Road Trip Day 1: Oamaru, Hamster Wheels, and Yellow Eyed Penguins...

As I mentioned in my last post, I was traveling for the better part of November. My friend Kim was visiting from California and I had the pleasure of showing her around the South Island. 

The challenge: show off the best of New Zealand in 16 days, while working 4 of those days and not spending every waking moment driving. 

After much consideration, I decided on the route below. We spent 6 days doing the southern loop, and 4 days on the northern loop (oh, the driving...), with me working 4 days in the middle (literally) while Kim went off to the Greymouth and adventured around the West Coast. 

The first half of the trip was longer, with 5 nights allocated to maximize the best of the south. I settled on 2 nights in Dunedin, 2 nights in Queenstown, and one night near Omarama (between Wanaka and Mt. Cook). 

The biggest misconception about traveling in New Zealand is that it's small enough to "do" by car. I can't tell you the number of people who have told me they are seeing both islands in 2 weeks. I wonder if they ever even get out of the car! Notice the driving time just for our "south of the south" leg of the journey. 15 hours split by 6 days, and this was done to minimize the driving!

So zooming in further, the next map just shows Day 1 of our road trip. Actually, it only shows what's depicted below in pictures. At the end of the day we drove to Dunedin.

Right. So if you've made it this far... pictures!

The coffee in NZ is seriously amazing and I'm surprised I haven't posted more photos of my hot drinks. The above photo is of my coffee at Nosh Cafe. Turns out Ashburton has an awesome cafe, which seems to use up the quota for "awesome" allotted to Ashburton.

Actually, untrue. Ashburton also has New Zealand's longest flying fox.

For you Americans, a flying fox is like a zip line, but more playground appropriate. Don't get me wrong- they'd still be all kinds of illegal in the States (sue, sue, sue!) but they're not as massive as what you paid to do on your honeymoon in Kauai. I think they're great fun, but I'm just a big kid.

Kim on NZ's longest flying fox (unfortunately longer seems to equal slower):

Yes, this was a video. Yes, she'd kill me if I posted it. 

After fueling and caffeinating, we got on the road for the most boring bit of the trip (see "boring" on map above), about 3 hours of fields and hedgerows. But eventually we got to Oamaru, which is a coastal city originally discovered to Captian James Cook. It was eventually settled and built up by Europeans, who used the "Oamaru Whitestone" to build everything. Today the town maintains a bit of a Victorian theme throughout, with weekend festivals featuring Victorian-era costumes and language, pennywise bicycles, old-timey talk and whiskey. Oamaru is also home to the World Steampunk Headquarters. 

Whitestone buildings, ready and waiting for thy to pedal thyne bicycle down this robust shopping alley-way. Or something.

We passed up the Victorian life (and whiskey) for some local brew at Scott's Brewing Co. I guess if my Scott decides to go commercial with his home-brew, he'll have to come up with a different name.

After a few tasters but before getting on the road, we checked out the Steampunk themed, very adult sized playground just next to the brewery. Again, I have a great video of Kim, the human sized hamster, but I think she'd kill me if I posted it. So here's a few screen shots to give you an idea of how this happened:

From Oamaru, we headed south for another 30 minutes and then stopped at the Moeraki Boulders. These are large, spherical "boulders" situated on the beach (which seems to always be overcast). The reason they exist can be explained by many varying Maori legends, or here, by Wikipedia. Though there's not much to "do" there, the boulders are worth a stop to break up your drive.

Our last stop of the day was one of the best during our trip. One of Kim's "requirements" during her trip to New Zealand was to see penguins. (Other requirements: lambs, glow worms, Milford Sound, glaciers, and unbeknownst to her- baby seals playing in a waterfall.)

There are two types of penguins in the Oamaru/Dunedin area. First, Yellow Eyed Penguins, which are the 4th largest penguin breed and are also apparently the most endangered/rarest species of penguin globally, with about 4,000 birds total, found only in New Zealand and it's southern islands. Second, the Little Blue Penguin, which are the world's littlest penguin (33cm tall) and not so rare, with 350-600,000 estimated in New Zealand and Australia.

We actually didn't see any Little Blue's, which was a bit of a disappointment, though we really didn't try too hard for them. For the Yellow Eyed Penguins however, we searched out a colony described in my NZ Frenzy guidebook (get it!) as being great for penguin spotting and very not touristy.

We saw 6 penguins, two building a nest quite far away, two intently studying rocks for no apparent reason (not pictured), one preening and slowly making his way to his nest, and one sleeping and very grumpy about our finding her nest (maybe she shouldn't have chosen to nest on the trail! Just a thought, penguin...).

So, according to my calculations, we saw approximately 0.15% of the world's population of Yellow Eyed Penguins that afternoon.

Anyways, pictures:

"Think I can get closer without getting eaten?"

"Yep, I think I can stand on his head..."

"You march back down here and help me build this nest right now!"

 Oh yeah, it might be worth mentioning that these little guys with their little penguin legs hike all the way from that beach (below) to the bluffs where they nest. They journey up and down daily, spending the day in the water and the night safely sleeping in the tussocks.

We watched this guy preen and relax for a good 40 minutes before he waddled up to his nest, which was a solid 300-400 meters from the sea!

"No photos! I'm sleeping!"

Other fun Yellow Eyed Penguin facts (thanks, Wikipedia):

- They are believed to be the most ancient of all living penguins.
- They can live to be 20 years old.
- The sex ratio is 2:1 males to females, because females only live around 10 years.
- They can dive up to 120 meters (394 feet).
- They nest separately from each other, preferring privacy of nests instead of social colonies and parents take turns guarding eggs and chicks while the other hunts.
- They weigh 12-18 pounds, varying throughout the year depending on feeding and molting.
- The Yellow Eyed Penguin is depicted on the back side of the NZ $5 bill.

Following our penguin adventures, we drove down to Dunedin and checked in to our flat. We scarfed down a massive dinner and a glass of wine each, before passing out cold.

Next time, days 2-3: Dunedin.

Wild Wild West, Part 2: Charming Creek and Oparara Basin

Normally easy bike rides aren't our cup of tea (ok, Scott's). But when they turn out to have surprise tunnels (eek!) and surprise waterfalls, they're pretty awesome! The Charming Creek Walkway is a bit different than your average walking track. Our guidebook said something along the lines of, "This walk is beautiful. Please don't miss it. Do it for me. You won't regret it. I swear. Please do it. Please." So we basically had to go. But we took the bikes.

The Charming Creek Walkway was built on old mining railway tracks (making for bumpy climbing) and followed along a cliff over the beautiful Charming Creek. It had a few fun features like tunnels and swing bridges, and provided spectacular scenery and waterfalls. Its not totally straight forward to get to- so definitely Google your directions before you go. It is really stunning. Please don't miss it. Do it for me. You won't regret it!

(I forgot the good camera on this adventure, so here's the best "quality" my phone can muster:)

We did the Charming Creek ride on Saturday, along with two of the hikes I wrote about in my last post. It was such a beautiful day that we were trying hard to smash as much cool stuff as we could in before the sun set (at an insulting 5:30!). 

After our ride, we hurried up the coast past Karamea to the Oparara Basin. Our trusty guide book (NZ Frenzy- get it!) pleaded with us to check out these "arches". They sounded neat, but we were a little skeptical- and we were saving Sunday for glow worms (or the great glow worm disappointment of 2014, as it was.)

So we decided if these arches were so cool, they would be cool at dusk as well. The guide book also mentioned that the Oparara Arch is so massive and impressive it is nearly impossible to photograph.

Aren't you in awe and amazement???

 Totally impossible to photograph might have been more accurate..

What is going on here?

Im sure our chosen time of day didn't help the photogenically challenged arch, but I can share in the author's frustration. It really is so beautiful. Scott thought this must be where they got the inspiration for Avatar… the massive limestone arches above a natural tunnel, with ferns and vines growing everywhere, and foliage hanging down like chandeliers. One of those big mean bird things could swoop down at any second and not even look out of place. The grandeur of the arch, coupled with the root beer color of the water running through it also made us feel like we could be on another planet.

Stalactites inside the arch- also will make you feel like you're on another planet.  

My best (futile) attempt:

Here's a stolen picture off the internet… I'm not sure this really even clears up what was going on there:

Image Via

The valuable lesson we learned (as we left in the dark, using our cell phones as headlamps--- ooh! We saw an owl, that was cool!) was that when the guidebook strongly suggests something is magnificent, it probably is.  So we saved the other "arch" for the next day, after the Great Glow Worm Disappointment.

The hike to the second arch turned out to be super cool in itself. The foliage had changed, the tree ferns had multiplied, and there were tons of those creepy trees with everything growing on them. (I really should learn something about NZ trees.)

I mentioned in my last post about the west coast's current TreePocalypse state of being, and the Oparara Basin was no different. Check out this recently fallen bad boy:

And for perspective, me:

The DOC had been hard at work clearing as much as possible, so we actually had a really pleasant walk through the forest. We were a bit surprised when the trail turned in to this:

Who's first?

And then this:

We had been led inside the Moira Gate Arch before we saw it from afar. So cool!!!

Scott got busy taking lots of photos of the stalactites, interesting patterns on the rocks, and the root beer water.

After having our fill of exploring the inside and not finding any glow worms, we crawled out of the entrance and went up and over the arch to get a view from the outside.

Pretty Stunning...

 The color of the water is caused by staining from the tannins released into the forest floor by the native fauna. The contrast of the color with the foliage is just phenomenal.

We took a long loop option back from the arch and saw lots of wildlife along the way.

Baby Weka!

Baby weka looking at YOU.

The aptly named "Mirror Tarn"

As some rain started falling and the temperature dropped, we picked up the pace back to the car. But we were stopped by a funny whistling sound. Like a child playing with a crappy plastic whistle. "Whioooo Whioooo!". We looked around for the culprit making the funny noise, and were surprised to find these guys swimming and whistling in the water below us.

Blue ducks are endangered, with approximately 1,200 remaining. The males make the funny whistling noise (the Maori name for Blue Duck is "Whio") while the females make an even funnier guttural grunting noise. There were 2 males here, whistling back and forth at each other, sticking their necks out and being very impressed by themselves (the 2 bottom ones). The third (top) was a female who grunted and snorted and waddled out of the water and away from her companions, obviously very unimpressed.

As much as we enjoy the breathtaking scenery, I think we enjoyed the wildlife even more. Its a special feeling to get to see endangered animals, as well as baby animals (the weka is very, very far from endangered!). This was such a great final experience on our west coast adventure!

One last wild animal.

The Oxford A&P Show

Well, this weekend I got to do the best thing ever. Nope, not bikes, jet boating, baby seals, or saving lives. I got to go to the local A&P show. That stands for Agriculture and Pastoral. Like as in sheep. And goats. And tractors. It was awesoooooome.

When we attended Cup Day last spring, that was the kick off to A&P week here in Christchurch. But that was all fancy and had a feeling of old money and young drunks. The Oxford A&P show is so much more my speed. Farm animals, farm equipment, food, beer, and so much more New Zealand "country" than I knew existed.

Upon driving in, we had to bounce my very yuppy feeling VW Golf through 3 pastures before finding a place to park. This was the place to be this Saturday. Just while parking we passed a sheep herding competition and lots of show ponies. Scott shuddered in fear for his next several hours while I plastered my face to the window like a little kid trapped in line at Disneyland waiting to get on Mr Toads Wild (Country) Ride.

Nearly the first exhibit we stumbled upon were the angora goats. They are, quite possibly, the best thing ever.

We chatted with a very helpful farmer who has 20 angora goats, and just the profit from the wool pays for the expenses of having them. And someone comes to shear them and everything. Hello future farm. (Not even kidding.)

Here's a 4 month old kid who has recently been shorn. She won first in her category (basically for cuteness).

There is no way Im not getting some of these in the future. How can you not love that face???

Or this one:

Don't worry. I got the pamphlet on how to raise angora goats. Im sure everything I need to know is in there.

After Scott tore me away we finished with the goats we watched a few cows and alpacas being judged. From what I can tell, anyone can enter their animal, and it is based purely on looks. A bovine popularity contest, if you will. I didn't snap any photos of the winners, but I did take some time to check out the alpaca competition…

I kind of feel like alpacas might be the nerds of the farm world. Like, they're adolescents now but mom still cuts their hair. They seem pretty curious, but not particularly friendly. Apparently they spit when they get irritated.

Look! Baby alpacas!

Besides farm animals, there were tons of booths with people selling crafts and food. We stopped and did some wine tasting (of course) and contemplated purchasing alpaca sweaters. There was also a tent with demonstrations, so we caught one on cooking meat (lamb, chicken, and steak) and another one on bee keeping.

But wait, there's more! A whole indoor exhibit was dedicated to what seemed to be the judging of everything. There was homemade wine, there was a 112kg pumpkin, there were multiple bread and cake categories, and the best single cut dahlia. Like, who grew the best flower. You can get judged for anything, it seems.

Who grew the best chard? And in the background, lots of dahlias.

Who grew the best potato? And the best black potato?

The best squash, corn, bean, lettuce? The options are endless, people.

There was a whole cookie section, which I may take on as my main goal for the coming year.

Before wandering over to see the sheep (!!!) we stopped and watched some really old guys split logs. In the 5 or so hours we were at the show, there was always a group of really old guys splitting really big logs.

The ambulance never came, so I'd say it was a success.

There was also a "fair" like section for the kids. A few games and circus like rides, and one giant inflatable boat, which appeared to be sinking into the ground and said TITANIC on it. Is it just me, or is having your child slide down the sinking ship that killed all those people just a little bit not PC? (Not that I care in the slightest, but I thought to myself, only in New Zealand.)

We got Scott a coffee so he could regain his will to live, and go look at all the sheep. Man, there are a lot of different kinds of sheep. We meandered over there just in time to catch the end of the sheep shearing competition. These were the best of the best. One guy sheared 6 sheep in just over 10 minutes. It was really quite impressive. Albeit, not the most dignified thing to ever happen to the sheep.

Each new sheep got lifted by the front legs and slid out on her back like an upside-down turtle. The shearer kept her head and a limb or two between his legs at all times to keep her supine and just kind of spun the sheep around (the floor was slick). Like I said, impressive and undignified.

At the end of the day as we wandered through the last of the sheep exhibition, we came across pet sheep.

Like, the other best thing ever. Of course I pet every single one, and found my favorite. A young, mangy little girl with part of her ear missing and lots of dirt in her wool. I don't think she won any awards.

Things I didn't manage to take pictures of include: dirt bike jumping, horse racing (because, who cares?), the chicken and rooster judging- also 2 ducks!, sheep herding, greyhound racing, and the bagpipers - random, I know. I was in hog heaven- no puns there because there were no pigs. Where were the pigs???

Anyways, I pretty much can't wait to drag Scott to this next year. Here he is, resigned to his fate with a beautiful old tractor: