Beach time! Weather was warm, sky was blue. Easy parking at the beach and we settled down to a morning of making a plan about what we were going to do and see in the time we had left.
We did go down for a paddle which is when the difference in temperature between here and North Island really became apparent. Beginning to lose feeling in my toes I settled back on the beach. I can totally inderstand the widespread use of wetsuits by those with body boards now! There was also a kayak out surfing and a group of proper surfers too.
Jono was a bit more hardy and decided he had to actually go in. Not for very long, but he did get that "buffeted by the waves" feeling.
With a plan agreed and needing to use the internet to put it in place we headed off to see the world's steepest street, Baldwin Street. I'd used this in maths ratio lessons so I definitely wanted to see it!
I thought we would stand at the bottom take a few snaps and move on but Jono was all for climbing it to the top.
There were lots of brightly dressed Asians taking snaps in different poses on the street too. Every so often a car would come along, generally going down not up, and everyone would scatter to the side although one oblivious young man lying on the road intent on his camera forced a car to stop. I wouldn't want to take the chance the car's brakes were working efficiently on that sort of slope.
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| Slope from side |
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| At the top |
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| Surveyor was from uk and drew the street on the map without checking gradient 1:2.86 |
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| So steep it drops away and you can't see it going down from the top |
Dunedin has loads of Catholic churches. St Patricks was closest and had a 6pm vigil mass. The church has been recently renovated and inside they've changed the position of the altar around to the side so that the church feels more semicircular rather than long and thin. It has beautiful stained glass windows.
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| Altar is placed on the side and congregation turned around |
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| Note tv screens on either side of altar |
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| Beautiful stained glass windows |
As I've come to expect, it wasn't long before someone sat down beside me and introduced themselves. Sister Ann and I had a wide ranging conversation before and after Mass. There's a big debate going on about euthanasia and assisted suicide in NZ and people were asked to let their views be known to parliament. Another thing I've noticed about churches is that none of them so far use hymn books or leaflets. They have all had screens with the words displayed for all to see, this does cut down on a lot of rustling sounds!
Meanwhile Jono had been scouting around town on the hunt for cheap sunglasses, every pair here seems to be $39.99 or more! He didn't have any success but had picked up some other stuff.
We needed to food shop again and dropped past Coundown to restock before heading "home" to cook and eat out in the garden overlooking the harbour.
Our last task was to take advantage of the substantially better wifi in Dunedin and book ahead for accomodation and activities in Fiordland and for Franz Josef. Accommodation was really scarce for the glacier, I'm glad we didn't leave it any later, it was a relief to find somewhere!
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