CADBURY WORLD, MOERAKI BOULDERS AND OAMARU (01/09/09)
Somehow Liz managed to persuade Adam to visit Cadbury World in Dunedin. Adam agreed when he heard there would be free food- even if it was only chocolate.
More then he bargained for- not only did Adam have to wear a hairnet for the factory visit but a beardnet too.
No doubt due to fears of industrial espionage cameras were strictly forbidden in the factory. It was a very interesting tour though, they have some amazing machines to manufacture the chocolate. They let us have the cameras back for a picture in this vintage delivery car.
After eating more chocolate at 9.30 in the morning than either has done since Easter when we were about ten we felt sicker than we look.
Fueled by a chocolate breakfast we sped up the coast. Whilst we at last had a bit of sunshne the wind was blowing almost gale force. This blew the foam off the wave crests in spectacular fashion and we stopped to watch.
Even better the rays of sun through the spray created fleeting rainbows across the sea- fantastic despite the fact that we were almost being blown into the sea ourselves.
On the way we stopped at a well known coastal tourist attraction, Moeraki Boulders. These strangely rounded boulders appear quite alien although our view of them was slightly impeded by the fact that it was high tide and they were largely covered by sea.
The spherical boulders were apparently formed by a process called concretion, where a kind of natural concrete seeps into a softer rock and clumps together forming a ball. When the soft rock is eroded these odd shapes are left.
Obviously the best way to admire such a geological oddity is from on top of it.
Adam would like to think that Liz is finally coming round to the idea of climbing on every rock we come across, but she is probably just humouring him.
Up in the town of Oamaru we took a walk up the old pier. Fishing used to be such big industry for this town that they actually built a railway line right to the end of the pier to cart away the fish. Those days, however, are gone and now the old tracks are rusting away along with the fittings such as this old railroad switch.
Sunset over Oamaru Harbour.
We had dressed up warm so that we could stay out after dusk in the hope of spotting some of Oamaru's Blue Penguin colony returning for the night.
The Blue Penguins have adapted very well to a town being built in their territory. They actually walk the streets at night and a large number have their burrows underneath the harbour buildings. Of course this means that anyone driving here at night has to be especially careful.
Our patient, and cold, wait for the penguins was finally rewarded when, by the light of the moon, we saw dozens of small silhouettes waddling up the beach. You can just make out one in the top left of this picture crossing a pile of pebbles to it's nest.
One short and uneventful (other than screaming babies in front and behind- it was like surround sound) flight later we arrived in Melbourne. We were met at the airport by Adam's brother Oliver and stayed at his new house which he had moved into only a week before. We spent a few days catching up, visiting old haunts and getting excited about the fact that Mel, Olie's partner, was due to give birth to Adam's first nephew in just a couple of weeks time.
Christchurch, our last destination in New Zealand. We had just a day to look around the city before our flight to Melbourne the next day. This is Christchurch Cathedral right in the centre of the city.
On the outskirts of town is a wildlife reserve which we decided to visit since we had not managed to see a Kiwi bird in our whole time in New Zealand. We saw several but since they are nocturnal their enclosure is kept dark in the day and light at night so that they are active when there are visitors. As a result we couldn't take any pictures but Liz did get this lovely photo of a black swan.
A Kea (alpine parrot) preening it's feathers.
New Zealand White Heron.
Late afternoon we went for a stroll in the Botanical Gardens where hundreds of Magnolia trees were in full bloom, made even better by the fact that the sun had decided to come out.
After the fairly intensive schedule we had followed for the past few weeks in New Zealand we decided to spend our last few days relaxing at the sea side. The tiny village of Akaroa (population 500) on the Banks Peninsula near Christchurch was originally a French colony and many of the road signs are written in French and English.
Apparently a French trader bought the Banks Peninsula from the Maoris before travelling back to France to find colonists. However when he returned with French sea Captain Akaroa the Maoris had signed a treaty with the British giving them rights to all New Zealand including the Banks Peninsula. Despite this many of the French colonists were allowed to stay and the town was even named after Captain Akaroa.
The Banks Peninsula is made up of sea inlets bounded by large green hills. From the top there are beautiful views of the unusual landscape.
We both thoroughly enjoyed doing virtually nothing for a couple of days, being on holiday for this long really is exhausting!
