NZ Road Trip Part 1- Christchurch to Dunedin

We left Christchurch a few days ago and (after a quick NZ driving refresher...) hit the road heading south . New Zealand has this incredible system of Travellers' Information Centres (i-Sites) staffed with people who will do just about anything to help you travel around. We wandered into the i-Site in Ashburton for some quick info and came out with: driving directions, maps, accomodation for the next 2 days (booked and pre-paid), and suggestions for side-trip activities en route and at our destination. We arrived at Lake Tekapo for the first night to a hostel right on the edge of the lake. Tekapo is apparently the largest observatory in the southern hemisphere and a "sky conservation area" (?- no light pollution tolerated in town to allow clear star-gazing). The night was a bit overcast, so we settled on watching the sun set over the lakeside mountains instead. That, and it still wasn't dark enough by 10:30pm to see many stars....

Next morning was clear skies and we headed to Aoraki/Mount Cook- home to the highest peak on the southern continent. The drive was...spectacular. From farm plains with herds of sheep strewn all around the countryside to lakes, foothills and then into the mountains. With a perfectly clear blue sky, we were able to see Mt Cook for about 2 hours of our approach around the turquoise Lake Pukaki and into Mt Cook village. Which happens to sit at the foot of the mountain! In the clear blue and sunny day, we couldn't resist a hike out to the Hooker Glacier which puts you right in the thick of the whole mountain range- it was a incredible view the whole way. The sky stayed clear throughout the evening so we got up in the night to look at the stars and it was so worth leaving a warm bed (even if it did take some convincing). The night sky looks completely different down here and we could see zillions of stars.

The next day we drove out of the mountains, past more hills and sheep, roadside lupins, and hills and sheep and hills and sheep towards the east coast down to Dunedin. Stops en route included a few merino wool shops (we have yet to successfully bypass a single NZ merino wool shop...), cheese samples at Whitehouse Cheese, a walk along the beach to see the very bizzare Moereki boulders which look like they've been washed ashore from some ancient alien lifeform...(but are in fact slowly emerging from the eroding coastal sandcliffs...equally wierd) and multiple 300+ metre altitude changes along the adrenaline-pumping drive into the city of Dunedin.

We spent the whole next day exploring Dunedin, which must be the STEEPEST town on the planet. After leaving a dent in a few more Merino shops, a picnic in the gardens of the historic railway station, a stop at the Cadbury factory's gift shop, we drove out to the Otago Penninsula for the evening. If the drive into Dunedin was steep, it paled in comparison to the white-knuckle Highcliffe road on the penninsula- creeping along sheer cliffs, blind turns every other curve, car engine roaring with the steep pitches (poor Edna). We took a breather at a high cliff beach in hopes of spotting some yellow-eyed penguins (no luck) and later at the Albatross Conservatory at the end of the penninsula (if the birds overhead didn't clue you in, the stink sure did...). Not sure if we actually saw any albatross, but there were tonnes of other cool birds, sealions and at least a zillions seagulls. How we managed to make it back to the car without getting poo-bombed is a miracle.

Next we're on to Queenstown and Wanaka for a few days of hiking. After surviving the drives around Dunedin, we're both now confident and well-seasoned enough to negotiate whatever other crazy roads New Zealand can throw our way :) Here's hoping....