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Published: August 26th 2008
Photo 1
An example of the limestone buildings in Oamaru 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, look like dinosaur eggs!!
We then continued on to the picturesque fishing village of Moeraki, where we found a room for the night, and secured dinner reservations at a well known restaurant, Fleur's Place. Before dinner, we drove to Lighthouse Point in order to be there before dusk, which is when the yellow penguins come in from the sea and make their way
Photo 2
Coming down the road; like the house at the end of the road? to their nests for the night. There is a lovely walk behind the lighthouse, and along the beach we saw some more seals, seabirds, and a lone yellow eyed penguin!! I was surprised to see that they are fairly large, just under 3 feet tall. There is a well constructed penguin "hide" built into the dunes with a good view of the beach, and as we arrived, so did about 5 more penguins, so we had a great look at them. You can't get too close or they will scurry back into the water, but with binoculars we had a pretty good view. As they arrived on the beach, they greeted each other and hung out on the sand before making their way up into the grassy dunes where they spend the night. I narrated a whole dialogue to Randy about what they were REALLY saying to each other (Rachel knows about that!) and finally he cracked up and joined in. We know that the penguins were likely discussing mundane domestic matters with each other, and what a soap opera it was!! After the penguins retreated, we left to have dinner, and had a wonderful fresh seafood meal with lots
Photo 3
A happy boy after a picnic lunch! of ambience in a converted fishing shack. We spent some time chatting with a Kiwi couple at the next table, who were quite interested in the US elections.
We stayed overnight in a very basic cabin, but it was fine once the electric heater warmed up our room. In the morning we had quite a fascinating discussion with Stan, the homeowner, who is a retired navigator. He is working on some interesting and new theories about how the Polynesians found Hawaii, Easter Island, New Zealand, and even South America, based on the line up of the stars. We found the room in his house just driving up the road to the Moeraki village, $50 for a double room for the night. Did I mention that Randy packed us a nice picnic for lunch that we enjoyed overlooking a cliff view of the beach? We are learning to be budget travelers!(although that will NOT include camping!!)
On Sunday the weather was iffy, but we took advantage of some sun in the early part of the day and visited a few places that aren't in any of the guidebooks, on Stan's good advice. First we drove through Trotter's
Photo 4
Moeraki boulder-looks like a tortoise, doesn't it?? gorge, a canyon-like area, which was very colorful, and quite different from the green rolling hills of the surrounding landscape. The striated rocks were beautiful, like the Grand Canyon. Then we went towards the shore and took a 90 minute walk at "Bobby's Head" which is a trail that started out in a meadow, took us down to the beach to admire the surf and cliffs, then UP UP UP to the top of the cliffs and around to the next cove before coming back down again. We didn't see any other people the whole time, just sheep and cows. As we returned to the car, the weather started to change, so we had timed our walk perfectly. The views were just lovely from the clifftops.
We made another stop at Shag Point, where we saw more seals (they really are cute, but they do NOT like you to get too close or they growl at you) and returned to the town of Oamaru, where we visited the local Whitestone cheese factory and tasted a couple of very good cheeses (and stocked up on them!) We took a short walking tour of the town, which was pretty empty
on a Sunday, and then headed over to Bushy Beach, with the hope of seeing a few more yellow eyed penguins (they are reportedly among the most rare penguins in the world. Is that right, David?). The "hide" there was much further from the beach than was the one from the previous day, but we did see a few more penguins. Oamaru also is known for its little blue penguins, but, strangely, you have to pay $20 per person to see them, which seems so out of character for New Zealand, where most natural attractions are free. We have seen them already at the Antarctic Center and hope to see them along the coast later this season, so we skipped seeing them on this trip.
By now it was dusk, and starting to rain in earnest, so we returned home to Timaru for dinner and to relax. Monday was rainy so we were home, although I did go into town with the mission of getting my library card. I finally did get it; it's as difficult here to get a library card as it is to get a driver's license in N.J.!! So now I feel like I
Photo 6
A boulder or a dinosaur egg?? really belong. Driving around town, I feel like I did as a brand new driver, nothing seems natural to me in terms of which direction to look in, backing out of a parking spot, etc. I picked up some ingredients so I could bake something for the ER staff, and I did make my butterscotch brownies, but they came out a bit different due to the type of dark brown sugar they have here. Nevertheless, they were a hit! For dinner, Randy made a pizza we concoted once before and really liked; "minced" lamb (that means ground) with feta cheese, red peppers, tomatoes and mozzarella cheese. Yummy!
Today, Tuesday, was my first "day shift" at work, and of course there was a lot of ortho. My most traumatic moment was when I wanted to drain a subungual hematoma, and I was told to use a hot paper clip, since there was no battery operated cautery. Horrors! After I tortured this patient with the paper clip, I actually found out that there is a cautery, though not the type that I am used to.
Some other medical observations: nitrous oxide is pretty freely available, both in the
ER and in the ambulance!!I keep forgetting that it is there to use, and I am always surprised when EMS arrives and the patient is sucking on the nitrous!! Did I mention that the OR is called the "theatre"? As in, "let's take this patient to theatre." I guess that is a British term, but I always want to ask if they are selling tickets to the performance!!
Pharmacies package pills on these great cards with a plastic bubble for each day of the week, each meal of each day, a week's worth to a card. What a great idea, and all the meds are well-labelled on the back of the card, too!! "Tea" is dinnertime.
The funniest thing I've seen is the substitution for the drug-seekers of the US (I have not yet seen ONE of those!!). But......we have....CAST-SEEKERS!! Yes, there are those who just love to be put in a cast, and we do oblige them a lot. I can't quite see the attraction, but many people feel slighted if they have an injury and they don't get a cast!!?? Lastly, we don't call someone, we "give them a ring" which is kind of
Photo 8
Watch out! It's trying to come out of the wall!! cute, especially since most cellphones don't actually ring, but have other tones. Oh, and where are the hemoccult cards? We just don't have them at all!
I have to work 3 shifts this week, then we are off to the West Coast for a 5 day trip. We have tickets on the Tranz-Alpine, a train that travels from the East coast to the West (and back again) and we plan to rent a car on the west coast and visit some glaciers. The train ride is supposed to be beautiful as it travels thru the snowy Alps!!
Just wanted to thank my parents, Mark and Nancy and Jeremy again for our GPS. "Gertie" has been amazing; she seems to know all the back roads and has been faithfully guiding us all around New Zealand!
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Jack Hotchkiss
non-member comment
Nice trip...we may do it later too...
This sounds like something my wife and I will enjoy when we get there. I will be keeping a log of the best places for us to visit. Here in Denver, we don't use nitrous much. Is there an abuse problem with it there at sea level?