Oamaru

We stopped at this unique harbour town on the way back to Christchurch.  It has masses of impressive Victorian and Edwardian architecture built in creamy local limestone.  There are lots of art and crafty type stores and a lot of people dressing up in historical costumes.  

Oamaru is a harbour town on the Pacific Ocean.

Bikes are everywhere.

A decorated car.

Warehouses at the harbour.

A carriage.

Another bike.

  

A penny farthing.

Impressive buildings.

The Town Hall

A bank.

This guy is having fun!


After visiting Oamaru we went on for another night in Christchurch and flew home the next day.

Dunedin

View our apartment.

Walking up Baldwin St, the world's steepest street. 

The Otago Peninsula.

The happy Hens, a great place for souvenirs.   

Royal Albatross Centre.

New Zealand flora

Over looking a beach with a frolicking seal.

Here he is!

Day 5, Last day on the trail  

The last day dawned brightly, but  after a couple of hours it started pouring rain.  By the time we reached our final destination, Middlemarch, we were drenched and freezing.  We joined fellow cyclists at a cafe with a welcoming fire and tried to dry off.

First bridge of the day.

Hooray! Middlemarch, end of the trail.

From Middlemarch we took the Taieri Gorge Railway, in heritage carriages, to Dunedin.

One of the many bridges the train goes over.

The train stopping over at Arthur's Knob for a while.

The Gorge is quite spectacular.

Outside the Dunedin Railway Station.

Day three and four on the track
Day 3 on the track started out rainy. First up we visited the Hayes engineering works. - lots of old machinery driven by an overhead belt system. Hayes himself came out with his family from Scotland around the 1860’s and was a bit of a well known NZ inventor. The works were abandoned as is years ago and were recently set up as a museum which includes a lovely old house. By the time we finished, the rain had stopped and we headed off on the trail.

Around lunchtime we reached the highest point and so it was all downhill from there - not counting more ups and downs. Even on the downs we usually had to pedal to make headway in the gravel.



That night we stayed in Ranfurly - the art deco capital of NZ.

Day 4 was gloriously sunny again and we rode alongside a rugged wooded gorge with a river in the bottom.






















That night was spent at Hyde in an old country pub converted to a B&B. Food was terrific and it was fun to catch up with some of the people we had met on the trail.

First day of the Rail Trail ride from Clyde to Middlemarsh

On Tuesday we caught the bus to the quaint old mining town of Clyde, the start of our biking adventure. We stayed in the old postmaster’s house built in 1860 and beautifully restored. The next day was sunny and we started the bike track.


The first day we did 44km. It was quite hard work as we were bumping along gravel and after about 12 km it started to rise steadily.




Fortunately the steepest grade is only 1 in 50, as this was all the steam trains could deal with. The first night we stayed in the small town of Omakau. Next day was more of the same and we ended up at a tiny town called Oturehua.


This day saw us going through two long dark tunnels - torches required - and a spectacularly high bridge over the Poolburn Gorge.


The scenery both days has been spectacular and quite varied. There are little bridges to cross all the time, shelter sheds and wherever there was a station, we stop to stamp our passports. We eat at the local pubs and the food is terrific, as is the accommodation. We have come across a lot of quirky NZ country characters too.

Queenstown

Mount Cook.

We drove to Queenstown via Mt Cook. The weather was glorious and the scenery was stunning. At the base of Mt Cook we took a walk past the Blue Lakes to see Tasman glacier. It was very grubby with a lake forming at the end, complete with icebergs that break off the front of the glacier.

Ice berg.

View of lake Wakatipu from our hotel room in Queenstown.

At Queenstown our hotel was quite close to the main centre and our room had beautiful views across the lake. We thought the area was lovely. The weather was mild and we were able to eat out each evening.


We visited the quaint and pretty Arrowtown. It has a twee main street to trap all the tourists. However there is an interesting Chinese section that deals with the Chinese gold diggers and a great loop ride by the river to help our training. On the way back we had a good look at the bungy jumpers.

The next day dropped off our car and continued to explore Queenstown, including a long ride around part of Lake Wakatipu - very beautiful.

                                       

                                             Queenstown.

View of Lake Tekapo from our room.

Lake Tekapo

On Thursday morning we started out in the rain to Lake Tekapo. By the time we arrived the sun was shining and the lake was a beautiful aqua colour. The colour is due to rock dust suspended in the water. The next day we went for a 24km bike ride along the river near Twizel.

Although described as a well formed track, it turned out to be mostly loose thick rocks. It was quite flat, but we had to pedal almost continually to make headway. This was after a 11km ride that was classified as moderate but turned out to be quite steep with gravel. Clearly NZ has different standards for classifying rides! Anyway we managed to survive and it was certainly good training for the rail trail. Our hotel for the two nights was Peppers Resort which was lovely and our room had a beautiful view of the lake.

More of Christchurch

What an attractive city!

The Cathedral

Inside the cathedral.

Dancing in cathedral Square.

New Zealand     January 2010

The hop on / hop off tram.

Arrived safely in NewZealand and we are spending the first four days in Christchurch. It is a fine city with many historic buildings. It was set up for free settlers, so started life as a city to impress. Everything is close by and so it can all be done on foot. We bought tickets for the hop on / hop off tram for the fun of the ride, but we walked the same route many times.

We visited the botanical gardens, art gallery and the museum (which our museum could take a few tips from).

The original university has moved to bigger premises out of the city and the beautiful gothic (revival) buildings have become an arts centre. It also houses a theatre and we went to a fabulous production of Anything Goes. On Tuesday we picked up our car and headed off to the Port Hills for a gondola ride up a hill that gives great views over Christchurch, Lytleton Bay and the distant hills. From there we went to the pretty French settlement Akoroa.

View from the gondola ride.

French settlement of Arokoa.

Wednesday we picked up our bikes and rode around the Avon River, which flows in and out around Christchurch, complete with punters and canoes.

Riding around the Avon River.

One of the punts.