A trip dahn sarf innit

Posted on Sunday 13 July 2008 at 12:15 - Post Comment

After what has seemed to be a long period of much work and no play, last week T and I arranged for me to take some time off work and we'd go on a couple of jaunts.

Friday morning came along and we loaded up the car, and by 10am were headed south to see our old friends Andy & Christie.  Another unusal story on a) how we know them and b) how they happen to be in Dunedin.  When I raced bikes, Andy was the mechanic of a fellow team member.  He and his wife lived in the UK, but a few years ago headed off to the US - where she is from.  We caught up with them there on our world trip, and haven't seen them since.  They recently moved to Dunedin for her to continue with her studies in Marine Biology, and so they have immigrated here - furniture, bike and all!

Wierdly, we now probably live the same distance from them here as we did in the UK.  Ain't life a funny thing?!

Back to Friday, and a swift journey saw us arrive in Timaru for a quick lunch at a great thai restaurant on the main strip and that saw us through to the Moeraki boulders.  We stopped here when we went past in 2005, and they remain one of the biggest unique things in our minds of NZ so we figured we'd stop again.

For those who have an imagination, the boulders are actually alien eggs, a la War of the Worlds.  Science however, will have you believe that they are concretions of minerls that have formed over millenia.  Whichever way you look at it - they are bloody strange - these perfectly round rocks just sitting on the beach.  They get eroded out from the mudstone cliff that fonts onto the beach, and apparently there are 1000's still hidden in the earth waiting to be revelaed:

Me showing the alien eggs who's boss:

T doing the same:

And here's one they laid earlier:

See, told you they were wierd!

After that short interlude we did the final stint down to beautiful Dunedin.  Found Andy & Christies place no worries, and promptly headed out to the Speights Ale House right next to the Speights brewery for dinner and drinks. 

We had a great meal, and an even better time catching up - after the whole 'you realise we've not seen each other in over 2 years' thing it was like we'd never been away more than a week or two and we chatted long into the evening:

The next day we went to the Dunedin Saturday morning market which was great.  Ate sausages and pork rolls for breakfast, chatted to a mutton bird seller (somehting for a blog of it's own!) and bought veggies for dinner that evening.  After that we jumped in the car and went on a whistle stop tour of Dunedin.  this included:

The world's steepest street - it was bloody steep:

and to prove it (if a road sign proves it?!):

We then went up to the lookout which gives a view over all of Dunedin and the peninsula:

After a look around, we headed out onto the peninsula proper, going to a beach for a brisk stroll before having lunch and a couple of beers at the local pub.  Here's us at the beach, and some idiot up a tree:

On getting home, we all had a bit of a chill out before Andy and I headed off to wath the Springboks play the All Blacks for their second test.  It was a great, close match and the atmosphere was much better than the match T and I went to here in ChCh to watch England vs the AB's.  Shame the AB's lost, but it was close, and the entertainment value was excellent so no complaints from us.  A few more beers on the way home and we met up with T and Christie on their way back from the film Mamma Mia which they loved.

Which leads to today.  After a leisurely breakfast we went for a wander around the Botanicals before having a cup of coffee and a slice.  The gardens were great and include a lovely aviary section with some amazing birds - even Kea - which I had not seen before, so well worth a visit.  After coffee we said out goodbyes and had a quick photocall:

A great weekend all round, so thanks for that guys.  Got home with no probs and in just 4 and a half short hours.  Plans now include some skiing this coming week, and a bit of rest and relaxation.

For our next weekend we are thinking of either the Milford or Marlborough sounds - sounds good to me!