Day 27 beach, baldwin street, church, plan

Jan 27

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.

Slope from side

At the top

Surveyor was from uk and drew the street on the map without  checking  gradient 1:2.86

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.

Altar is placed on the side and congregation  turned around 

Note tv screens on either side of altar

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!

Day 26 - Scandal at the Castle; finally, the penguins

Friday 26 Jan
We decided to hang around Dunedin for another couple of days so we could catch up on sleep and take the pace off a little bit, although looking back at yesterday's beach walk, train journey and our Mexican meal you wouldn't think so. I also got going on getting all our video uploaded to Youtube, all in all it was gone midnight again before we put the lights out.
We needed to be out of the Airbnb by 10:00, and with plenty of practice now we're quick at packing, and then off to Larnach Castle on the Otago peninsula.
Larnach Castle is New Zealand's only castle; It's a castle only in the Victorian sense, it wasn't a true fortification, although it does have a signalling tower and it's perched right on the top of a hill. It's a pretty hairy road, quite narrow, lots of steep drops either side, nothing like some of the tracks we've done but I wouldn't want to do it at night in the rain or fog.

Link to panorama

The scandal is that this famous and powerful politician's son by his first wife had an affair with his third wife and then he shot himself; and that the android tour app that they advertise and sell can't be used on the free wifi. Karen got it working with our NZ sim, but I'm still working my way through the tour whenever we have time and bandwidth.
The inside of the castle is fantastic. The carvings and the ceilings have been done with such awesome craftsmanship. It's hard to believe the state that it got into before it's current owners started restoring it, and collecting all the period pieces to bring it back to how it is now.

We had a very enjoyable coffee and a bite to eat in the ballroom that's now the cafe, followed by a walk around the grounds.

Finally we walked back past the methane plant and through the stable block that people can now stay at as a guest and even enjoy eating their meals in the dining room in the house.

The display was alarmed but Karen seemed quite calm

Eventually the weather got the better of us, it had already obliterated the view, now it was closing in and getting cold and wet. So we headed back to the car, and our melting tub of ice cream.

We drove back into town, and checked into our new place.

Once settled we opted to snack rather than cook, and got on with blogging and looking at our next moves. 

20:30 came around so we headed back out on the Otago peninsula to see the little blue penguins, the smallest species of penguin in New Zealand. We had been told to be there in time for dusk as that is when the penguins come ashore.

Great place to see them, very good staff, and we saw a mystery bird that no one could identify. Sadly it was too dark to photograph it!

The penguins come ashore in rafts, and then climb up under the viewing platform to the nesting boxes that the trust have created. Someone with a hand clicker counts them in, and they're all micro-chipped too, so  a chip reader scans them as they climb the bank. The seagulls were a bit of a distraction, as were the seals. Seals up close smell a bit like wet dog. It was fascinating to watch the penguins arrive and waddle up the beach. Some of them seemed to stop for a chat with the neighbours, others ran straight for the burrows. One penguin did not seem to want to go to it's burrow at all and the guides said that it probably didn't have a mate waiting in the burrow (ahh).

We were warned as we left to check around our car before moving as they had been known to settle underneath cars or in wheel arches. There were signs down the road too asking people to be vigilant watching for penguins crossing the road. We were glad that our car was penguin free!

Day 25 Dunedin beach, taieri gorge train, mexican food

Thurs Jan 25
We were only a street away from the beach. The weather was cloudy but warm, we knew rain was forecast later that day so we had booked the gorge train ride for the afternoon. It seemed like a great time to investigate the beach. Our best day weather wise was going to be Saturday. Did we want to come here for the day?

The beach looked fabulous, surf rolling in, miles of sand, and just a couple of people. There was a lifeguard on duty but only one person playing around in the sea. We decided to stroll left up the beach towards the headland.

We came across these little fellows strewn acoss the beach, from googling we think they might be bluebottles, the indo-pacific cousin of the Portuguese  man o war. If anyone knows different, do let us know!

There are some great scrambling rocks at the end of the beach.
It had taken about 45 minutes to walk from the middle of the beach to this end.

360 panorama link

By the time we had walked back it was lunchtime. We knew this because now there were lots of teenagers with their body boards in the water and a steady stream of them heading down the beach to the water. No way was it still morning!

There are two Taieri gorge trains a day, one at 9:30 and one at 14:30. Each trip is about 4 and a half hours long. It's rated as one of the worlds best train journeys to do and Jono was keen.
Dunedin station itself is incredibly beautiful and worth going to see.

ladies in Victorian costume

 360 panorama

 360 panorama spot the error!

 The carriages they use for the trip are 1937 replicas of a 1907  carriage, all wooden with flowery moulded ceilings.

There is a running live commentary on the train, ours was supplied by Dave who was funny and informative. Thanks Dave!
I can only say the pictures can't  capture it and its fab being able to ride a moving train standing outside the cabin with  wonderful views. Try it!

 Partway stop to stretch legs, this used to be a town of 5000 people

Since we were already in Dunedin after the train ride we decided to eat out again. Yesterday we'd spotted a Mexican restaurant, Del Sol, but they seemed to be struggling with the people already in so we'd  moved on. We went back and this time they were quieter. Lots of bright clashing colours that actually worked together on the walls and chairs, Mexican hats strewn around if you wanted to use them (it's dressing up, of course we put them on) and a super quick service.

I could not finish my vegetarian fajitas, (which were also served with refried beans and rice) they were yummy. Jono did manage his chicken chimichanga and of course a Speight beer (with the brewery here in Dunedin, how could he have anything  else?). Del Sol is not part of a chain so to experience it you have to visit Dunedin.