Otago Peninsula and Dunedin

 

Royal Albatross

Sunday, March 20 and Monday Morning, March 21, 2011

It's a long drive under overcast skies from Invercargill to Dunedin. Dunedin, Edinburgh of the south, was for Scottish settlers a major sheltered port deriving wealth from a gold rush starting in 1861, and then farming and shipping of fiber and frozen meat. All that wool and the extra animals must get to market. Miners came mostly from Australia, and the wealth contributed to the Gothic Revival architecture done in bluestone and limestone, and the establishment in 1871 of the University of Otago with about 25,000 students today.

Otago Harbour is bordered on the east by the Otago Peninsula and then the Pacific. Otago Peninsula is our destination for the afternoon as the skies clear and we find ourselves on a very narrow road heading north toward sanctuaries for rare wildlife. At the north end at Taiaroa Head are Royal Albatrosses wheeling overhead. There is a nesting colony with baby birds we could see for a hefty fee, but with limited time, we opt not to do that. There are also fur seals on the east side of the point and, we understand, penguin colonies. We'd need to stay until evening to see them come ashore. The albatrosses are massive birds and we spend quite a lot of time just tipping our heads back watching them soaring aloft, coming in from fishing at sea. Truly amazing. A very patient Stewart Island shag sits unperturbed at the end of the parking lot. About halfway down the peninsula and out an unpaved track is the NZ Marine Studies Centre and Aquarium where we see blue cod (local fish and chips fish) and other native fishes. I buy a beautiful abalone shell as a remembrance.

In Dunedin finally there is our B-and-B. An older couple is spending a week there, escaping their fear of earthquakes at their home in Christchurch. The proprietor shows us the shared kitchen where we can cook, if we wish. Our room overlooks an old neighborhood of stately homes, most now converted to apartments or lodging. The recommended evening dinner spot was Speight's Brewery (1876), a downhill walk. Not too difficult to sell Henry on that idea. After eating we walk around downtown Dunedin. There is the Octagon "square," the statue of Robert Burns, and the spires of St. Paul's Cathedral (Anglican).

The next morning it's raining again. The owner of the B&B suggests a drive out along the west side of Otago Harbour to Port Chalmers, and to the point opposite the albatross colony. There is a long breakwater there. We get out and walk way to the end. People are fishing, divers are snorkeling for abalone, there are fur seals, gulls, shags, and offshore a small bird. I'm calling it my blue penguin, even though visibililty wasn't good in the rain, but it was about the right size. Soaked and driving back toward Dunedin, we search for lunch in Port Chalmers, but it's all closed up. So, back to downtown to an Irish pub to eat and decide what's next. We run into our friends from Christchurch at the pub.

Taieri Gorge Railway, "One of the World's Great Train Trips"

Monday Afternoon, March 21, 2011

After such a rainy morning, we look for a dry warm afternoon and buy the last two tickets for the run on the Limited. We board a restored wooden 1920s car for the round-trip from the historic Dunedin train station, with its foyer bright with Royal Doulton tiles and mosaic floor, to a sunny rural place near the highest point of the railway. There the conductors disengage the locomotive and move it to the other end of the train for the journey back. We have come from a soggy day on the Pacific coast up the mountains through an old gold prospecting area in the sunshine.

The rail line was built from 1879 to 1921 through very rugged mountains, a major engineering feat with about a dozen high trestles. At times we can look forward or backward and see one end of the curving train elevated on these viaducts made of stone and wrought iron. Our four-hour trip is 58km up and 58km back, with intermittent breaks when we are able to disembark and look out over the wilderness and canyons where gold miners searched for fortune. At the top some passengers disembark with their bicycles to continue on the Otago Central Rail Trail toward Wanaka and Queenstown. If we'd had more time and been more organized, we'd have considered doing that.

We're glad to stand up and walk back to our bed and breakfast after so much sitting in the old wooden rail car as it swayed and jolted through the Gorge, even if we must walk in the rain.

Moeraki Boulders

 

Only a little way north of Dunedin is a beach where large spheres, the Moeraki Boulders, lie. Their perfect shapes and sizes are quite unusual. The boulders fall out of the mudstone cliffs behind the beach. There are small spheres, too, but most of these are picked up and taken by visitors. On the beach the stones decay and reveal their interiors of lime crystals.

Of course the Maori have a story to explain the boulders. They believed that the boulders were food baskets or water gourds from a wrecked canoe. The nearby reef was supposed to be a canoe hull wreck and a large rock was the canoe's navigator. Connections from the past into the present, from people relating to the land. In fact, all of the South Island is envisioned by Maori to be a canoe, with Stewart Island just off the southernmost point its anchor. The North Island is a very large fish caught by the fishermen in the canoe (South Island).

Oamaru

 

On the way to Christchurch is a small town, Oamaru. It is known for its outlandish neoclassical whitestone public architecture, built between 1871 and 1883 from the wealth accumulated from quarrying, timber and farming. We stop here for lunch at a small bistro, even though we are far from our day's destination. After lunch we walk for a time along the broad Thames street. We meet a woman playing the accordian outside a storefront. She stops playing, knows we are from the US, and asks us, "I think Obama is trying to do the right thing, don't you?" So many people look to America for world leadership and are interested in our politics. She goes back to playing old songs and we put some coins in the accordian case.

Oamaru is also known for its penguin colonies. Both the small blue penguins and the yellow-eyed penguins come ashore in the evening. The blues march past a grandstand specially built for penguin viewing. We're here too early in the day to see these charming birds. Oamaru was also the home of Janet Frame, one of New Zealand's greatest writers. I'll try to find one of her books.

We drive north and by-pass Christchurch, so recently devastated by that earthquake. We are able to drive through without seeing much evidence of damage, passing on the west near the airport. On to Kaikoura.

Kaikoura or Koha O Marokura, Gift of Marokura

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

According to legend, Marokura, a young god, created this bountiful region. Two peninsulas and deep sea canyons mix the cold southern waters with the warm northern seas. The result is upwelling and an abundance of sea life. Frequent sightings of sperm and humpback whales, and orcas bring visitors to Maori boat trips. The seas are often rough, as they are today.

The Kaikoura Peninsula Walkway is our choice, an 11km out-and-back. We park by the fur seal colony and follow the path uphill along the cliffs. Then there are steps down to the beach, where we see terns, red- and black-billed gulls, black oystercatchers, shags, and rabbits. The scenery is breathtakingly expansive and dramatically wild. Off-shore where the water drops to its kilometer deep canyon the water changes from aqua to deep blue. There is a cool breeze, but we move along enjoying the air in our faces.

In an abalone shell factory shells are polished to iridescent loveliness. The Fyffe House whaler cottage rests on its whalebone foundation since 1842. The best food is from a trailer on the beach where we order abalone.

Hello from Napier

Friday, March 25

We left Wellington early after picking up another rental car. Traveling north, our destination for the day, Napier. Reading in the Rough Guide and the Lonely Planet, we hope to find a place to stop and explore before we arrive. That spot turns out to be the Pukaha Mount Bruce National Wildlife Centre and we're just in time for the naturalist walk. The first stop is feeding of the long-fin eels, in a frenzy as pellets hit the water. A single large trout hangs about. Then we walk by spacious pens where native endangered birds are raised until they're big enough to defend themselves from imported predators and then released into the surrounding forests. There is a kiwi house where one might observe kiwis. Active only at night, the kiwis are difficult to find and watch. The naturalist disturbs a resting young kiwi to weigh and evaluate its progress. She brings it close to the fence for us to see up close and photograph.

Napier is a phoenix town. On February 3, 1931, for two to three minutes, Napier was rocked by an 7.9 magnitude earthquake. Much of the downtown was destroyed by the earth's wrenching upward 6 meters and the ensuing fires. Land appeared, where there was none before, enough for an airport. The town was rebuilt immediately in the style of the time—Art Deco. We stayed in the County Hotel (a former government building), one of the few buildings to survive the earthquake, beautifully redecorated, with few patrons. We had our first lamb shanks and kumara mash (sweet potato) in the neighborhood Irish pub across the street, complete with a bar imported from Belfast and lively Celtic music. The next morning we walked the broad streets to find breakfast at a sidewalk table and then returned to the hotel along Marine Parade shoreline park. Heading north to volcano country. Bye, bye to Napier.

Playing in a Caldera

 

In the Frying Pan (Caldera)

Sunday, March 27

Ever wonder about the sense of people who live with the knowledge that their world may change in an instant from volcanoes and earthquakes, where the evidence of cataclysm is all around and yet they stay and build as if there is nothing to worry about? That is Rotorua and its environs, where the air smells of sulfur and the lake water steams from vents beneath the surface. The Te Arawa people adapted, appreciating the warm earth in winter, cooking their food in hot water, bathing in the warm water. Birds didn't need sit on their nests to keep eggs warm. When Europeans discovered this area with geysers, boiling mud, and warm mineral pools, tourism and the health spa business took off. However one night in 1886, Mount Tarawera erupted, destroying the beautiful Pink and White Terraces and terrifying Maori and Europeans alike. The Original Bath House now the Rotorua Museum is next to the Government Gardens, where croquet is still played.

Yesterday, we hiked in a downpour in the Craters of the Moon (on the road from Lake Taupo to Rotorua). This active volcanic site resulted from the construction of the Waitakei geothermal power station which changed the underground water dynamics. Warnings were frequent: stay on the paths, don't step into a fumarole. Steam was everywhere, more so because of the rain.

We strolled along the lake in Rotorua this Sunday afternoon in the sunshine, observing residents and tourists alike, there in the caldera. We did not see all the spectacular geothermal sites. Perhaps some day we will bravely return, trusting we will not be caught by some natural disaster.