4/5/10 (dunedin)
Dunedin-Moeraki-Oamaru-Timaru
Dunedin was a very interesting city with Scottish influence. There was a beautiful cathedral in the center of town. It reminded me a little of Nelson with all its shops though not as big as Auckland. It was Easter Monday and many of the shops were still closed so we didn’t have very good luck in our quest to explore. We stopped at the Cadbury chocolate factory but they weren’t offering tours since their plant was closed for the day. Nevertheless, we still got some chocolate while we were there. We also tried to check out a microbrewery that the girl at Invercargill Brewery recommended but it was also closed. Guess we’ll have to put that on the list of things to do next time we are here.
On our way out of town we stopped at Baldwin Street, which is the world’s steepest street. There were lines of cars parked at the bottom of the street and people walking up. I have to admit it was pretty steep though Jon believes that San Francisco has ones just as steep. After you walk up the hill you can get a certificate verifying you have done so. We decided people just have to take our word for it.
Today our goal was Timaru, which is about 180 km from Christchurch. Along the way we stopped at the Moreaki boulders. The boulders are almost perfectly spherical and at low tide you can see them along the beach. Some of the boulders were about 4’ tall. The outside looks like honeycomb shaped pieces glued together and it’s hollow inside. Really cool looking boulders. The guidebook says that the boulders were part of the cliff and as the cliff receded the boulders were exposed.
After that we came to Oamaru where you can see the yellow-eyed penguins and the little blue penguins, which are often called fairy penguins. We decided to check out the yellow ones again to see if we can catch more of them. We spotted a few along the beach. There was a very enthusiastic man showing Jon where one of the penguins was resting and since we don’t really know how far is a meter it was hard for us to spot the penguin. The man got a little upset at us for not being able to see it. Jeez. But finally after some searching we were able to spot the little yellow fellow.
Oamaru is also the first or last place along the east coast depending on which way you are traveling that you are likely to see the fairy penguins. In Oamaru, there is a colony where you can almost be sure to see them. It meant that we would be staying in Oamaru till after dark but we figured it was worth it since you can only see the fairy penguins in New Zealand and certain parts of Australia. We waited until dusk and sat in a 350-seat stadium along the coast waiting for the little ones to come back in after a day of fishing. There were about 34 of them in rafts of 10-14. They are quite adorable and it was hilarious to see them scooting up the cliff toward their colony. When they are going down a hill it looks like they are about to tumble over. They measure to be 30 cm or as the host described it one ruler long and they weigh 1 kg. We are glad we stayed to see them. It was definitely worth it.
We were still determined to make our way to Timaru and made it safely there by 9pm. We checked ourselves into a camper site and settled in for the night. I was pretty tired so I was fast asleep while Jon was surfing the net. He came across a program for the Mac that he had been waiting for so he was very happy. The program will allow him to fix the bumps in his time-lapse videos.
Like: Baldwin Street, Moreaki boulders, fairy penguins, program that will fix Jon’s time-lapse
Dislike: stores being closed
New Zealand, South Island in Daily Adventures
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