New Zealand 5

The Final Chapter

By the time you get to see this I will have left NZ and be on the next phase, a tour through Thailand, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, so it’s time to have a look back at a few great weeks .

 

Before I start, I must take a moment to say thank you to some people ...

to all of you who have contacted me regards the blogs, thank you so much for your kind comments and I am delighted you have enjoyed reading them; 

to STA Travel (Cardiff), and in particular Cath, who has  been, and continues to be, a fantastic support,  great job xx;

to Frank, who really was a star for all of the 5489 kilometres we shared ... wow!!

And to Betty, who had the last laugh. I think she was so annoyed at me deliberately driving the opposite way to whatever she suggested one day, that she displayed the local speed limit as 100kmh in a 70kmh area, resulting in me exceeding the speed limit without me knowing. Needless to say, referring to this, failed to cut the mustard when I had my collar felt by the humourless jobsworth from the local highway patrol, who also took great delight in advising me that the speed in the area was always changing and no one ever saw the sign .... what a git ....$120!!

Potential tourists please note that ALL NZ speed limits are enforced with some rigour, and it is tantamount to a stealth tax. Highway cruisers are equipped with the technology to speed test you travelling towards and away from them, from the front and the rear something I was not aware of until I got pulled.

Fines – which transform into court orders if ignored - are enforced around the world and increase dramatically if you don’t pay promptly AND your car hire company will also charge you a further $50 admin fee as they are required to confirm your insurance details to the police. Add to this that random, road block controlled, breath tests are very common at all times of the day. I was stopped at 11am, fortunately after a quiet night  O joy!

So what turned out to be the final leg of the journey was to travel SE from Wanaka to Dunedin, that’s not to say I didn’t explore the area, far from it, but Dunedin was the last (and probably the most anticipated) of the places that I had scheduled to get to during my time in NZ, and was to become a second home for a few weeks.

The drive from Wanaka to Dunedin was, yet again, memorable. I had barely got out of town when I spotted a museum dedicated, allegedly, to automobiles and aviation.

In reality, it was one man’s private collection of nearly everything that it is possible to collect and it was mind blowing!! From Star Wars figures to JCB’s, from fountain pens to fire engines, cuckoo clocks to MIG fighters and nearly everything in between .... incredible.

 

South of Wanaka I drove through more super stuff as I  crossed a flank of Central and then Coastal Otago,  including

beautiful Lake Dunstan;  

the market garden town of Cromwell, surrounded by a belt of fruit and wine growing;

and a boulder national park, which had tens of thousands of strange rock piles and weathered formations sticking out from a desolate hilly landscape

eventually I reached the town of Milton and turn north west up to my destination Dunedin.

 A contributory factor in visiting NZ, and the only reason why I visited at the time I did, was to visit a very dear mate, the ridiculously talented musician, and all round nice bloke, Trevor Coleman and his lovely family. They very kindly hosted me for my stay in Dunedin, which turned out to be far longer than I had planned, and I take this opportunity to thank them sincerely for this -Trev, Ika , Larissa and Claudie my dear friends, who looked after me royally, cheers guys see you soon I hope xx

The history bit .... Dunedin grew rich on the gold rushes based in Central Otago, as all of the gold flowed through its port, and commerce and business followed. For a short time in the 1850’s it became NZ’s busiest and most important city and the wealth enabled it to found the first university in New Zealand, the still impressive, University of Otago whose students contribute more than 20% of the city’s population of approx. 130,000.

Named after the ancient name for Edinburgh - there are many references to the Scottish capital in street and building names –  it is a city with a proud history of innovation and re invention as it lays claim to having had the first national newspaper, art gallery, medical school and then later, when its importance began to wane, via Port Chalmers, it established a new identity as the NZ frozen meat export centre to the whole world.

Some of the architecture is striking, retaining a considerable number of examples of Victorian and Edwardian grandeur but also there are many very small residential houses, that earned one area the unenviable accolade of having the highest density of population in the country.

As a city, I found it as much fun as Wellington although the music scene was far superior with some great jazz available (especially at the Robbie Burns Pub and Pequenos bar) and heaps of good and reasonably priced eateries, Thai, Indian, Vietnamese and Turkish in particular.

As there was no pressure to keep on moving I indulged in some quality R&R, but also managed to get a lot of other things done. As before to detail everything would be impossible therefore a brief synopsis:

A day trip to the, world unique, Otago Peninsular Royal Albatross Colony gives you the great privilege to see these magnificent birds perform their aerial aerobatics at close quarters, they were awesome

 

 

Watching the world’s smallest penguin, the Little Blue, come ashore after dark and clamber up the beach to their burrows

 

Visiting countless small ports and beaches, where some of the rock formations, kelp deposits, caves, surf etc were incredible and most of the time you had the beach to
yourself

 

 

Days spent in the Dunedin museums, art galleries, shops, cafes, historic buildings, botanical gardens, look outs and other places of interest including a trek up the world’s steepest street, Baldwin Street .... some climb!

 

Nights spent in bars, restaurants, cafes, jazz clubs and even several home cooking nights, both as a cook and as a guest

A day trip through the Taieri Gorge by train- regarded by some as the greatest train journey in NZ- which was as good as advertised

 

 A couple of fantastic, memorable days in the Catlin Conservation Area exploring waterfalls, forests and beaches populated only by seals and sea lions

A much awaited trip to see the Burt Munro memorabilia in Invercargill  (He was the subject of the film The World’s Fastest Indian – if you don’t know what I am on about it just buy it. I promise you won’t regret it) the rickety old bike on which he set the world land speed record

 

A day trip to Christchurh to return Frank and flight back to Dunedin

Late night wave watching with Trev. Two grown guys getting a kick out of hanging around the promenade at St Claire’s beach at 2am, trying to avoid (not very hard!!)  getting soaked, by the massive plumes of warm sea water tossed up as the breakers slammed into the sea wall. Who needs tv??

A night watching the local Super XV team, the Highlanders, being dismantled by the Brumbies. Forsyth Barr Stadium, whilst still a red hot potato, politically speaking, in Dunedin is a great venue and it was so good to see some live rugby

 

A day trip wine tasting in Central Otago, with the experienced and very professional Otago Tour Co.,. I was really impressed with the quality of the tour, the vintners were delightful and accommodating, our guide very knowledgeable and the views and scenery, especially the abundance of Italian poplars changing colour, was stunning ........   oh and the wine wasn’t bad either, in fact most of it (I’m not a great Chardonnay lover) was excellent, unfortunately none of it is available in UK L

 

As an aside, this is one of the more bizarre images I captured and I bet no one can tell me what it is!!

So that’s it, NZ ticked off. I had such a great time and met some fantastic people and have memories and some new friends for life.

Do I have any regrets? ....Not having longer, but then this is something that will always apply if you are enjoying yourself, secondly the weather at the glaciers/Mt Cook area that stopped me fully experiencing one of the highlights of the Alps, also I had intended to go to Milford Sound, despite the sandflies, the only one spectacular area I didn’t get to. This really needs good weather and unfortunately it had changed – after all it was winter- but this is another great reason to return............. and I can’t bloody wait!!!

With a heavy heart, goodbye New Zealand, next stop Bangkok