[Nz2003] Dunedin -> Oamaru -> Christchurch

[Edmund A. Hintz]

    We had to leave Dunedin and the beachfront motel on Friday, as there
was a big rugby match going on that weekend in town and every motel in
the vicinity was booked solid. So, we headed out intending to get to
Christchurch. Stopped off at Moreaki, they've got some spherical boulders
in the surf which we decided to look at. Fairly uneventful, but a nice
walk on the beach. Further on up the road we stopped in Oameru, saw a
sign for the local penguin colony and decided to investigate. Turns out
the penguins are out at sea during the day, and they come ashore a bit
after dusk. After some humming and hawing we decided to stick around for
the day and check 'em out. After finding a motel (with spa bath, becoming
a popular option for us on this trip) we hit up a local doctor to check
out Sam's ear, which was becoming quite painful. Turns out she has rather
a bad infection, so the doc prescribed some antibiotics, which are slowly
starting to work. 

    Anyway, after getting all that sorted, we headed out for some penguin
viewing. There's actually 3 colonies in Oamaru, one yellow-eyed, one
blue-eyed, and another separate blue-eyed colony, but on private land and
not open to the public. The yellows come ashore between 4-6, the blues
after 7ish. So, we hit the yellows first, but got there too late. About 6
came ashore that particular day, however all but one of 'em had already
holed up for the night once we got there. The one holdout just stood
around on the beach. Waddled about a little, but mostly just stood there.
One of the locals said he was probably molting, when doing so the mostly
just stand around and feel miserable, which seemed to be the order of the
day for this guy. We were there in plenty of time for the blue-eyed ones
though, and got to watch 'em go all the way from the beach to their
nests. Had 7 in that group, coming in pairs or threesomes, over the
course of maybe 30 minutes. They're pretty slow at working their way up
the shore, but once they get on flat land they can hustle pretty good.
One of 'em got slightly spooked about something and flopped down on his
belly, made some seriously good time sort of swimming across the ground.
Most of the photos aren't too good, for the yellow we were too far way,
and for the blues it was too dark. In fact, most of the photos are infra-
red, which is why they're grainy. It was better in real life...

    The drive on up from Oamaru to Christchurch was mostly uneventful,
excepting for the rugby fans. See, the big match in Dunedin is between
the Otago Highlanders (based in Dunedin) and the Christchurch Crusaders,
so it's a bit of a local rivalry, being only 4 or so hrs drive between
the 2 towns. Ergo, massive numbers of Crusader fans were descending on
Dunedin like the plague; at one stop we saw about 16 guys pour out of a
budget rental van, all wearing the red and black jerseys of the
Crusaders. Meanwhile, at Timaru, a lone bagpiper, wearing the blue and
yellow of the Highlanders, wailed into the light rain providing a reason
to cheer for some and jeer for others. Had to stop and get a photo of
him, it's not everyday you see a bagpiper just hanging out beside the
road... Arrival in Christchurch was somewhat stressful, as the place is
packed. There's some sort of big horse races going on, as well as several
other events, so the ratio of vacancy to no vacancy signs was not
terribly favorable to the itinerant traveller. We did get it all sorted
in the end, but paid more than we'd have liked for less room than we'd
normally get. Supply and demand.

http://www.hintz.org/photos/public/3-30

https://www.hintz.org/photos/private/3-30-people/

Regards,

Ed Hintz
ed@hintz.org