Category Archives: Uncategorized

Big Travel Day

Leave a reply

We have a big travel day today and have to get up at the ungodly hour of 0430.  We leave Christchurch before 0500 barely awake.  Not too excited to be driving in the pitch black with low flying clouds and fog all around.  It makes for slow going. 

The drive is about 4.5 hours on a two lane windy road along the coast and up and over the mountains.  The beautiful moon is still out but the moving car makes it difficult to get a good clear shot of her.  I guess if you have to travel so early it is a blessing to be rewarded with the moon and sun rise.

Two hours into our journey the sun starts to come up.  What a beautiful site to see after traveling in the darkness.

I have yet to post photos of us in the car – probably because it is not too exciting, but here we are.

Lucky for us, we arrive with 20 minutes to spare.  We had to be at the ferry dock before 1000 which is the last time vehicles can check in and we arrived at 0940.

Picton Ferry Dock

We get in the que (NZders love their ques), get our pass and pull into the loading lines.  By 1000 we were slowly moving to our ship to board.  Somehow they load all the trailers, trains, campervans, cars, motorcycles, and passengers early.  Our boat the Aratere leaves 10 minutes early.

We are very lucky that our ship left today.  We had several friends booked on the Kaiarahi and their ferry transports were cancelled.  They each received an email stating their ride was cancelled and nothing else.  Evidently, the ship broke down and is out of service for a week!  We are so blessed!

Wellington

We arrive into Wellington just in time to check in to our hotel West Plaza Wellington.  After we drop off the car we walk down to the city center and hop on the cable car.  

The cable car celebrated 121 years this year.  It is 785 meters long and rises 199m up.  It goes through three tunnels and 4 viaducts.  The two cable cars are powered by a steam engine which powers a winding gear that drives a continuous wire rope / haulage cable.  This operates one line or track which can haul two cars in either direction.

Two of the three tunnels are lit up in a colorful design.  They can even custom design the light show for special occasions.

The 2023 cable car (top left) and the track (top right)

The top photo is the original winding house for the cable car system which operated this line from 1902 to 1978.  The cable car on the lower left is car #1 and the one on the right is cable car #3.  Both original, both restored to their former beauty.

Cool experience and interesting museum to explore.  It was a long travel day to get to Wellington, but worth the drive in the end.

  • Kilometers Traveled: by car: 361km by boat 67km
  • Hotel: West Plaza Hotel Wellington
  • Total travel time:  9 hours
  • Kilometers walked: 5.2km

Events from this blog post occurred in mid-March.  Because we have so many interesting and thrilling things to share with you, we created more blogs.  Our blog posts run 10-12 weeks behind live events.  We explore Christchurch and learn about the massive earthquake that destroyed 85% of the city in our last blog post.

Christchurch: Rebuilding Beauty

Leave a reply

We left Oamaru early in the morning and drove 3hrs and 15 minutes to Christchurch. This is a beautiful town and it is a shame that we did not have more time to spend here.

We headed straight for the punting down the Avon river and to my dismay they were completely sold out for the day (it was a Saturday).  So, we decided to take the tram around Christchurch to see the city.  The tram sells all day passes so you can hop on and off as you please.

Funny little trams that give commentary along the way. Not sure if the ad is a relic and up for fun or if they really do need conductors 🙂

Quake City

The first stop we make is to Quake City where they go over the mass destruction Christchurch incurred during the two earthquakes in 2010 and 2011.  In September 2010 they had  a 7.1 quake and just a few months later in February 2011 they had a 6.3 quake.  Over 85% of Christchurch was destroyed including infrastructure, businesses, homes, vehicles, transportation, and loss of life.

Twelve years later they are still rebuilding some of their most historic and iconic buildings, churches, and structures.  The museum, Quake City showed before and after photos and shared a great amount of information about how they are changing their buildings to sustain future earthquakes.

We continued to walk around Christchurch and found several monuments, parks, statues, art pieces and more.

We only had one short afternoon to explore Christchurch so this will be a place we come back to next time.

  • Kilometers traveled: 271
  • Hotel: Ibis Hotel’
  • Time traveled: 3.15hr
  • Kilometers walked: 7.6km

Events from this blog post occurred in early March,  Our blog posts run 10-12 weeks behind actual live events.  In our last blog post we meet the beautiful blue penguins, fur seals, and the Steampunk HQ.

Blue Penguins, Fur Seals & Steampunk HQ

Leave a reply

New Zealand has 3 types of penguins and I had my heart set on meeting the beautiful blue penguins.  These penguins are the smallest penguins in the world and they can primarily be found in Otago Peninsula and Oamaru.  So, we leave Dunedin and head to Otago Peninsula to try to see them.

We learned that the best time to see them is before 0900 when they leave to go fishing or between 1900-2100 when they return from fishing.  So, we left early to try to catch them in the morning.  We arrived to the facility around 0800 and to our surprise the gates to the viewing platform were locked.  Well shoot!  We did manage to get some beautiful sunrise photos.

And we spotted some fur seals pretty far away.  The blue arrow is pointing to their spot which you can see in the lower right photo (zoomed in).

The penguins should have been on this beach….but we could not see them from such a far distance.  The lower right photo shows the blue penguin that we were searching for on the beach.

On the way to Otago Peninsula or Pilot’s Beach we found a penguin crossing sign.

Moeraki Boulders

We left Otago Peninsula and headed toward the Moeraki Boulders.  These are large spherical stones resting on the beach that have been exposed through the shoreline erosion.  There are other boulders remaining in the mudstone that will, eventually, fall to the beach to join the others.

These boulders are magnificent in their color, shape, and size.  Each one is unique and beautiful.  Several boulders weigh tons and the largest ones are over 2 meters wide!

We found one in the mudstone just itching to come out so we tried to put it back in.

We get back on the road and make our way to Oamaru.  This town is most famous for its blue penguin colony and its limestone architecture.   But, we also find a hidden gem inside the Steampunk HQ.

Steampunk HQ

I am not really sure how to describe this incredibly unique and novel museum called Steampunk HQ.  Perhaps you have heard of Steampunk before, but this is all new to me.  Steampunk is Industrial revolution meets Victorian era collection.  It is a place for all things quirky, weird, unusual, and just plain strange.  You are encouraged to touch everything, sit in cars, pull strings, push buttons and yank cords.

Matt had a grand time playing this old organ that shot out the strangest noises and melodies.

We each goofed around with lots of bits and pieces.

They had this super cool room that lit up all around you.

Even the outer parts of the building had strange things attached to them…check out the fisherman on the roof.

Limestone Architecture

Oamaru is known for its legacy limestone buildings which are relics of embarrassing wealth long since gone.

And unusual sculptures

Blue Penguins

The blue penguins took over an abandoned quarry in 1970. In 1992 the local community decided to build a sanctuary around their habitat.  Currently there are 249 breeding pairs that reside in this area.

These little guys swim 75km each day at an average speed of 4-6km per hour.  They will dive up 70 meters around 1500 times per day!  They can hold their breath for about 2 minutes. 

These are pictures of pictures as we were not allowed to get that close or to photograph the penguins.

The sanctuary built little houses for the breeding pairs so that they have somewhere warm to go once they return from fishing.  Each breeding pair returns to their particular home.  A few times we could see a juvenile or a molting adult inside, but the photos just don’t come out well.

The have a viewing room where they set up little portals to spy inside the little homes.  They keep a red light on so as not to startle the penguins, but at least we could see them up close and personal.

Penguins have waterproof feathers that keep them warm while they are swimming.  But once a year, they will molt and shed the old feathers and grow new ones.  During this 18 day period they stay inside their home.  These are also a rare breed of penguins in that they can hatch eggs twice in a season.  The parents will incubate the eggs for 35 days, then raise them for 8 weeks and then set them to the sea.  The juveniles will stay at sea for a full year before returning home.  Unfortunately, only about 35% will return.

The little blue penguin is just below Matt’s knee.

As we round the sanctuary we come across a fur seal colony.

These two were very playful.

Scott’s Brewery

We stop off at Scott’s Brewery (Wayne’s last name is “Scott” so he was particularly excited to stop here).  Read the back of the shirt as it is super funny.

Saw these in a gift shop by the Penguin Sanctuary at Otago Peninsula….just made me laugh.

We were not able to get really good photos of these beautiful little penguins, but I sure did love seeing them.

  • Kilometers traveled:  179km
  • Hotel: Brydone Hotel
  • Time Traveled: 3 hours
  • Kilometers walked: 7.7km

Events from this blog occurred in early March.  Our blog posts run 10-12 weeks behind live events.   We visit the large bustling town of Dunedin in our last blog.