It's nearly time to go (sob, sob)
Beer, albatross, chocolate, penguins, trains, rugby. There should be something for everyone this time!
After 2 months (I arrived in NZ on the 16th Jan) I've got just 2 days left before heading across the ditch to Sydney. I've had a great time here, but all good things come to an end, and it's time for me to move on (before the Kiwi summer and Commonwelath games come to an end). My next email will be a list of my highlights plus the things I didn't like!
My last email had me on a boat in Fiordland. From there I headed south. The south of NZ is a harsh, rugged place, cold, windy and wet. So miserable in fact, that the Scots moved in! Invercargill lived down to it's reputation, being freezing and wet, and well a bit dour really. I did meet the most famous inhabitant though, Henry, the 125 year old Tuatara (a type of primitive reptile). Henry is a bit of a grumpy old man really, not interested in breeding and quite aggressive to any other Tuatara around him. I guess I'll be like that too if I ever make it to 125!
http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/mfconway@btinternet.com/detail?.dir=a427&.dnm=c64fscd.jpg&.src=ph
Moving along the coast, after visiting Slope Point (the most southerly point of mainland NZ, and on that day the most windy too), I drove East though the Caitlins, stopping off regular to take walks, admire the scenery and generally get cold and wet (along with a select bunch of hardy tourists - our paths kept crossing). I was muddy afterwards, but not as dirty as the car, which was filthy, mainly due to the gravel roads - I had a bit of a skid on one of these, which added a bit of excitement to the day!
This took me to Dunedin, a southerly Edinburgh, even if it looks completely different! The first day, I did the nature bit, joining a tour to see Albatross and Yellow eyed Penguins. The Albatross were a wonderful sight, from our hut we could see birds soaring majestically through the air, plus a chick on the hill side. Yellow eyed penguins are quite shy, but in the colony were moulting birds, plus we got to see (from our hidden lair) a bird emerging from the sea and walking (painfully slowly) across the beach.
Incidentally, both the Albatross and Penguins mate for life, but can split up too. There are all sorts of sad tales of partners being dumped for a younger (or older) bird...
http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/mfconway@btinternet.com/detail?.dir=/e5c5&.dnm=f742scd.jpg&.src=ph
The next day consisted of chocolate, a scenic train journey and a brewery tour. Yes it's a hard life.
In the morning, I visited Cadburyworld - their NZ factory is in Dundedin. All the smells and sights of a chocolate factory, just like visiting Bourneville, but with the added benefit of not having to go to Birmingham ;-) They have some unique bars in NZ too, such as the top selling Moro, a Mars bar clone...
After lunch, I took the scenic train ride to the Taieri River Gorge, a very pleasant journey in a restored 1920s carriage, and an ideal place to eat my free Cadbury samples!
Hot from the train, I did a Speights Brewery tour. The brewery is (uniquely in NZ) a tower brewery, and they still have a fair amount of original kit (I suspect the rooms they didn't show us have the more modern stuff!) For example, they have open gyles which are used for their 'craft' beers. Speights Gold Medal Ale ( the best selling kiwi beer, a sort of keg bitter) is marketed on it's "beer of the south" image, with images of hardy farmers and fishermen. However, as their Dunedin brewery is small, and can't handle this volume (a bit like Theakstons a few years ago), the bottled beer is produced 5 hours away in Christchurch, and the cans are produced right at the other end of the country, by the metropolitan, city slickers in Auckland! (That's akin to Newcastle Brown Ale being produced in Guildford). To be fair, the Speights I drank at the 'brewery tap' was much better, as it was filtered but unpasteurised, a rarity indeed. Still not a patch on real ale of course!
Leaving Dunedin, a major University city, I headed north stopping off to see the Moeraki boulders, huge boulders lying on the beach, which look like some ancient giant's game of marbles, but are actually septarian concretions ( I won't even try to explain that!)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moeraki_Boulders
The rest of the day was taken up with the long and boring drive through the Canterbury Plains to Christchurch, my last day on the road, and an unusually dull one, enlivened only by hitting Christchurch in the rush hour. Rush Hour! Traffic! Multi lane roads! After being used to narrow country lanes, and being held up by flocks of sheep, a shock to the system...
Christchurch is visually the most English of the cities here, with it's formal stone buildings, narrow river with 'punting', cathedral, oak trees (watching ducks eating acorns is interesting) and private school, complete with ridiculous uniform! Yesterday I mooched about the place. Today I took the scenic train ride across the alps and back, a nice journey, but I've probably seen enough NZ scenery by now. Tomorrow, I will visit the Antartic museum.
And tomorrow night, my FINAL EVENING IN NZ.....I'm off to the Rugby! A perfect way to end a kiwi holiday, I'l be at Jade stadium in Christchurch to see the Crusaders (super successfull home team) against the Cats (not very successfull South African team) in the Super 14. Looking at the home lineup, I recognise a couple of names (Dan Carter is one), and confidently predict a comfortable victory!
After 2 months (I arrived in NZ on the 16th Jan) I've got just 2 days left before heading across the ditch to Sydney. I've had a great time here, but all good things come to an end, and it's time for me to move on (before the Kiwi summer and Commonwelath games come to an end). My next email will be a list of my highlights plus the things I didn't like!
My last email had me on a boat in Fiordland. From there I headed south. The south of NZ is a harsh, rugged place, cold, windy and wet. So miserable in fact, that the Scots moved in! Invercargill lived down to it's reputation, being freezing and wet, and well a bit dour really. I did meet the most famous inhabitant though, Henry, the 125 year old Tuatara (a type of primitive reptile). Henry is a bit of a grumpy old man really, not interested in breeding and quite aggressive to any other Tuatara around him. I guess I'll be like that too if I ever make it to 125!
http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/mfconway@btinternet.com/detail?.dir=a427&.dnm=c64fscd.jpg&.src=ph
Moving along the coast, after visiting Slope Point (the most southerly point of mainland NZ, and on that day the most windy too), I drove East though the Caitlins, stopping off regular to take walks, admire the scenery and generally get cold and wet (along with a select bunch of hardy tourists - our paths kept crossing). I was muddy afterwards, but not as dirty as the car, which was filthy, mainly due to the gravel roads - I had a bit of a skid on one of these, which added a bit of excitement to the day!
This took me to Dunedin, a southerly Edinburgh, even if it looks completely different! The first day, I did the nature bit, joining a tour to see Albatross and Yellow eyed Penguins. The Albatross were a wonderful sight, from our hut we could see birds soaring majestically through the air, plus a chick on the hill side. Yellow eyed penguins are quite shy, but in the colony were moulting birds, plus we got to see (from our hidden lair) a bird emerging from the sea and walking (painfully slowly) across the beach.
Incidentally, both the Albatross and Penguins mate for life, but can split up too. There are all sorts of sad tales of partners being dumped for a younger (or older) bird...
http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/mfconway@btinternet.com/detail?.dir=/e5c5&.dnm=f742scd.jpg&.src=ph
The next day consisted of chocolate, a scenic train journey and a brewery tour. Yes it's a hard life.
In the morning, I visited Cadburyworld - their NZ factory is in Dundedin. All the smells and sights of a chocolate factory, just like visiting Bourneville, but with the added benefit of not having to go to Birmingham ;-) They have some unique bars in NZ too, such as the top selling Moro, a Mars bar clone...
After lunch, I took the scenic train ride to the Taieri River Gorge, a very pleasant journey in a restored 1920s carriage, and an ideal place to eat my free Cadbury samples!
Hot from the train, I did a Speights Brewery tour. The brewery is (uniquely in NZ) a tower brewery, and they still have a fair amount of original kit (I suspect the rooms they didn't show us have the more modern stuff!) For example, they have open gyles which are used for their 'craft' beers. Speights Gold Medal Ale ( the best selling kiwi beer, a sort of keg bitter) is marketed on it's "beer of the south" image, with images of hardy farmers and fishermen. However, as their Dunedin brewery is small, and can't handle this volume (a bit like Theakstons a few years ago), the bottled beer is produced 5 hours away in Christchurch, and the cans are produced right at the other end of the country, by the metropolitan, city slickers in Auckland! (That's akin to Newcastle Brown Ale being produced in Guildford). To be fair, the Speights I drank at the 'brewery tap' was much better, as it was filtered but unpasteurised, a rarity indeed. Still not a patch on real ale of course!
Leaving Dunedin, a major University city, I headed north stopping off to see the Moeraki boulders, huge boulders lying on the beach, which look like some ancient giant's game of marbles, but are actually septarian concretions ( I won't even try to explain that!)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moeraki_Boulders
The rest of the day was taken up with the long and boring drive through the Canterbury Plains to Christchurch, my last day on the road, and an unusually dull one, enlivened only by hitting Christchurch in the rush hour. Rush Hour! Traffic! Multi lane roads! After being used to narrow country lanes, and being held up by flocks of sheep, a shock to the system...
Christchurch is visually the most English of the cities here, with it's formal stone buildings, narrow river with 'punting', cathedral, oak trees (watching ducks eating acorns is interesting) and private school, complete with ridiculous uniform! Yesterday I mooched about the place. Today I took the scenic train ride across the alps and back, a nice journey, but I've probably seen enough NZ scenery by now. Tomorrow, I will visit the Antartic museum.
And tomorrow night, my FINAL EVENING IN NZ.....I'm off to the Rugby! A perfect way to end a kiwi holiday, I'l be at Jade stadium in Christchurch to see the Crusaders (super successfull home team) against the Cats (not very successfull South African team) in the Super 14. Looking at the home lineup, I recognise a couple of names (Dan Carter is one), and confidently predict a comfortable victory!
posted by Michael Conway at
8:38 am
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