The Time Machine

Those of you who read H.G.Wells and enjoy science fiction may not have realised there is a Steam Punk museum at Oamaru, and the Otago region is dotted with little Victorian and Edwardian gold-mining towns and fruit-growing areas. In fact, the whole region is like stepping back in time…even the petrol pumps are attended!

 

Dùn Èideann

Dunedin, which is Gaelic for Edinburgh, is our base for the week, and feels just like a mini Edinburgh (from what I remember from my college days), cool breeze from the sea, impressive Victorian buildings and even a Princes Street! The school uniforms are tartan, and there are strains of bagpipe music in the streets…..

 

 

At the Otago Settlers museum, we read about the settlers from Europe and China who travelled here for the whaling, gold mining and farming, many from Scotland of course. For the literary folk, Rose Tremain’s ‘The Colour’ details the gold mining fervour, and an interesting read is Jenny Pattrick’s ‘Catching the Current’ which tells the tale of a Faroese whaler who emigrates to New Zealand and creates ties with the Maori.

Gorge-ous!

We continue our journey into the past by taking a ride on a heritage Edwardian steam train, down the Taieri Gorge, from Dunedin to Pukerangi, sipping our lemonade/ beer as the train negotiates tunnels and viaducts along the spectacular river gorge.

 

Trying to take photos while standing on a moving train was interesting, but got a few to show the general idea!

New Zealand’s  ‘Coolest’ Town

My knowledge of the Victorian seaside town of Oamaru comes from Janet Frame novels, and we had not visited here before. There remain many grand Victorian buildings, reflecting the towns wealth from the local limestone, and it really does feel like we have gone back in time in the heritage area.

I am not sure whether it is ‘cool’ and hip because of the steampunk theme, or because it is ‘cold’ and far south!?

Unguided Tour

Our drive out to the Otago peninsular, much of it on unsealed roads, was a superb day for wildlife spotting with many interesting birds, and even an albatross colony! Lots of New Zealand Falcons flying about, oyster catchers, stilts and spotted shags and cormorants along the water’s edge.

The Orokonui ecosanctuary was a good place to start our tour, and learn about (and see) many of the birds and plants we encountered as we continued on our walks.

 

Along the coast are the famous and weird Moeraki Boulders, which were formed 60 million years ago by a similar process to oyster pearls, then as the cliffs eroded they tumbled down the rock face onto the beach.

Our drive to Queenstown was a sort of tour in itself, and we stocked up on fresh fruit for the week, central Otago apricots and cherries were just at the end of the season, and we were lucky to get some!

This part of the South is also famous for its vineyards, but I think Mike may enlighten us with a few tours from Queenstown…….more on that in the next blog!

I leave you with a quote from Wendell Berry, and I hope a sense of place from sharing what we have seen, some of our memories, and the history of this beautiful area.

“If you don’t know where you are, you don’t know who you are”.

See you later in Queenstown!