New Zealand: Dunedin to Christchurch

Weather in Dunedin on Tuesday morning was still very unsummery.  It was in the upper 40's (around 9 Celsius) and it still could not make up its mind if it wanted to be sunny or cloudy.  Perhaps the weather was just putting us in the right frame of mind to look at Scottish architecture.  

Cathedral Church of St. Paul

Dunedin Railway Station

Railway Station front view

We drove from our hotel in Dunedin City to the Larnach Castle, New Zealand's only castle, located on a peninsula a little outside of town.  The castle was built by an Australian banker of Scottish descent.  He relocated to New Zealand in 1867 and built Larnach Castle between the years of 1871 to 1887.  We spent the morning touring the magnificent castle and gardens.  

Views driving towards Larnach Castle

The land and harbor of Dunedin are the remnants of a dormant volcano.  It makes for some interesting landscapes.

Larnach Castle

Larnach Castle with the attached buildings

Stunning view of the harbor from the top of the castle

The inside of the castle was very ornate.  Unfortunately, it was hard to take many good pictures inside because it was rather dark.  The gardens were another matter.  The gardens of Larnach Castle have earned the distinction of being a Garden of International Significance from New Zealand Gardens Trust.  It would be hard to take bad photos of these gorgeous gardens.   

The gardens at the front entrance

The gardens overlooking the harbor

The kids in front of the entrance to the dungeon

Sitting in the Chair of Hearts

We continued our journey north in the afternoon.  We stopped to view the Moeraki Boulders at Koekohe Beach, about an hour north of Dunedin.  They are unusually large boulders that are spherical in shape (except where they have cracked open).  They are a natural phenomenon from the cementation of Paleocene mudstone and are now being exhumed by coastal erosion.  Local Maori, the indigenous Polynesian people of New Zealand, say the boulders were the remains of eel baskets, gourds, and sweet potatoes washed ashore the the wreck of a large canoe.  The kids had fun walking amongst them and taking some photos.  It was especially nice because the sun finally started to come out and warm us up.  

The pin is the Moeraki Boulders

Moeraki Boulders

Carter looks like he was doing yoga on the boulder.

Aubrey had fun doing her own poses.

Impressive views, even without the boulders in the photo

We headed straight to Christchurch after this stop and checked into our hotel around 6:00 pm.  We decided to go see Christchurch as soon as we checked in that evening because we would not have time to see it in the morning.  I had heard there was still a lot of damage in Christchurch from the earthquake that happened in February 2011.  It was really saddening to see it though.  After all, the earthquake had been almost 3 years prior and there were still buildings barely standing and huge piles of rubbish everywhere.  Parts of the city center were just blocked off.  There were walls of many buildings held up by stacked semi-trailers.  It was a heartbreaking sight.

Downtown Christchurch

The road that is blocked off that says "no exit" would have been a through street in the city center.

The sign by these chairs says "St. Paul's Trinity Pacific Presbyterian Church"

So, so sad.....

The mood in the van was very gloomy until we caught sight of a Denny's restaurant very close to the city center.  It has been years since I have been in a Denny's.  It is probably not a place we would have thought about eating at if we were in the US.  It is amazing sometimes what excites you when you have been living outside of the country for awhile.  American breakfast food for dinner definitely hit the spot that night.

Cardboard cutouts are always fun.

We drove towards the coast in Christchurch after dinner.  We continued to see signs of the earthquake wreckage all the way to the beach in New Brighton.

After we walked around the beach a little bit, we drove back to the hotel and called it a night.  We were going to have an early start the next day, so we needed to rest up.....   

New Zealand: Queenstown to Dunedin

We woke up in Queenstown on Monday morning.  Queenstown is known as being the "Adventure Capital of New Zealand".  In fact, bungee jumping was invented here.  The mountains around the city make it a popular skiing location in winter months (June, July, and August).  It is also famous for the Lord of the Rings trilogy being filmed in, and around, the city.

We drove around the area and tried to absorb the beauty all around us.  It is the kind of beauty that cannot be described, only experienced.  I have seen some gorgeous places in our travels over the past 2 years, and Queenstown is definitely in the top 5.  The deep turquoise of the lake water with the mountains as a backdrop.  Wow.  Just wow.

Carter was feeling a little silly during our family photo shoot.

TSS Earnslaw taking tourists across Lake Wakatipu

I thought these 2 photos were interesting to show how the lighting changed as the low lying clouds moved across the sky.  This was such a peaceful spot.  I could have sat and watched the clouds all day.

    This sign was located where we were taking the photos.  We thought it was pretty comical (and truthful!).

It was at this point I regretted only planning one night in Queenstown.  When I think of paradise, I often think of a tropical location.  Queenstown is certainly not tropical, but is a type of paradise.  If only I could be magically transported back here whenever I need a break from real life.  I suppose that is why we take pictures.....

We couldn't spend too long in Queenstown that morning, we had a big day of driving ahead of us.   We had a schedule to keep and the road was calling us.  Off we drove towards the southern coast of New Zealand.    

Alternate the hay bales with sheep and cows, and is what most of the scenery looked like on the drive south from Queenstown.  

It took a little over 2 hours to drive from Queenstown to Invercargill where we ate lunch at Devil Burger, a New Zealand restaurant with locations both in Queenstown and Invercargill.  The restaurant uses New Zealand Prime beef in their burgers and it was very delicious.  

After lunch, we drove the last 25 minutes to Bluff.  It the southernmost town in New Zealand, excluding Oban (a town with the population of around 400 on Steward Island).  It was super windy and spitting rain when we got there.  It was actually pretty miserable to be standing out in the elements.

Lighthouse at Bluff

I was being blown away!

It was a very rocky coastline.

The kids posing in front of the lighthouse.  

Lighthouse on Dog Island (a very small island just off the shore)

We followed street signs up to a lookout over the peninsula of Bluff.  I am sure it is an even more amazing view on clear day.

We jumped back into the van after taking the photos and headed northwards towards Dunedin, which would be another 3 hours of driving.  Luckily, both kids fell asleep and we all just zoned out.  The scenery was probably the least interesting of the trip and the weather remained rather dodgy.  It would go back and forth between cloudy and rainy to blue sky with big fluffy clouds.  

We had a nice surprise on this day.  We lost all radio stations traveling through the New Zealand countryside, so I attempted to turn the radio off by switching the source to CD.  All of a sudden the song by Katy Perry "Roar" started playing.  Go Rentals had made a mix CD of popular music and left it in the van's CD player for such moments.  It made me appreciate the sketchy car rental company a little bit.  Of course, some of that warmness waned after we listened to the CD all the way through several times in a row.  If you are not a teenager, there is a limit on how many times in a row you can listen to most pop songs.  But, I still think it was a considerate deed of the rental company.


We got into Dunedin about 6:30 pm.  Dunedin was originally a Scottish settlement and a lot of its architecture reflects that.  It was the largest city in New Zealand until around 1900.  It is now a university town.  It is home to both University of Otago and Otago Polytechnic, and students make up over 20% of the population.  We checked into our hotel, the Scenic Hotel in Dunedin City.  After traveling in a car all day, it is nice to stay within walking distance of the city center.   We walked to dinner at Craft Bar by the Octagon in the middle of town.  We had a yummy meal and tried some specialty New Zealand beers. 
  

View from our hotel room

On the walk back from dinner, everyone else wanted to stop by a store except for me.  However, when I got back to the hotel, I realized I was locked out of the hotel room.  I took the opportunity to spend a little alone time that evening warming up from the chilly day by the fire in the hotel bar sipping a local cider from Speight's Brewery.  Sometimes traveling can be so rough.......