With another ‘busy day of places we had seen on the map and decided to visit’ ahead of us, we set off early and had soon reached our first stop. Jack’s Blowhole. O.k. so we only wanted to go there because we thought it would be funny to take a picture of the name for my brother but still it might be worth a look! The blowhole was cut off from the sea and 200m inland. A sharp drop down and not very wide the water lurks below. I’m guessing that at high tide it spits a bit but as Ollie and I never catch blow holes at the appropriate time, nothing dramatic was going on.
By now we were not too far from Dunedin so we decided to head straight for ‘the biggest city in Otago’ and immerse ourselves in the most people we would have been surrounded by since Wellington! We arrived to a murky rainy city that is one of those places that probably doesn’t look too wonderful in the sun anyway but really looks bad in the rain. The mish mash of architecture from Edwardian to occasional Art Deco to industrial steel, urgh, was not really to my taste and although the Cathedral was good looking enough, I have to say it, the city itself didn’t get me going much. And if you’re thinking ‘but no city looks great’ then I would direct you to Auckland or Boston to name just two cities that I find very attractive. But to give Dunedin some credit, it is one of the oldest areas in New Zealand, has played a vital role in the country’s history and does boast some of the oldest buildings. So fair play to it!
There is another thing Dunedin has that no other town or city in New Zealand has, and that is a castle. Incidentally although everywhere in the city wants to sell you Scottish food, tartan or bagpipe playing teddy bears, we never did find out exactly what the Scottish roots of the place were. But I’m guessing it had something to do with the first people to arrive. So back to the castle. As Ollie and I drove up a small road through foggy hills that felt very Scottish indeed, we both questioned there being a Castle in New Zealand at all. Because as far as our ‘extensive’ history knowledge went, New Zealand wasn’t found by the British until the mid 1800’s and we were pretty damn sure ‘Castling times’ were long over by then. And by ‘Castling times’ I mean the century in which Castles found their prominence. So why on earth was a castle built? What was its purpose? And in general, just why full stop.
And we were about to find out. Unable to catch a glimpse of the stone building hidden within a shadowy glen (see what I did there) of pine trees and mist we rolled up to the main gate. At first glance the entry price looked to be $7 and I thought that was o.k. Second glance told us it was $27 and both Ollie and I were in disbelief at that ridiculous price! And they had been so cunning about it too those castle keepers. They had put the pay booth way up the drive so you couldn’t even drive in see the castle do a ‘Uie’ and leave. Oh no. If you wanted to see New Zealand’s only ruddy castle you had to pay, just for the mere sight of it. To that Ollie and I spat a giant ‘Yeah right’ and turned our van around. With heckles of ‘What d’you need a castle for anyway’, ‘It wasn’t even built in real castling times’ and ‘We’ve got loads of REAL ones in England so we don’t need yours’ we triumphantly sped away. It was quite a patriotic moment in the van as we celebrated all the British Castles we could think of and the fact that they had been used properly. Later on I read that Lanarch Castle had been built by some Scot as a present for his wife. It only took three years to build and it’s not even that big. So New Zealand you can keep your ‘trophy castle’ ‘cos we got the real deal back home!
After the castle debacle we decided to go in search of some more nature because that had never let us down. There was an Albatross centre at the end of the peninsular beyond Dunedin. Named the Otago Peninsular, it is a pretty long one and takes ages to drive along but the road runs right along the water so it’s quite nice. After forty minutes we eventually got up the last hill and parked outside the centre. I knew we wouldn’t see an Albatross but I did want to learn more about those massive birds. But the centre was closed. And not just for the day but for the last three months and until October. And no one thought to put a ‘closed sticker’ over the sign post forty minutes back there. Well done. And to make things worse, the cliff walk that’s also sign posted was shut off too due to something or other and when we tried not to feel too annoyed and drive up to the little cafe and wildlife tour place a bit further up...that was closed too! What a gigantic waste of time and fuel! Ollie was more than a little frustrated and so was I. So far our day had revolved around pathetic castles and pointless driving.
Determined not to let our day be entirely wasted we drove alllll the way back round to Dunedin and decided to get an early night (it was now almost dark) so that we could fit lots of fun things in the following day to make up for the rainy, soggy rubbish one. As we were following a lorry round a bend, two of its tires suddenly flew off and went bouncing down the road. One smacked into a street lamp with such force that it smashed the light which came crashing to the ground. The other tyre sped across the road and it was so lucky no other cars were coming because that tyre would have taken them out. For something so big and heavy those tires could move! And that was about the most exhilarating moment of our day!
Thinking our disappointing day was at an end we parked up at a ‘tree and a bench’ and made dinner. But then loads of cars started turning up and we realised we must have stopped in the main ‘smoke a quiet joint spot’ and not wanting to get mistaken for being part of that by a Policeman we got back in the front and drove off. What followed was two hours of driving, getting lost, bad map reading by Amy, shouting at the sat nav, shouting at the dark, shouting at cars, the campsite we headed for not existing and finally finding a lay-by in front of someone’s house about 20Km out of Dunedin that we gave up and stopped in. By the time we got into bed neither of us were in a good mood and were both desperate for the day to be over. Tired and grumpy we fell asleep.
* * *
Awake in the dark and driving away before any angry locals spotted where we had spent the night, Ollie and I headed back to Dunedin. After the day before we were both in need of something nice to cheer us up and both agreed that breakfast would probably be it. Sitting in a cafe waiting for our food we both looked a lot happier. Ollie had the proverbial cooked breakfast and I had blueberry pancakes with tons of maple syrup and a fruit salad hidden in the middle. And it was all very yummy! Instantly refreshed and ready for the day, we drove over to the Railway Station where a Farmer’s Market is held every Saturday morning. Absolute suckers for a market we both agreed to try and not spend too much. But then we saw a guy selling beer and cider from an organic brewery and we smelled the fresh bread just down the way and saw how cheap apples were and then a man shouted at us from a cheese stand.
‘You two, over here!’. It would have been rude to ignore him. For the next two minutes this guy shoved huge bits of different cheeses into our mouths and completely cheesed us out, which was impressive! I wasn’t a massive fan of his style of cheeses but the Blue was tasty. There was one cheese he said was named after his mother but unfortunately I didn’t realise and scoffed ‘Urgh I don’t like this one’ before Ollie shoved me in the back and I looked up to see the man looking s bit hurt and hurriedly tasting it to prove it was o.k. Oopsie! Never insult a man’s Mum or his cheese. Well done Amy. Anyway we bought a chunk (Not of the Ruby) and Ollie rushed us away.
Just across from the market was an old brick factory building with Cadburys written in bright purple on the side. Dunedin is home to the first of the Southern Hemisphere’s Cadbury’s factories. So naturally I insisted we paid a visit. Neither of us have had a chance to go to the one in Birmingham yet so this was like a pre visit. The factory is only small and although all the chocolate used to be produced and distributed from there, Australia now makes some of it too. A nice old lady in purple dungarees took us on a tour and although we couldn’t go onto the factory floor as it was closed on Saturdays (boo), she was full of history, free samples and random facts. In one room we got a little pill cup full of liquid chocolate to eat and then she gave us another one! It was surprisingly filling even for me but I was impressed we got two when usually on a tour of something you only get miniscule tasters. The best part though was going inside a giant silo and seeing a gigantic chocolate waterfall come to deafening life before our eyes. Awesomeness!
Next we walked across the city to the Speight’s beer site and signed up for a tour. Speight’s was formed by three guys, a Yorkshireman, a Scot and a guy from Devon, who set up the first brewery that became the biggest in New Zealand. James Speight, who the company was named after, was from Wakefield and ‘quite the character’ as people used to say. Our guide was the great grandson of the Devonshire man and probably in his late sixties himself. He was a fantastic guy who was so passionate about the company and loved telling us all the stories and jokes. Workers of the brewery did and still do get free beer all shift but they get sacked if they’re ever caught drunk and unable to carry on work! At the end of the tour we went into a tiny bar and got to pour our own glasses. We had about half an hour to chat in the bar and during that time we were allowed to refill our glasses with any of the five varieties as much as we wanted! Ollie was very over excited about that!
Our day in Dunedin had been much more of a success at our second attempt and we left the city feeling warm (the beer) and happy, but glad to be back in the wilderness. Up the coast are the Moeraki boulders. Large spherical rocks that can be found just sitting on the beach and in the sea. They look like malteasers. Formed in some complicated way under ground (all geology stuff) and then gradually revealed through the surrounding rocks being worn away, these rocks look pretty weird. It’s not often you see such a smooth round rock that is not manmade! The rain was back again as we began our drive north and to Mount Cook, the highest mountain in New Zealand. Back into the land of mountains, lakes and wow we go...
3/8/12
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