We had a big day today with about 332km to cover and a fair bit to see on the way. We got away around 8am, when we got another “Ooops” come from the back seat. Georgie had forgotten to leave the key for the house under the mat, take 2 and we were on our way.
We started by taking Georgie for a drive passed all the old Victorian part of Oamaru, and then headed for Moeraki, for the Moeraki Boulders, rated in the Top 101 things to do on the South Island. I must admit that I was a little sceptical about this attraction, when it was described as large spherical boulders being washed over by the waves of the ocean.
We missed the turn off by about 1km, and instead had a drive through the VERY small seaside village of Moeraki, before heading back up the road and the correct turn-off. The Boulders were a short 300m stroll along the beach from the carpark. And were exactly as they were descibed. About 20 Large granite boulders about 1.2m in diameter sitting in the beach scattered over a distance of about 30m. They were different, and it makes you appreciate the lengths people go to to make an oddity into a tourist attraction. (this is deb, I loved strolling along the beach, the boulders were like a work of art, natures art)
Onward we drove down to Dunedin (gaelic for Edinburgh). It’s a town founded on whaling (like so many others here) and still has an array of well preserved Edwardian and Victorian building throughout the town. We drove out onto the Otago Peninsula to have a look at Larnach Castle, a neogothic styled building which is NZ’s only “castle”. I would have described it more as an old worlde manor house, built by a rich banker/politician back in the 1870’s. It stands on 35 acres of forest and manicured gardens. (deb: not dissimilar to Carrick Hill, I loved taking photos of all of the flowers, was in my element)
From there we went to Baldwin Street, the steepest residential street in the world. The street is about 800m long, it starts off steep and gets to its’ steepest bit about 3/4 of the way up. It’s a really strange feeling, similar to taking off in a plane as you lean further back in your seat as you drive up. Once at the top, it doesn’t actually go anywhere except to peoples driveways, so you have to do a 3 point turn and head back down. There were several crazy people who had walked up the street, the footpath in a series of steep stairs rather than a smooth path. Going back down, Deb and Georgie kept reminding me not to go too fast, lol.
We then found a nice little cafe in the town centre for lunch and then hit the road for Invercargill and Bluff, another 217km away.
We got to our hotel at about 3:30 and were out again at about 4pm. We drove around to the Southland Museum and Art Gallery to have a look at a local rarity, the famous Tuatara, a rare native lizard, that is said to be the closest living thing to a dinosaur. They have a specimen there, Henry, that is over 100 years old. We got some postcards here and posted them off to our grandchildren, so keep a watch on your postboxes little ones. We then went to what must be the best Hardware shop in the world. LOL. Not only is it a Hareware Shop, but it also has a large collection of old Motor Cycles, motors and stuff! It all stems from the fame generated by the movie “The Worlds Fastest Indian”. The guy that the story was all about lived and developed his “Indian” bike in Invercargill and trialled it on the beach here. The girls had to drag us out!! 🙂
From there we took a 22km drive to Bluff, the first town established in NZ back in the 1830’s as a whaling port. It is the southern most town in NZ and we went to a spot named as the southern most point on the South Island. From the lookout at the top of Bluff, we managed to see Stewart Island, NZ’s third major island (They got more inventive with its’ name than the bigger 2 islands!). We were lucky to be able to see it as the day was very cloudy and we had patches of rain on and off all day. Did I mention the windchill factor here? , mmmm lets just put it this way, I had a jumper on everytime we got out of the car!! lol After that we drove back into town for dinner, and just to act like natives we all had Lamb. Queenstown tomorrow.
Last night we found out Ethan, our youngest grandson, had hurt his arm and that it may have been broken, luckily it wasn’t and we hope it gets better very soon. 🙂
