Christmas in Dunedin

Moeraki boulders
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Friday 22 December 2006 – Travelling south to Dunedin we passed through Ashburton (coffee) and Timaru (lunch). The latter turned out to be more interesting than we remembered from our previous brief visit in 1998. Much work has been done around Caroline Bay with gardens and water features having been developed and well maintained. The waves were dramatic as the wind was strong.

Further down the coast we stopped to view the Moeraki Boulders which are almost perfectly spherical and are scattered on the beach in a haphazard manner. They were formed on the sea bed about 60 million years ago as lime salts gradually accumulated around a hard core. The tide was in and as we were short of time we just viewed them from the cliffs. We had seen them previously so were satisfied with this on this occasion.

Is this summer in NZ?

Joyce & Mike on Christmas Day
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Christmas Day 2006 – The weather for the last couple of days has been dreadful with rain and low temperatures. We have been happy to take life slowly and have some rest after so much travelling. It had always been the intention to use this period in this way and to spend some time with Iris.

The three of us were around to the home of Joyce and Mike by 9 am for breakfast of ham and eggs on toast followed by present opening. Also there were their daughter Louise, her husband Kent and their children Jackson and Denin. It was a great day and it was good to spend Christmas in a different way although it was very familiar in many ways. The weather was cold but the major difference for us was the length of the day in that it did not get dark until well after 9 pm – after all it was only a few days after the longest day down under. We were very grateful for the hospitality of Joyce and Mike and their family and for treating us as part of their family as they have long considered Iris to be. It was a very enjoyable day.

Iris opening her presents
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Wednesday 27 December 2006 – Boxing Day had been spent quietly at home with Iris, watching the third Ashes test from Melbourne but again England has done badly. Already it looks as if they have also lost this match to go 4-0 down. Today the sun shone from about midday after much rain through the morning – New Zealand is still waiting for the summer to get going! We made the most of the brighter afternoon to drive down the Otago Peninsula, on which Iris lives, and it is a lovely drive with very attractive scenery. At the end is Taiaroa Head, the home of the only land based Albatross colony in the world. We gave this a miss this time as we had been there before.

Yellow-eyed penguin
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We had our minds set on finding Penguin Place, a reserve for the Yellow Eyed penguins. On arrival we found that we could do the tour so we paid our money and were taken by bus down to near to the seashore. Immediately we saw one walking in from the sea and were astounded to see how quickly it got up the cliff. We got some incredible views in the hour that we were out on the reserve and the guide informed us that we had been very lucky in our timing. We saw penguins with their young and learned what was being done to protect them and improve their habitat by building little shelters for them. In addition, tree planting is carried out as finances permit as this is the natural habitat of the Yellow Eyed. Unlike other penguins this breed is a solitary and shy animal. It was necessary, therefore, for us to view them from hides and to keep as quiet as possible. This still provided many photographic opportunities. This was another highlight of our trip.

Macandrew Bay on Otago Peninsula
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Thursday 28 December 2006 – Today we travelled into Dunedin to visit Cadbury World and then for lunch. The factory closes for three weeks from Christmas to the middle of January and so only the reduced tour is available which seemed to us to be a considerable diminishment and so it proved. It was a disappointment as an experience but if the factory tour had been available it may have been better.

Saturday 30 December 2006 – We went to lunch with Iris’s friend, Betty, who although in her 81st year still runs a sheep station with 200/300 head and has farm stay units that she services herself. It is her experience that there are fewer tourists around this Christmas and New Year and puts it down to their being less money around but perhaps the unseasonably cold weather is also a factor. Her station is a little further around the bay on the Otago Peninsula and has superb views and we could see the weather coming up over the hills. It was yet another interesting day in that we learned more about day to day life of a typical Kiwi.

Hotel in Middlemarch
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Sunday 31 December 2006 - Today we took a round trip of 6 hours to Middlemarch on the Taieri Gorge Railway. The train was almost full despite another cold and occasionally damp day although when the sun did appear it was quite warm. The views are spectacular and most of the area is a wilderness. The river running down from the peaks was very full, fast and very muddy as a result of all the recent rain. Talk of the weather is a constant in discussion with locals as none can remember it being so bad at this time of year before. We are informed that it is because of El Nino, which in the Northern Hemisphere usually has the opposite effect and brings heat! There also appears to be a factor in Australia going on the messages we have been getting from friends there.

Taieri Gorge
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We had lunch at Middlemarch in a pub that looked like something from the Wild West on the outside and there is not much to the town itself. The coming of the train appeared to be a highlight of the day with the local Lions club holding a sausage sizzle on the platform and the shop, café and museum open for the event. It really is in the middle of nowhere and seems to rely almost totally on tourists, some of whom use it for a jumping off point for walking (or tramping as it is called here) and cycling. Middlemarch is the starting point of the Otago Central Rail Trail and the train will carry cycles for no extra cost. The Trail is the first of its kind in New Zealand is based on similar projects in Europe where the rails are removed. It runs for 150km to the town of Clyde. We were informed that on one day in the previous week they had carried approximately 90 cycles – obviously it is proving very popular.

A trip on this train is very worthwhile and there is a shorter one in Pukerangi each afternoon and 2-30pm. The Middlemarch trip is only on Friday and Sunday during the summer months.