It’s a sunny but not too warm day here in Dunedin and we’re off exploring to Otago peninsular, so expect a few updates and pictures during the day – and (if we’re lucky) some penguin pictures…

14:17.

After visiting Port Chalmers, we’ve just walked up Baldwin St, which has the distinction of being the world’s steepest residential street.

At it’s steepest it’s 1 in 2.87!

Now we’re having a quick drink at the railway station before heading out to the Otago peninsula.

08:55

We’re on the move again today, this time heading across to the East Coast and the three and a half hour drive to Dunedin, where we’ll be based for three nights, giving us chance to explore the area and also to travel on the Taieri Gorge railway. As usual on this trip, we’d liked to have stayed longer where we are, but we always knew this was going to be a bit of a whirlwind tour! The good news is that yesterday’s rain has cleared, so we’ve been greeted by a beautiful sunny morning.

Here’s our nippy little hire care and AirBnB these past two nights.

Well, we didn’t get far. We were passing the national toy and transport museum and couldn’t resist. My God, it’s an Aladdin’s cave of memories like this!

15:12.

We’ve stopped for a break at a place called Milton, back on our old friend highway 1. The road from Wanaka’s been really interesting. There’s a collection of quaint ‘One horse’ towns (mostly boasting Scottish names). The area’s also the fruit bowl of Otago. I’ve lost count of the number of fruit farms we’ve passed. The road’s been incredibly winding and very busy. Dawn says it’s also had the worst standard of driving too! She’s been complaining about the sheer number of driver’s tailgating her. Another thing we’ve noticed is the amount of classic cars we’ve seen, like these two specimens.

17:00.

Made it! I never realised just how hilly Dunedin is. Here’s the view from our AirBnB..

22:04.

We’ve spent the last of the afternoon/evening exploring Dunedin, which seems like a really interesting city. I love some of the architecture here – especially the railway station.

I’ll blog more about Dunedin tomorrow, when we’ve had chance to explore some more…

08:30

We’ve lucked out with the weather again. After an entertaining morning having breakfast at the backpackers and people-watching (more of which later) we’re packing the car in the rain.

Low cloud surrounds the mountains at the moment and the forecast isn’t great – so we’re just going to have to play it by ear today. Our plan was to walk to the base of the glacier (well, as close to the base as you’re allowed nowadays) before heading off towards Fox glacier and some of the lakes. We’ll have to see..

Here’s how the glacier looked yesterday…

11:56

Our luck held! The shower passed so by the time we got out to walk to the base of the glacier the clouds had cleared and the glacier was bathed in sunshine. As we walked up the path to get to the base if the glacier I was shocked by how much it had retreated since I heli-hiked on it in 1999. Here’s a rather sobering example. This selfie with the glacier in the background? In 1999 we’d have been buried at least 50m BELOW the glacier that you can now see high up the mountain behind us.

Here’s another view from yesterday. On my last visit the glacier extended as far as the rubble wall across the bottom of the valley.

Here’s how it looked on my last visit in February, 1999. To give you an impression of scale, you can see a group of people stood on the glacier on the top right of this picture.

So, next time some idiot tells you that Man-made climate change is a fiction and the earth’s cooling really, kick ’em where it hurts. This is the reality of what we’re doing to our planet…

09:00

We’re on the move again today after two lovely nights staying up in the hills near Mt Lydon at this gorgeous Airbnb owned by Stephanie, who’s shared this wonderful space with us.

Now we’re beginning the trip down to Christchurch, stopping off on the way, so expect some blogging and pictures later…

11:50

We’re talking a break in Cheviot, a small town on highway one after driving across some pretty rugged countryside to get here. There’s not much here apart from a few shops and cafe’s – although it does have a library and school. The place seems to make it’s living as a pit stop for travellers heading to/from Christchurch.

21:55

We’re now hunkered down in our new Airbnb in Christchurch, where we’ll be staying for the next couple of nights. It’s comfortable (and suburban, only 20 mins walk from the city centre) but it’s certainly not as amazing as where we’ve just come from. That said, Christchurch itself is a bit of an eye-opener. I’ve never ever been to a city where 80% of the city centre has been flattened by earthquakes before. I was here 20 years ago but there’s nothing I recognise apart from the shattered remains of the cathedral. Oh – and the trams. It’s a very sobering experience, looking around at all the new buildings, the few old ones that have been rebuilt, and others that are awaiting their turn. Then there’s all the open spaces that used to be buildings but are now parks – or car parks. Christchurch was hit twice, in September 2010 and again in February 2011, the latter earthquake killed a total of 185 people, which seems miraculous when you consider the scenes of destruction.

Tram 1888 passes all the new buildings on Oxford Terrace, with the Avon river to the right. 

The driver of tram 178 changes the points behind him as the vehicle prepares to head for the tramshed at the end of the day. The tramway runs through the ‘Cathedral Junction’ shopping centre.

The remains of Christchurch cathedral, with the base of the spire in the foreground.

The weather’s picked up here in Wellington and the heavy cloud we had yesterday has deferred to its fluffier, more broken cousins. Today’s going to be rather sociable as 10 of us are meeting up for a meal this evening. We’ve a couple of friends from the UK (Merv and Alexa) who’re travelling in the opposite direction to us (South Island to North) and they pitch up in Wellington this afternoon, along with Alexa’s daughter. Meanwhile, another old friend of Dawn’s is coming along with her family, so we’re going to be mob handed for our last night in Wellington as tomorrow we catch the ferry to Picton on to the South Island.

12:36.

We’ve spent a fascinating hour or so in the Te Anu museum, learning about how the Maori spread across the Pacific and made their way to New Zealand all those centuries ago. Talk about prodigious feats of navigation!

Now we’re soaking up the sun and enjoying a spot of calmari for lunch on the harbour front.

As expected yesterday turned into a very convivial day. Here’s the group at the end of it.