Trekkin

Day 17 – Wednesday 15 April

We woke to find Akaroa greeting us with another cold, wet & windy day. Today is our last day in New Zealand so we packed our bags for the last time, made sure we had everything from the car packed then it was off to breakfast. L’Escargot Rouge was a short 50 metre drive from our motel, we were going to walk down & back but it was bucketing down with rain. Our drive out of Akaroa was slow, the wind was funnelling down the harbour & absolutely blasting across the road with rain & hail rocking the car. The drive up the crater wall was thankfully sheltered & as a bonus we were on the inside uphill lane closest to the mountain, not the very scary drop-off (unfenced) on the downhill lane. I only missed taking one turn on the way to the airport & thankfully realised my mistake early before the u-turn & back on the correct road.

The weather cleared as we got to the airport so we were in sunshine on the walk to the terminal thankfully. The rental car drop-off was very easy & I was amazed that we drove 3,277km in New Zealand on the south island in our 2 1/2weeks. I didn’t think there was that much road there. Thankfully the little Toyota Corolla we drove had great fuel consumption figures.

We had a while to wait for check-in of our flight so we found a comfy seat, had a bit of a read, a little bit of retail therapy for Tereza & a bite of lunch, some delicious bratwurst sausages in a bun. We flew Emirates Airlines for the first time ever & found them to be very good. The food they served on the flight was even very tasty. The flight was only a shade over 3 hours so before we knew it we were in Sydney & waiting for the bus to take us back to Canberra. We slept most of the way to Canberra & James was waiting to bring us home.

We found New Zealand a very beautiful country with a stunning array of scenery & activities. We think we managed to fit a lot in during our short time on the south island, however there were so many places that we didn’t go to. The food was great, especially the boysenberry ice creams, the people we met were friendly & hospitable & the weather was nearly always, though not quite, great.

All in all another great experience together, though it is great to be home & to see the family again.

Day 16 – Tuesday 14 April

Last night I was woken by a heavy hail storm a number of times. This morning we woke to find snow on the car windscreen, on the motel roof & a heavy covering on all the hills surrounding Akaroa. It was cold as we rugged up to walk the short distance to L’Escargot Rouge for breakfast. We went for a short walk around this part of town, noting the French flag flying on the foreshore, the French street names, a little bit of retail therapy. To escape the cold & the rain we went into a shop “Wool Shed” where we brought his & hers merino possum jumpers, which we haven’t taken off at all. As it was still showering hail we went then for a slightly longer drive along the harbour shore past the old Akaroa Headland lighthouse. The temperature at midday was 6C degrees. For lunch we enjoyed the comfort of a roaring fire & shared a nice pizza at the restaurant closest to our motel, the L’Hotel.

Our walk after lunch first took us out along the Akaroa wharf, (Rain, shine or hail, no stopping us two from seeing what there is to see at Akaroa) not for the faint hearted with the very strong wind threatening to blow us off the wharf, though the whitecaps in the harbour buffeting the boats looked good. From the wharf we got a glimpse of blue sky occasionally & could see the next hail shower as it blasted across the harbour. We ventured further to the older French part of town during a break in the hail showers & looked at some of the older original buildings of the old settlement. We were walking into the teeth of the strong cold wind on the way back to the motel & thankfully the hail showers didn’t start again until we reached the comparative shelter of the shopping precinct close to the motel. A bracing healthy walk, though the warmth of the motel was very welcoming. We couldn’t resist the log fire so dinner was again at L’Hotel.

Day 15 – Monday 13 April

This morning the reason for the briskness of the walk last night back from the crayfish restaurant to the motel became clear as we drove out of the motel driveway, the mountains just behind Kaikoura were covered in a fresh coating of snow. The temperature was brisk as we drove off towards Hanmer Springs along the “scenic” route through the mountains, rather than along the coast. Well, the scenic route was definitely scenic with all of the snow looking spectacular as we drove higher up into the mountains. The road was winding & twisting up & down through all of the creeks & rivers with the mandatory single lane bridges. I am so glad that Ron is driving & Ron is so glad that Ron is driving too. Some of the countryside is very similar to areas in the New England region of NSW. Some of the creeks & rivers had a reasonable flow due to the overnight rain. There were not very many cars travelling this road, we didn’t catch up or get passed by any & only met about 4 or 5 coming the other way. There are also not many people living in these mountains, it’s fairly isolated. Very pretty with all the snow.

Hanmer Springs is an interesting little town with lots of trees planted around the streets, some of the autumn colours are spectacular. Hanmer Springs is renowned for the thermal springs & the town revolves around the springs, primarily as the main tourism drawcard, both summer & winter. We parked & had a short walk around town, there are not that many shops & they are mostly focused on tourists. The springs seemed to be full of people bathing in the hot water, surreal with the backdrop of snow covering the mountains behind the town.

Next it was on the road again south & just outside of Hanmer Springs we stopped at the single lane bridge crossing the Hanmer River where there are people bungy jumping off the bridge above the river & being picked up by a jet boat in the rushing river below. Not on our bucket list. The rain & snow overnight was flooding the river & it was really rushing through the gorge below the bridge. The drive down towards Christchurch was uneventful, the southern alps to the west were covered in snow & bathed in sunlight, stunning scenery.

As we drove over the crater edge the spectacle of Akaroa a long way below hugging the edge of the sea was stunning & worth the long twisting drive up the crater rim. Our motel is right in town & very close to the restaurant strip & everything else for that matter. As soon as we walked out of the restaurant after dinner it started to rain & hail & we waited under an awning until it slowed a little then ran quickly back in the light rain to the motel. Did I mention it is freezing cold as well? Today has been a beautiful brisk but sunny day until we arrived at Akaroa.

Day 14 – Sunday 12 April

We woke up to lovely clear morning & we were hoping for a full day of sunshine.

Havelock Bakery, just across from our motel, was our breakfast kickstarter this morning a bit after 8am then on the road again. We turned off in Havelock town towards the Marlborough Sounds & joined the Queen Charlotte Road, which followed the sounds around, mostly hugging the coastline, towards Picton. We stopped a lot at the various lookouts & turnouts along the road as the views looking across & down the various sounds were wonderful. The rain has left us but it was still a little cloudy & this improved during the day. At one place we stopped we saw a stoat (an introduced pest similar to a weasel or ferret) dash out of the grass, grab a small bird that was standing on the road, then keep on running with it in its mouth. It was quick. At another place we watched some paddlers in sea-kayaks & thought it would be lovely paddling out there with them, then another huge gust of wind came through & we were glad to be on shore. There are lots of houses hugging the hillside & more of them the closer we got to Picton.

At Picton we stopped at a lookout overlooking Queen Charlotte Sound & the harbour of Picton where an Inter-islander ferry was being unloaded & loaded with train wagons & vehicles. It was very interesting watching a train shunt a long line of carriages into the ship & the ship seemed to consume them comfortably, then another line, then another, amazing. As we were watching another ferry steamed down the sound then reversed into a dock & started unloading vehicles, motorbikes, trucks & people. We could have watched all day.

Blenheim, a little further south from Picton is where we refuelled & then started driving through the Marlborough wine region, vineyards everywhere & large wine plants. The hills surrounding were very sparse & barren & dry. It looked very strange as not that far away we were driving through lush green forest. The road eventually reached the coast & the road hugged the coast next to a railway line bordered by a large mountain range on the inland side. A couple of the mountain tops had snow on them. We found out later they are both around 2,600 metres high. At one place we stopped to stretch our legs we were again amazed at the length of the kelp on the rocky beach, some of it is over seven metres long.

Kaikoura was our destination today & we drove through town, out along the seafront, past the wharf area & out to the peninsula. As we were pulling into the car park we noticed seals lazing around sunning themselves in the car park, taking up car spots & even on the board walks where people walked. We walked around & there were seals everywhere, the large ones were mainly lying in the sun on rocks, the young ones were playing together in the shallow water. They did not seem concerned how close you got to them, just raised an eyebrow now & then. There were lots of tourists there taking photos. Next we drove back towards town, checked in to our motel & unpacked then continued back to town for a late lunch, a look at the visitor centre plus a walk around all the shops & Ron had to have a real fruit ice cream. The town centre is not that large. Afterwards we drove up to the lookouts above the town & admired the scenery from a different perspective. The area is certainly very pretty, particularly with the high mountain ranges bordering the coast. From the desk in our motel room we look out at the ocean then I turn my head & see snow on the mountains, I haven’t experienced that at all previously.

Tonight we walked back out to the wharf area from our motel for dinner at the Pier Hotel, specialising in crayfish, for which Kaikoura is renowned for (“Kaikoura” in Maori means “Eat Crayfish”). Obviously we both had crayfish & needless to say it was delicious. We needed the walk back to the motel to walk it all down. All of the stars are shining bright tonight so it looks like the rain has left us for a while, (I hope).

Day 13 – Saturday 11 April

All night it rained but we woke up to a beautiful sunny morning. We left Nelson a bit before 8am & enjoyed the drive through apple orchards & vineyards to the lovely town of Motueka & breakfast at the local bakery, complete with lovely hanging pots of impatiens (flowers) outside adding real colour to the streetscape. Right along the main street of Motueka all the shops had impatiens in hanging baskets, it was very pretty. We finished a nice breakfast & as we started to get into the hills, the long white low wet clouds shrouded the beautiful mountains & scenery – another wet & cold day in paradise. Just past Motueka we started the climb up Takaka Hill, what a mountain it is, climbing & climbing & climbing & winding & winding & winding. All 791 metres of it with lots of hairpin bends & very steep drop-offs. To top it off it was raining & cloud/fog from half way up. The same on the way down the other side to the township of Upper Takaka. The road then widened as we drove down the valley with very green pastures on either side full of fat cattle & sheep. The town of Takaka was vibrant & buzzing & crowded with Saturday morning shoppers. As we neared Port Puponga, the northernmost town of the south island, the road started following the shoreline of Golden bay & was interrupted by a few single lane bridges. The tide was out & there are very large expanses of mud flats exposed.

Port Puponga may have been a port a long time ago, perhaps at high tide with shallow draft vessels. Today it is a motley collection of mostly old houses. We drove past Puponga a little & reached the Farewell Spit Cafe & Visitor Information Centre, located on a hill with a great view over the north west corner of Golden Bay & the start of the Farewell Spit, great at least if the tide was in. We read the information on display, primarily regarding the huge amount of different migratory birds that feed & nest on the spit, all 35km of sand dunes jutting out into Golden Bay & a Ramsar Bird Protection area. A lot of whales also seem to ground themselves on the inside of the spit as well, judging by the photos. We sat on the verandah of the cafe with a coffee enjoying the view & departed just as it started to rain again.

On the way back, just past Takaka, we turned off inland towards Anatoki Salmon Farm on the Anatoki River. There is a large lake stocked with Pacific salmon, free fishing, but you must take everything you catch, & also there is a cafe. There were a lot of families there with mainly the kids catching the fish. The salmon are 3 years old & around 2 kg each, just a good size. There is no charge to fish for them, they supply the rods & bait, they clean & fillet the fish & hot smoke the salmon if you wish. You pay $22 per kilo for the fish you catch, a very reasonable price I thought. We walked around & had a look at each of the growing ponds then walked all the way around the lake, very nice with the families all having a great time catching salmon. We had lunch at the cafe, a mixed salmon platter for two (served on a fish shaped platter) & it was all delicious. The chocolate pattern on the coffee was also in the shape of a salmon. An excellent place to visit.

Back over & down Takaka Hill, again in the rain & fog, another delight. The delight was when we stopped & bought a big real fruit ice cream – NZ should add the yummy ice cream they make here to their list of attraction for the tourists. This time we could stop at the lookout at the top as it had a break in the weather as we reached it, cold & windy though, but great views over Motueka & Tasman bay. Then rain all the way back through Nelson & all the way to Havelock where we are spending the night. Our motel is only a short walk from “The Mussel Pot”, Havelock’s iconic restaurant right in the middle of the Marlborough Sound area, a huge green mussel producing area. Needless to say, the green mussels we ate were big, fat & tasty. The end to another excellent day, apart from the rain.

Day 12 – Friday 10 April

A little overcast but not cold, an early breakfast in downtown Westport & then a look through the museum at the Westport Tourist i-Site. This is primarily a museum focused on the coal mining industry from the first coal discovery in the mid 1800s, through to now, including the rail, shipping & port activities. The museum is new with good signage & well set out. Most of the buildings in town are wooden, though there are a couple of nice art-deco stone buildings. A lot of the former stone buildings were destroyed in a large earthquake in the 1920s.

Cape Foulwind (named by James Cook in 1770) is only a short drive out of town & we stopped on the northern lighthouse side to start with at a very nice picnic area before driving around to the southern side & walking the short distance to the resident New Zealand fur seal colony. In the carpark an inquisitive native Weka (bird) was looking for a handout. There is a nice large viewing platform with lots of seal pups on the rocks below & playing in the rock pools. A number of mothers were sunning themselves on rocks & feeding their pup. Spoilt only by the sandfies chewing on us again, they really are a pest.

We then headed off towards Nelson, following the Buller River upstream & through the Buller Gorge, a very twisty narrow road, absolutely magnificent scenery with a very large & fast flowing Buller River close below. Each bend in the road brought us another stunning vista. By the time we reached Murchison it was time for a late lunch. Murchison is another old town brought to life by tourism with jet boats, white water rafting, white water canoeing & zip-lining, all on the fast flowing Buller River.

The scenery & views continued all the way to Nelson, opening out to rural farmland with sheep, cattle & vineyards the closer we got to Nelson. We managed to find our motel, settle in then dinner at the Hot Rock Cafe, the owner sat us at his most romantic table with a candle. We ordered a gourmet Nelson Bays Pizza, which was topped with local seafood – it was delicious. We enjoyed another wonderful day.

Day 11 – Thursday 9 April

This morning started cold & overcast, leaving Lake Tekapo around 8.30am, thank goodness yesterday at Mt Cook the temperature was a very pleasant 22C. Today was a driving day from Lake Tekapo to Westport, a long way & most of the time it was 8-10C until we reached the west coast & the temperature climbed to 18C. Most of the countryside we drove through reminded us of the countryside in Australia, it is very similar in places. Our drive down through Arthur Pass was interesting, however a lot was shrouded in cloud & rain. From Greymouth north to Westport the road hugged the coast & there were lots of rock formations & small islands close to the shore, with the odd small house or fishing shack perched very close to the sea, at times tucked in behind rocks. We stopped to stretch our legs at one lookout & the sandflies still managed to find us & joined us in the car when we got back in. Where these horrible little things bite, it itches for days.

We reached Westport around 4.30pm & booked into our motel. We needed to stretch our legs so headed off for a walk down the main street & to find the restaurant the motel owner recommended. A lap of the very long & quite main street – most shops shut at 5pm so there was hardly a soul in sight, only the supermarket which was busy. We walked into the restaurant & the heavens opened, very good timing on our part. We both had raw meat (chicken, lamb & beef) we cooked ourselves on a sizzling hot stone for something different. Our walk back to the motel was in drizzling rain, but not too cold. This place certainly isn’t Queenstown or even Dunedin. The shops are drab & I didn’t see anywhere where I wanted to spend my tourist dollar in. There doesn’t look like there are any good restaurants, it’s mainly cafes & pubs – this is my first impression, maybe there are restaurants & shops to surprise.

We drove a fair distance today because the places we would have like to stop just weren’t inviting – it was foggy, cold & damp. We only got a bit of a peek of the beautiful scenery, because it unfortunately was mainly covered in low clouds. The weather certainly put a damper on the day.

Day 10 – Wednesday 8 April

Foggy, cloud & rain overnight, what a disappointment compared to yesterday, we can’t see Mt Cook (Aoraki in its Maori form) from our room like yesterday afternoon, or much else for that matter. We had breakfast at the motel. Fog or no fog we are off to Mt Cook National Park. We drove alongside Lake Pukakaki with the snow covered mountains peaking out in the distance behind the clouds. 50km later we finally reached Mt Cook National Park. First stop was the visitor centre & information desk, very well set out display on the park, over two floors, with some of the history as well. Framed at the end of the building in floor to ceiling glass is Mt Cook & his brothers, covered in snow & glacial ice (the part that wasn’t covered with cloud that is).

A friendly ranger gave us some suggestions on short walks to do (hours, not days) & we headed out on the Hoopers Crossing walk. This walk is rated as a three hour walk crossing the very fast flowing Pukakaki River twice just after it leaves the glacial lake at the base of the mountain range. There are a large number of glaciers which feed into this lake & the walk gives a wonderful view of the dark green & white ice of the different glaciers with waterfalls flowing from the base of them, up until where the cloud covers it at least. After a bit over an hour we crossed the 2^nd suspension bridge & just past this the view to Mt Cook opened up, conveniently right where a very large park bench was set up. We stopped & sat for a while, soaked in the views, rested our weary bones, had a drink & a bite to eat, then rested a bit more. The walk back was mostly downhill, apart from the steps after the 1^st suspension bridge which tested us as it was all up & a lot of them. We returned to the car in around 2 ½ hours. At the park cafe we had a well deserved cuppa & lunch.

After lunch we drove 8km to the base of the Tasman Glacier moraine (very large pile of glacial rocks) where I left Tereza at the car for the 15 minute walk up the very steep & rocky path. My thighs were burning as I neared the top & the breathing was fairly heavy as well. The view looking at the very wide face of the Tasman Glacier & overlooking the very large glacial lake, that had a few very large icebergs floating around, was a lot better than the blue lake that I had passed on the way up. The Blue Lake was a drab greeny brown & more a pond, I’m sure it looked special at some time. The Tasman Glacier lake had 3 inflatable boats with about 8 people in each motoring up the lake & the boats looked tiny on the lake next to the icebergs.

Next stop was Mt Cook Airport & a helicopter ride over the New Zealand Alps. The cloud had been clearing slowly all day & thankfully when we got to the airport it had opened up enough for us to fly, even over the two west coast glaciers, the Franz Joseph & the Cook Glacier. The west coast helicopters were grounded as the cloud cover was complete & low at the Franz Joseph Airport. Firstly we flew up to the southern face of Mt Cook, looking clearly at all 3,754 metres of it before heading west over the alps. We flew over the top of both the Cook & Franz Joseph Glaciers. Our pilot got an SOS call that at the Burns Hut near the top of the Cook Glacier a group of nine hikers had become trapped on the ice overnight & had to sleep on the ice in the overnight rain as the pathway to the hut was blocked by a very large crevasse. One of them somehow got to the hut to make the radio call for help. They were cold, wet & very tired. Our pilot was being co-ordinated with another helicopter pilot to pick the group up before nightfall & before the weather closed in again. The forecast for tonight & the next day or two on the mountain is for rain then snow next Monday. When the pilot finished with us & dropped us off at the airport, he would refuel & fly back to pick them up, take them off the ice & to Glen Tanner airport (about 20km from Mt Cook Airport) where accommodation had been arranged for them tonight. It was so lucky for these hikers that they got the call through when they did because it was getting late we were the last flight before they closed.

After that bit of excitement we circled around the back of Mt Cook & landed on the top end of the Tasman Glacier, about 6,600 feet above sea level. The pilot turned off the motor & we walked onto the snow & soaked in the atmosphere. Absolute quite, apart from an avalanche in the distance, snow crunching under our feet. Huge chunks of ice piled up & surrounded by huge mountains added to the experience & re-enforced how insignificant we are. The sight is breathtakingly beautiful every direction that we looked. Back into the helicopter & thankfully it started again & we are off on our adventure again, following the Tasman Glacier all the way down to its glacier lake then looking at the spot both on Mt Cook & down at the end of the Tasman Glacier where you can still see the remnants of a giant avalanche. Giant as in Mt Cook lost 10 metres height & 55 million cubic metres of rock that slid 2,600 metres down the mountain side. In Twizel, 70km away the event registered 3.4 on the Richter Scale, it was that big.

Absolutely breathtakingly beautiful sums up the experience of seeing the Southern Alps from the air & ground. All too soon we were back on the ground (& for the pilot to hurry up & try to rescue those poor people) on the road again for tonight’s destination of Lake Tekapo. Our accommodation is amazing, it’s almost as big as our house in Canberra.   Our dinner in the restaurant was absolutely superb.

Our aching muscles will appreciate the rest – it is all worth it, we had the BESTEST adventure.

Day 9 – Tuesday 7 April

Dunedin was clear, sunny & warm when we left early this morning, a very pleasant promise for the day ahead, so very different from yesterday. Our drive from Dunedin was through rolling hills & reminded us of some parts of coastal NSW, green & lush. Our first stop was the small town of Moeraki so that we could see the famed Moeraki boulders. We saw some examples up close at the Otago Museum & had a very good explanation from a museum guide of the Maori legend of what they were & why they were there, plus the geological explanation. Basically these are round rocks that are concretions & are hollow inside, they are washed out of the sand dunes & lay on the beach at the mercy of the elements & people. After driving around Moeraki for a while we couldn’t find any evidence of the famous boulders anywhere & we ended up on a high headland lookout, with a notice board with an explanation of the formation of the township of Moeraki & points of interest. Of salient note was the little arrow & note that pointed out that the Moeraki Boulders were 1.7km along the beach northwards. Getting out the binoculars I spotted a bunch of rocks on the beach & a crowd of people wandering around them, a cafe overlooking it & a road off the highway.

At last, the cafe had a prime location built on the sand dunes overlooking the beach & looking directly at the famed Moeraki Boulders. We enjoyed a cuppa & a bite to eat on the sunny deck & enjoyed the vista of the boulders on the beach.

Next stop was the port city of Oamaru, just a short drive up the road & we were there by 10.30am. Oamaru must have been a busy, bustling city in its heyday of the mid to late 1800s, with a railway station at the port & breakwaters built to form a sheltered harbour. There are a lot of very large & impressive stone buildings in the heritage (port) precinct of Oamaru, with a lot of these converted to boutique shops, primarily for tourists. There are also a few empty & apparently abandoned stone buildings as well. In the main street the bank buildings are looking immaculate with clean stonework & a smattering of other large buildings such as the Town Hall & the Court House just as impressive. There must have been a lot of money in Oamaru in the boom days. The seaside park is excellent with a fantastic playground for the kids & a very creative kiosk/cafe built on the foreshore from rustic (& rusty) steel. A tree carver has also been very creative on some dead trees next to the park. The old wharf has seen better days & there are a few tired old fishing boats tied up alongside & a motley collection of boats anchored in the harbour.

We walked the main street of Oamaru as well as the heritage precinct, enjoyed a boysenberry ice cream & then headed off towards Twizel. Our first stop was just outside the township of Duntroon to look at the ancient Maori drawings on the sandstone cliffs. The drawings were a little disappointing, a lot of them had been cut out of the rock & taken off to museums. The drive up along the Waitaki Valley was pleasant with the lower reaches of the river having flat roads with long straight sections before turning into the normal New Zealand twists & bends as we got closer to the mountains. The three hydro-electric Lakes Waitaki, Aviemore & Benmore that we passed had some very pleasant campsites dotted next to the shore. We stopped at Omarama for a quick bite then continued on to Twizel, the site of yet more “Lord of the Rings” movie sets. A lot of the cast & crew stayed at the motel we are staying at. After checking in to the MacKenzie Country Inn we backtracked about two kms down the road to the local salmon farm located on the Wairepo Arm of the upper reaches of Lake Benmore. We fed the fish for free & marvelled at how quick the Chinook salmon are to accelerate, twist & turn to grab the food. Across on the other bank there was a line-up of campers & caravans with anglers trying their luck on the free roaming salmon that inhabit the lake with seemingly very little luck.   Back to the motel where we can see the snow covered peaks of Mt Cook & his brothers from our room then dinner in the dining room with a couple of bus loads of Chinese tourists. It is not surprising that they come to NZ in droves, we have noticed that the motels cater for them very well by employing Chinese staff who can speak Cantonese & Mandarin & the restaurants have buffet style food for them with Chinese & western style food.

Day 8 – Monday 6 April
“The Camp” now known as Lanarch Castle on the nearby Otago Peninsula was the destination this morning & after around half an hour drive up, some fairly twisty high roads, we arrived. Lanarch Castle was the residence of a wealthy Australian banker, William Lanarch. Starting in 1871 it took 200 workmen 3 years to build the stone walled structure enough to move into then it took another 12 years for the craftsmen to complete the interior. Having seen the intricate detail inside I can understand why. The derelict & abandoned building was in a very sad state of neglect & dilapidation when purchased by the Barker family in 1967 & they have spent many years restoring the castle. The work they have done is a credit to them.
The cafe situated in the old ballroom (finished 1887) opened just as we arrived at 9.30 so we started out with breakfast before exploring the castle. The rooms are decorated with period furniture with a lot of the original furniture either purchased from auction sales, on loan from the Otago Museum or have been donated by descendants of William Lanarch. The wood panelling & carving is exceptional, along with the fine plasterwork & custom built furniture. The ceiling in the main foyer took three men 6 ½ years to carve. One interesting feature upstairs is a one ton bath carved from marble, a copy of a bath found in the ruins of Herculaneum, Italy. A very narrow spiral stone staircase leads from the top floor onto the roof battlements offering superb views along Otago Harbour & out the heads. The original open verandahs around the 1st floor were enclosed in glass by William Lanarch, being on top of a hill it is very windy & this far south of the equator it also fairly cool.
We also explored the gardens around the castle before we headed off further up the Otago Peninsular, past the old lime kilns then driving around Hoopers Inlet & Papanui Inlet. Both these inlets are havens for waterbirds as they are very shallow & today the tide was out when we drove around so there was hardly any water in sight. We saw lots of Paradise ducks, Spoonbills, Stilts & other wading birds. We drove back along the waterside of Otago Harbour to Dunedin & enjoyed the scenery & water views. We had a brief stop at the Dunedin Railway Station, a magnificent large stone building, before returning to our motel.
A brief snack then we wandered back into town, for a little bit of retail therapy, bought a scarf as it is so cold & windy. Then back to the motel to do some washing. Dinner at the closest restaurant tonight as rain is threatening. We had a few drops on us earlier on the walk back from the city.
Dunedin is a beautiful big city with lots of lovely old buildings, harbour, shops & restaurants/cafes/bars. The tourists & back packers are not so prevalent like in Queenstown, but you see a lot of Uni students because of the University of Otago located here. Dunedin is the southernmost city we are visiting in New Zealand, the Latitude of Dunedin is around 100~200km south of the most southern part of Tasmania.