To Dunedin

From Hanmer Springs, we headed on down through Christchurch towards Dunedin. On the way we stopped to see the Moeraki Boulders, strange round boulders on the beach which scientists believe were not washed up, but rather were eroded from the mudstone cliffs behind. The boulders themselves have suffered more erosion with a strange network of cracks appearing.

When we arrived in Dunedin we met up with Kerry, an old friend of Sean’s who moved over here with her parents about 6 years ago. They had a lot of catching up to do so we stayed a few days. While there we went on a tour of the Cadbury World factory, which we got very excited about, looking for Oompa Loompas all around the factory! In the end, although they did give us some tasty chocolate, it was just a tour of a factory, so not something I’d rush to do again – it would be cheaper to just buy the chocolate from a shop than pay for the tour!

We also went to see the New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame in the old Railway Building (apparently the most photographed building in New Zealand, though I have no idea how they would calculate that!) and it was well worth the visit. They pay tribute to sporting heroes of all sorts, in a great diversity of sports.

One fine day we went to Otago Peninsula to see the worlds only mainland Royal Albatross colony. Apparently they don’t normally nest on islands inhabited by humans. However, as it wasn’t a very windy day none of them were flying so we didn’t get to see much. Because they are so big, they need quite a lot of wind in order to get airborne.

Finally, we walked up Baldwin Street, the worlds steepest street, with a gradient of 1 in 1.266. It is very steep… We went the day before the annual Gutbuster Race, a race up and down the street. I’d say that’s pretty tough!