New Zealand Part 7

Monday January 22nd

… we got up early to bid adieu to Queenstown and get a good start on the day. Our initial plan was to take the cross country road northeast through the high mountain pass towards Christchurch, but were convinced instead to take a southern detour through Gore and on through to the southeast coastal city of Dunedin (Duh – nee’ – dun) by our friends on the Milford Wanderer. They suggested it because it offered a good chance to get up close and personal with The Royal Albatross, Yellow-eyed penguins, and fur seals. How could we say no?! The morning was cool and comfortable as we head out, and we were greeted with clear blue skies and warm rays of sun just starting to peak out from behind the mountains around town. Since it was so nice, we decided to take one last stroll along the inner harbor before we left. It was wonderful. We drove up the eastern hills for a final view of the beautiful town below before saying one last good-bye. It was sad to leave, but we were excited to see more. We did our typical quick eat and go, and took the road south along Lake Wakatipu towards the turn off for Te Anau as we did the day before. When we got to the turn though, we kept on heading south instead. In typical New Zealand fashion, the dramatic peaks around the lake softened gradually, and within twenty minutes we found ourselves driving through open pastures and rolling hills as far as the eye could see. The fields across the distance, from golden to green, created a kind of patchwork quilt over the land. The occasional farm house was thrown in to remind us that sheep were not the only living creatures in these parts! The road took a bend to the east and after about two and a half hours we found ourselves driving through the metropolis of Gore!! http://www.gorenz.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=main.home

Okay, so I exaggerate… but by New Zealand standards, it was a pretty big town. The main street of it was in the style of many of the smaller towns before it, sporting basic boxy awnings with the added bonus of hanging basket plants over the walkways. It gave the place a homier feel than others we had seen. We made a quick pit-stop in town, as we needed a new memory card for the camera and some new tunes for the tape deck! I walked up one way for the card and Phil the other, towards the Salvation Army. We met back in about 15 minutes ready to shoot more pictures and with a collection of music to brighten the mood. It was an eclectic mix, from Choral, to Symphonic, to Ally McBeal, to some local songstress who turned out to be a 60’s-style religious diva! Um…WOW!! By the time we got to the Otago Peninsula in Dunedin that afternoon, we were way down with Jesus! We turned through town and just before leaving came to a roundabout with a number of things that caught our eye and forced us to make the loop instead of leaving town! First, was a ginormous 30 foot brown fish posed as if jumping out the water attached to a welcome sign touting Gore as the Brown Trout Capital of New Zealand… Who knew?! As if that weren’t enough, we passed a large modern glass clock tower marking the epicenter of the arts scene in town (apparently there are a number of galleries and small theaters… go Gore!) And at last, the piece de resistance, a large marble tower with a guitar cut out of the center announcing proudly that Gore was New Zealand’s Country Music Capital!! Yee Haw!!! Aligned along the base were handprints of the stars (a la Planet Hollywood) with the one and only “Gambler” being the most famous of the artist’s represented!

After a good laugh, we pressed on. Gore is close to the southeastern coast and as we looked at our map we found KaKa point just south of our main course and couldn’t resist taking the small detour! Yes, I know, we are very mature thirty-somethings… Don’t judge! We’re glad we did though. Kaka Point is right near Nugget Point, naturally, at the northern extent of the Catlins,
http://www.newzealand.com/travel/about-nz/features/catlins-feature/catlins.cfm

the southernmost region of the South Island. We only got a small taste of this region, but it is known for its natural beauty, full of soft white sand beaches, dramatic rocky coastal stretches, quiet secluded bays, and thick dense rain forests that serve as the home for a number of New Zealand’s most endangered birds. Kaka point is a beautiful coastal stretch that reaches its most beautiful where it merges with the rugged peninsula of Nugget Point which features an old white lighthouse on the high hills at its tip. The beaches were beautiful white sand stretches with tall grasses flowing in the wind and scattered rocks along the surf. We enjoyed some time walking on the beach and breathing the fresh sea air before continuing on to Dunedin.

The coastal drive north to Dunedin is beautiful. There are wide open green fields across rolling hills, scattered small lakes, with hints of the grand alps just visible in the far distance to the west as you crest some of the bigger passes. We turned off the main highway and took a more narrow gravel road for a stretch that carried us to the Pacific Ocean. It was stunning… we approached from a higher elevation, so to our north we were treated with a panoramic view of the curving beaches leading up to the city of Dunedin. We stopped a few times to just enjoy the scenery, but kept a reasonably quick pace to try to get to the Otago Peninsula with time enough to see the animals. We knew that Dunedin was going to be a more formidable city when the little 2 lane highway opened up to an actual freeway. The hilltops started to fill in with houses and by the time we hit the final approach to Dunedin we were in a real city. We parked on the street just off the main square and decided to get a bite to eat before driving on to the Peninsula. Dunedin’s main square is actually an octagon with restaurants, church, and state buildings surrounding the central “square”. It was really nice, and unexpected! We walked fast down a stretch to the Old Rail Station, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunedin_Railway_Station
which is one of the most striking buildings on the South Island. It is a gorgeous old stone building, but we didn’t really stop to tour it or anything because the hunger pains were starting to kill us! We settled on a cozy vegetarian restaurant called Pot Pourri. No, I’m serious, it was vegetarian. I know, crazy talk! We figured we had so defiled our systems with meat pies that we should try and purify ourselves with at least one healthy meal! It was a real treat. It was a one woman show, and she overstuffed our plates with a colorful array veggies, beans, and cheeses… YUM! We rolled ourselves to our car, and hit the road to see the wildlife. Much to Phil’s dismay, we spotted the Cadbury World New Zealand on the way out, and missed a chance to treat ourselves to some chocolate magic! We did stop to hit up the Dunedin Casino though, for our lucky betting chip before leaving town. Of course I had to do an on the street change of clothes to actually pass “inspection” on the way in to get said chip though! Apparently they are a more sophisticated lot over there, and no one gets in with shorts, jeans, hats, or T-shirt…hurrumph.

We drove out of the main city to the Otago Peninsula http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otago_Peninsula and snaked our way out to the very end on one of the slowest windiest coastal drives I’ve been on!! Oy! At the end of the island the road winds up a hill to a high point light house and the home of the Royal Albatross Breeding Colony, the only mainland breeding colony in the world. http://www.albatross.org.nz/. We opted out of the tour though when we found that it was going to be a lot of money for a lot of talking and little to no actual bird time. No thank you… education, shmeducation… we wanted wildlife! Instead, we walked to the cliffs at the edge of the car park and tried our luck at seeing the Albatross in flight. The colony is perched high above the ocean below. From the lighthouse at its peak, the grassy surface becomes shear rock as the cliffs fall sharply to the water. Sea gulls were flying all around the cliffs, filling the sky with specks of white. Perched on various small outcroppings were a number of breeding pairs of Pied Shags. And lounging on the water’s edge we spotted a few fur seals lounging in the cool afternoon air. We weren’t sure if we’d be lucky enough to see the Albatross, as it needs a good wind to sustain itself in flight since it does little to no flapping of its wings once it hits the air! The lucky chip we picked up must have worked, as the winds picked up and within a few minutes several of the birds were seen soaring effortlessly through the skies at times high above and others hovering inches above the water. At almost 10 feet of wingspan, they are pretty impressive indeed!


From Albatross land, we drove 20 minutes or so down the road to Penguin Place, http://www.penguinplace.co.nz/ a conservation for the Yellow-eyed penguin, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow-eyed_Penguin the rarest penguin in the world! The Penguin Place is protected cove on the peninsula that has hidden walkways built within the scrub and bushes that the penguins use as their breeding ground allowing for up close and personal viewing without getting in their way. The adults head out to sea during the day to gather food for the young, and the babies just hang out in the nests or under the bushes waiting for their dinners! Those are some patient babies! We got there a little too early to see the big parental return from sea, but we did happen to catch one lone parent walking across the beach to the bush. It was so funny to watch it walk across the sand. It is quite impressive how far some of them will choose to climb into the bush, especially given their small stature; adults don’t get much more than 2 feet tall. It just looks like a lot of work for them! Since the parents were largely gone we saw mostly babies and adolescent birds, and oh my God are they cute! If you’ve seen Happy Feet, then you know what the main character mumbles looks like, all downy soft on his head, with an adult lower half! It was adorable! At one point we were within 5 feet of three youngsters that were hanging out under a tree together, like a little penguin daycare! We walked along a high embankment overlooking the cove and came across a couple of fur seals just hanging out. Their population is threatened as well, but is on the rise, so the folks of the conservation find it bitter sweet. They are happy for the seals, but since the seals are one of the number one predators of the Penguin, they aren’t thrilled to see them moving in near the birds! The other bonus was the presence of a few small nesting Blue Penguins, the world’s smallest penguin. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Penguin They were all nestled on their eggs, but they were so sweet looking, peering out suspiciously as we tried to catch a glimpse within the boxes.

After the tour, we head back to downtown Dunedin, and decided to stop at the last minute when we saw a sign for Larnach Castle: http://www.larnachcastle.co.nz/index.pasp New Zealand’s only castle. It is a small structure compared to the grand structures of Europe, but it is quite lovely and in an amazing natural setting! We only hung around long enough to walk through the grounds a little, because we had a long drive ahead to get to Christchurch.

As the sun was setting on our coastal drive north, we again happened upon a sign for another tourist trap, I mean stop… the Moeraki Boulders: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moeraki_Boulders They are written about in all the guidebooks, so we figured what the hell, they must be cool, we’re here, why not?! Well at first glance they are rather underwhelming. You step on to the beach and you can just make out a small grouping of rocks along the shore about a 15 minute walk north of the car park. When you get to the rocks they are definitely beautiful and kind of otherworldly, but just not as grand as I would have hoped.

Now that said, if you are in the area, I think it is worth seeing, but don’t make a special trip. If you read the link though, and I didn’t know this until I came back and read about them, it appears that the large 3+ foot diameter boulders are actually hollow! Very cool! Anyway, the boulders did give us an excuse to get a little more beach time, and it is actually very nice one at that. If you’re lucky like we were, you may get to see dolphins playing in the waves just off the beach! From their size and coloration, they looked like they could have been Hector dolphins, which are the rarest of the dolphins in the world, and only found in New Zealand waters… Who knows though, I obviously couldn’t be sure, but whatever they were, they were fun to watch splashing in the waves teasing me as I tried my damnedest to capture them on film. Alas, it just wasn’t meant to be. While we were waiting though, we were treated to the beginnings of a most spectacular sunset. It was not low enough to create the dramatic oranges and reds, but brilliant and striking sunbeams stretched dramatically down through the clouds touching the horizon before us. It was magical! One of Phil’s favorite moments I think! Nature astounds me continuously, and this was just one more example of why!

We hit the road from there and started really cruising to try and get to the Jailhouse before too late. Thankfully, we called ahead and there was no chance we were going to get locked out like we did in Greymouth, but we were still a little nervous. It took a few hours, and on the way we started getting peckish… as we tend to, but found that after 9pm, finding food in New Zealand is a real bear! After driving aimlessly through some small towns, we broke down and had our first and only fast food of the trip, filling our bellies with a Pizza Hut special! BBQ chicken if I remember correctly! Since we had time to kill, we decided to clean out the car and repack our bags for the Jailhouse. It was a hell of a sight seeing all of our gear spread out on the sidewalk, the roof, and hood of the car as we tried to regain control!! It’s a damn good thing the town was quiet… it wasn’t pretty!

The last stretch of the drive to Christchurch was pretty painless. It was pretty much a straight shot, with no real twists or turns, and since the sun had set it was too dark to really appreciate the landscape making it a pretty generic stretch… that is until we were reminded by a talk radio host that “comet” viewing was spectacular this evening. I should mention that the night before we had seen an odd “something” through a break in the clouds, and weren’t sure if it was an aircraft or UFO, so we kind of brushed it off. When we looked around and realized that there was ZERO light pollution around us, we stopped the car with a screech and pulled off on to the grass. When we got out and looked around, the night sky was truly awe-inspiring; like something one might see in a NASA photograph of deep space. In all directions, stars filled up every inch of the night sky shining a brilliant white down from the heavens. The spaces not covered by stars were backlit with soft pink and yellow hues creating that patchy “cloudy” look one might see with dense star clusters and nebulae. It is humbling to say the least. As if that were not enough though, illuminating the western sky, the Comet McNaught, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comet_McNaught was seen diving down towards the horizon leaving a dramatic long flowing tail that filled half of the night sky!! There are no words. Truly a once in a lifetime as this comet may never come back to us!

Feeling inspired and energized, the last stretch to Christchurch was easy. We found our accommodations, the historic jailhouse. This hostel is actually in the restored jailhouse and is surprisingly nice, with a an element of mystery and fun. The rooms are all converted cell rooms, and the bath rooms and showers are all refurbished original structures! It was a lot of fun… nothing like a hot shower in a prison and then getting locked in with your cellmate for the night… Oz anyone? =)