Today, we are travelling to Dunedin and then onto Picton for the ferry to the North Island. As usual, I have included photos that I like.
An old, deserted gold mining town.
Gary liked this sign telling you to take more time because NZ roads are different. Their highest speed limit is 100kph/60mph and there are not many places you can do that due to the many roadworks and bends. Gary is glad he has an automtatic car otherwise he would be forever shifting gears. We have only been on a dual highway twice and that was for a total of about 15 miles. Many of the roads cling close to the coast line and have a railway running alongside it.
We passed an agricultural area that was growing cherry trees. The trees had mesh covering them on all sides to protect them from birds, I presume.
After seeing lush countryside and trees throughout our stay in NZ, it was interesting to come to an area that was almost devoid of trees.
Upon arriving at Dunedin, dear Gary let me visit another free botanical garden. So, while he sat down and had a coke, I toddled off to see the garden.
The iris in the lower picture was approximately 4" tall. I do not know if it had been bred that way or it was stunted due to severe frost.
The garden had one of the nicest rock gardens I have seen in a while.
I thought this building in Dunedin had interesting architecture.
Just outside of Dunedin is a mock castle, Lanarch castle, built in 1871 by the prominent entrepreneur and politician, William Lanarch. Since 1967, the castle has been privately owned by the Barker family.
The castle is situated on the ridge of the Otago Peninsula and has lovely gardens that have been given the rating of "Garden of International Significance" making them one of five gardens on the South Island to receive this title.
The inside of the house was fully furnished.
I thought the lower photo showed an interesting way to hide the "jerry"/"gozunder"/chamber pot.
The castle had beautiful wrought ironwork and wood ceilings.
Upon entering the boudoir my eyes were drawn to two not very impressive paintings except for one thing - the paintings had been adorned with ladies clothing.
The lace at their necks was real lace.
This painting actually had the lady wearing a blouse.
A Kereru, a fancy name for a New Zealand pigeon!!
After a nice visit to Lanarch Castle we headed to the west to see some penguins in the wild. For those who know me, I love penguins, any type. I am amazed at the Antarctic penguins and the harsh life they live. I have often seen penguins in the zoo, but never in their environment in the wild. Before we went to see the penguins we visited the Royal Albatross Centre. The centre is the only mainland breeding colony of the Northern Royal Albatross in the world. Unfortunately, the only time I saw an albatross I did not have my camera ready. Gary may have got a picture of it on our video camera. Around the centre was a nesting bird colony of two types of birds, gulls and shags.
What my brother, David might find interesting is the Albatross Centre used to be a fort and it housed the Armstrong Disappearing Gun. The gun was installed in about 1889, after fears of a Russian naval attack and was part of Dunedin's "Fort Talaroa" defences. The weapon was designed to "disappear" by dropping into the relative safety of a gun emplacement for reloading. David lives in England near Cragside, the home of William Armstrong and he took me to visit the house a couple of years ago. Armstrong, a lawyer by profession, was a very interesting and clever man and is responsible for many inventions.
Our journey to see the penguins was in vain. We were told the penguins return to their nests at dusk after a day at sea fishing. We hung around for a long time and did not see one penguin. We did see a penguin crossing sign and a couple of sleeping fur seals.
Penguin nesting boxes.
The sight where the penguins were supposed to be was the sight of the Scott of the Antarctic landing in 1913. There was nothing around but the sign to tell you that landing had happened.
I did take the following photo of a couple of fishing boats.
The next part of the journey took us to the Moeraki Boulders on the Pacific Ocean. These are spherical shaped boulders caused by wave action of mudstone.
Unfortunately for us, the tide was in so only a few boulders could be seen.
I think I mentioned earlier that Calla lilies grow wild in New Zealand. So does pampas grass.
We stopped for a break at a small town to stretch our legs and guess what?, yep, another park to be visited.
We had to drive through Christchurch to get to Picton so decided to visit the Cardboard Cathedral. The cathedral replaces the Christchurch Cathedral that was destroyed in the 2011 earthquake. The Cardboard Cathedral was designed by a Japanese architect called Shigeru Ban and opened in 2013. The A frame church rises 79 feet and incorporates 86 cardboard tubes weighing 1,100lbs each atop 20ft long containers. Photographs were not allowed inside the church.
The above photo shows the containers upon which the columns rest.
Petrol/gas is expensive in both Australia and New Zealand (similar to UK). Gas stations in New Zealand are one a penny but many of them are 24 hour and require a credit card. No problem, you think. Well, the credit cards they accept have to have a pin number and ours does not require a pin, so we were unable to use the 24 hour gas stations.
The above photo made me feel homesick.
More scenery photos.
We finally arrived in Picton to catch the ferry to the North Island. Picton was a very pleasant town with a very well sheltered harbour.
I thought the above photo was interesting. Three sailboats being towed out into the bay for an afternoon sail. The sail boats were very small and could only hold one person. We actually saw them sailing back into the harbour unaided before we boarded the ferry.
Well, that ends our fantastic trip to the South Island of New Zealand. I have loved every minute of it due to the wonderful scenery. It will be a trip I will always remember.
