
The amazing moreaki boulders. Yes, where has the time gone? 2 weeks since I updated the blog and it seems like a lifetime. We have been moving pretty quickly and consequently I have not been able to find internet machines/time etc to do an update. Still, I shall apologise no more,.,....... We left you on the East Coast in Oamuru where we had spent a miserable 2 days sheltering from the rain and waiting in vain for Penguins ... things brightened up a bit and Sunday morning we set off for Dunedin, a sizeable city and one which I had been promised contained a Chocolate Factory!! En route we stopped at a place called the Moraeki Boulders, where in a nut shell, the balls were made from various substances millions of years ago, have been uncovered gradually by sea erosion and are now making their way out to sea. Very unscientific, but can't remember the exact ingredients!! Very picturesque and wierd and I feel sure had they been in UK would have been called The Giants Marbles or something equally fitting.
Finally got to Dunedin and signed up quickly for the Taieri Gorge Railway journey that afternoon. 4 hours on a train through the most
spectacular landscape had me enthralled and Rik & Kiera giving in to boredom gracefully at about the 2 hour point. This is another railway which had been built by pioneers in the 1800s and it is quite staggering to realise what they achieved in those days with pick axes, shovels and sheer hard work - to think everything was pulled, pushed and manoevered into place without any heavy lifting machinery is mind boggling. After a night in a sardine campsite with wall to wall campervans, we made our way up the Otago Peninsula just to the west of Dunedin. This place is famous as one of the biggest and few on shore Albatross colonies in the world. The drive there was a typical cliff-hugging road journey of twists and turns before we finally got to the end and walked to within 2 foot of seals on the beach and the rocks. It was wonderful for Kiera to be able to see them so close she could have touched them. The Albatross Centre runs walks/talks to see the Albatross close up, but due to budget constraints we were quite happy to sit in the car park and watch them soar overhead
Taieri Gorge Railway
Just one of the bridges built by the pioneers - they really are huge birds (think massive seagull....) and look beautiful in flight. I then chose the inland route back down the peninsula as I thought it might be a bit less hairy - huge mistake and I had my eyes shut for most of the way down!!! Luckily the planned trip to the Cadburys Factory kept me going and we spent a very informative and free chocolate eating 1 and half hours in there!
Tuesday we drove further down the east coast to an area called the Catlins. This area is a bit of a wilderness area and there is an abundance of beautiful bays, surf beaches and scenic reserves. We drove to a tiny place called Surat Bay (nr Owaka) and an even smaller campsite. A walk on the beach in gale force winds culminated in us seeing an enormous Sea Lion basking in the sand and then two more come shuffling ashore. We were also camped next to a nice couple with two small children and ended up having a communal tea with them and another couple driving round in an old Bedford Bus!
Off then to Curio Bay where I had read you could see
Taieir Gorge
Stunning scenery. a fossilised forest at low tide. It is the most stunning bay and just around the headland, where the forest was, it is completely different - Crashing surf pounding the rocks and making the most amazing shapes. We decided to press on though while the weather was lovely as everything, like anywhere, looks far better in the sun! A long and uneventful drive then to Invercargill which is the southern most city. It is basically a big town servicing all the needs of the south end of the island; Bluff nearby is the jumping off place for Stewart Island, but again a very expensive ferry journey for which we just couldn't justify the money. We carried on through Invercargill and ended up in a little town called Riverton. Beautiful beach, beautiful bay and after a walk along the beach we were able to find a pub overlooking the bay where we could sit outside. We haven't been able to do much of that in New Zealand as there just don't seem to be the places - they could certainly do with a few of our pubs with beer gardens!!
We were actually going to stay an extra day here and
Dunedin
The dunedin railway station - the most photographed building in New Zealand spend a day on the beach, but once again the next morning it was cloudy and dull so we decided to head out. We have actually been really lucky with the weather compared to a lot of people, but it is very hit and miss, very like UK in that respect. After a brief stop to look at Clifden historic bridge, it was up to Manapouri and into Fiordland. I suppose this is the area that most tourists want to see on South Island and contains the surreal and very famous Milford and Doubtful Sounds. We discounted a trip to Doubtful Sound very quickly because of the prohibitive cost (approx 150 pounds each!!!) and headed up to Te Anau which is the main hub town for that area. There is one road in and out to Milford Sound, 102 km long with some lovely stops on the way. We drove ourselves and the journey was uneventful, beautiful and calm until we got to the Homer Tunnel. Leaving bright blue skies and scorching sun behind us, we entered the tunnel which is a single lane very steep gradient, to emerge into mist, fog and drizzle - it was really bizarre!! The
Seals on Otago Peninsula
Go away - I am trying to sleep!! road was even steeper and with precious little barriers on the side of road, I just had to shut my eyes and pray!!! It was all silent, still and eerie when we got to bottom and found our boat we had booked for the trip. There were only 20 people on board compared to 380 on the big ships, so we got up close to the specatacular waterfalls and the scenery was amazing. At one point the water extended 380metres below us, so you try not to think about that!!! We were lucky enough to see lots of seals and then had a pod of around 20 bottlenose dolphins swimming around the boat. Kiera at this time was sat in the Captains chair having a birds-eye view!!! It was not too bad close to the edge of the mountains as it was a bit sheltered, but when you looked into the distance it was misty and surreal - in Riks words, "a bit King Kongy" !!
Unfortunately we had to drive back the same way, but I managed to contain my panic, and once again the sun was blazing when we got back through the tunnel. Whilst travelling to Milford
Cadburys World
Yes, the Crunchies are real!! Sound, we ran once again into a couple, Tony & Shannon who were on our Kiwi Call walk with Herb, back on North Island in the Trounson Forest. It was the third time we had bumped into them, so as they were staying on the same campsite again, we decided to go for a meal and couple of beer when we got back. A lovely evening and nice to have some company - we are now in regular touch and hopefully will see them before we go. Anyway, will close for now and do the next installment in a couple of days. Off to Queenstown next, the adventure capital of New Zealand!!! Will I do anything exciting? You will have to wait to find out.......
Love to you all Nicchi, Rik & Kiera xxxxxxx
PS. No naughty words on comments please, as I can't publish them!!!!!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.11s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 10; qc: 52; dbt: 0.0561s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb