Otago Peninsular NZ.

Last day in Portobello we went to the remote other side of the peninsular via dirt track roads, very dusty and a lot of the time far to close to the inlet water for comfort with it laping on the roads as you drove, we never saw a soul…………..bumpy gritty surface made it a noisy ride……poor car……

We had a picnic on board and was aiming for a remote cove where they say you can see the yellow eyed penguins……we got as far as we could and then had to walk the paths to the cove…..the path became thin and covered either side with tall yellow wonderfully smelly Lupins!...



As we got closer to the cove you could hear the rollers crashing on the sand and smell the spray, we turned a corner and there was a huge sea lions spread across the path…..


Hmm daren’t go past him or any closer, clever boy had tucked himself out of the wind to have his well deserved rest so that scuppered the picnic on remote beach watching the waves crash in.











Next day Friday left and drove up the east coast. First stop was at Omaoru, which is more English than England!


A town that found itself wealth in the late 1800’s and so with a quarry of limestone nearby built grand Victorian buildings with striking pillars,to line their high street, consequently it looks like one of London’s wealthy city streets.

Another place I had my tea served yet again in bone china tea cup and saucer. Think I may start that up at home ive no doubt got plenty!


We stopped there though to see the little Blue Penguin colony….. awe ! so sweet, some were in nesting boxes with their fluffy grey or mink coloured young at the colony, its hit and miss whether you can see them and the colony is strictly protected.
Ha ha, for the first time in my life I realised I may be seen as an old person !! Because the young German lady on duty asked if I was able to go down on my knees and belly……of course I said !!!! We lay on our bellies to see two sweet adult penguins who had decided to rest under the platform wooden walkway and were far too busy cleaning themselves to notice us. Its did smell a lot, really smelly,and she did say they often have phone calls from town where penguins have set up
home in someones garden and the first thing they know its there is by the smell.
Apparently they are quite often found wandering around the town, anyway ,was as the Aussies say “Bonza” to see be able to see them………




This town had a quaint railway station .

Also a quirky punk museum.



We were booked in to stay at Timarau on the coast about 2
hours south of Christchurch……….this< br> town had all its xmas decorations up strewn across the high street…..hmm makes
me think top priority is getting a tree when I get home!.


Our final full day Saturday 24th we got up and drove to Christchurch.

First we went into the city at Christchurch, to view how it was faring after over 2 years
since their awful earthquake.
Goodness knows what it was like when it happened, as even now it appears somewhat like there has been a war, Beirut comes to mind. There are still a lot of buildings in a falling down state and some being propped up and some no longer there at all. The city centre is cordoned off but
you can drive around the builders wire fences . We decided we would drive out to what we saw on the map as New Brighton, as it was Christchurch by the sea, thinking wed spend an hour on the beach……….. well clearly , hit badly by the earthquake, the roads were all up and down, or sunken, driving you could see where the earth had thrust them up, bridges had been made safe but you could see they weren’t their normal shapes, lampposts poised at an angle ,we drove through streets and streets with houses boarded as unsafe, house after house on the way to
Brighton…at the time it happened pipes broke and effluent filled the streets and homes, so everywhere you see road works and the underlying pipework being
replaced, all these families lives uprooted. It looks such a mammoth task ahead .New Brighton apart from whats happened seemed a bit tired and messy,didn’t likeit and we didn’t linger.

We tucked in at a motel close to the airport. Readyfor Team Bogans last lap