After looking at last post I realized I had some duplicate photos. Oh well, you just can't get enough of the New Zealand scenery!
We spent a few more days in the Queenstown area. The day we wanted to golf there was the Ladies League at the Arrowtown Golf Course so not possible unless we wanted to start at 8:30 am. Nope...
We drove up to Glenorchy and did a nice little hike around Moke Lake on our way back to Queenstown. Another day we drove over to a Winery & Cheesery. It's occurred to me that nearly anything that ends in e-r-y is a good thing.😜
We bought some cheese and then drove over to where whackos were jumping off a bridge aka bungee jumping, and paying big bucks to do so. Takes about 1 minute and 15 seconds from jump time to being retrieved into the boat on the river below. $95 NZD! To each their own.
We were invited over to our hosts, Roger & Jane Brough, for happy hour along with their return guests/friends, Rob & Moe from Scotland. A fun get together with lovely snacks and great wine.
Again, such wonderful Kiwi hospitality!
We then started our trek across the island to the East coast and on to Dunedin. The scenery did not fail to interest us and our GPS had decided to continue to skirt us around towns so we saw some areas we would not have seen going via the main highway.
Our next Airbnb was just outside Dunedin at a small farm. Parking was right next to the road which turned out to be quite busy with a hill in either direction. Getting out was a bit tricky and John figured out how to drive in and back into the little garage so we could nose out to get onto the road.
I have to give big kudos to John and his driving skills this whole trip, especially with me occasionally freaking about directions and sides of the road to be on. He just calmly does what's needed to keep our grand NZ road trip great.
The little cottage was a nice size and the bed comfy. It was a quick jaunt into Dunedin.
Just up the road was Tunnel Beach. A crazy steep walk down a path brought you down to huge cliffs and at the base was a beach. The tide was in so we only went about 3/4 way down to get the view. There was also a scenic surprise behind our cottage. If you walked up the grassy pasture hill directly behind it to the top there was the amazing view of cliff and the Pacific Ocean.
Windy as all heck there though. The fact that the farmer had a wind turbine was a clue there.
Dunedin is a lovely old city built amongst the hills. It is referred to as the Edinburgh of New Zealand.
We had decided to check out the Farmers Market the next morning which was a Saturday. It was very good and had lots of fresh produce and other goodies. We purchased some nice fish for supper and I found a bottle of locally made honey/ginger moonshine. The woman selling it was Canadian. She met and married her Kiwi husband and has been living there 13 years.
We wanted to see the Octagon, the centre of the downtown area. It was a short walk from where the market was. As we neared we could see quite a few people in kilts, some with drums and some with bagpipes. We asked a woman what was going on and she said there was a drumming competition, mostly young drummers, who were accompanied by a piper and a judge marking them. She also told us that 5 local pipe and drum bands were there competing also. We got a schedule of events and then went to check out a couple of grand old churches in the area.
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| The original bungy place. |
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| Sign up for bungy or several other activities..... |
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| "The" bridge |
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| Another one takes the jump. |
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| Dangling above the river. Sure is a pretty colour! |
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| The rescue boat. Not sure if it's blurry because I was shaking at the thought of this activity... |
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| Lake Wakapitu on the way to Glenorchy, the small town at the north tip of this arm of the lake. |
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| Lake Wakapitu and mountains on a bluebird day. |
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| The steamboat on Lake Wakapitu |
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| A bit of Queenstown |
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| A fire was here previously |
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| Moke lake |
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On the way to Moke lake.
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| Along the way to Dunedin across Otago province. |
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| A pony jumping competition seen along one of our GPS's reroutings.... |
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| GPS took us on a dam detour...... |
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| The start of the path down to Tunnel Beach |
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| Aha! That's why it's called Tunnel Beach |
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| When the tide is out you can walk through the tunnel |
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| A one blade wind turbine on the hill behind the farmhouse and the cottage |
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| Up on top of the hill behind the cottage. A nice bench to just sit and look at the splendid scene. |
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| Just beyond the fence is...... |
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| ........a bit of a drop |
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| The Pacific Ocean |
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| Another view from on top of the hill |
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| and another. |
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| Looking back down the hill to the cottage |
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| The pastoral scene before sunset |
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| In front of the train station |
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| One of the first sights spotted in downtown Dunedin |
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| Walking up to the train station where the market is held every Saturday |
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| The front door to the station |
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| Shoppers at the market |
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| Some wares at the market |
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| Needed this for my cough..... |
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| The Anglican Cathedral |
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| A few stairs, stairway to heaven? |
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| One of the beautiful stained glass panels |
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| The first church built in Dunedin, Presbyterian. Robbie Burns' nephew was the first Pastor. |
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| All beautiful wood |
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| Burns Hall |
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| Warming up |
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| Another competitor |
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| A statue of Robbie Burns and the Municipal Chambers building |
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| A refreshment whilst taking in the bands |
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| They marched and played right past us |
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| The juniors getting ready for their competition |
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| Wisdom found on the sidewalk |
