Dunedin/Larnach Castle

On tsunami watch

Castle dinner

Stables

Larnach Castle

We drove to Dunedin, from Queenstown, primarily to see Larnach Castle (the only castle in NZ), but also to see Dunedin, which is called the Edinburgh of the South. Once, again, I did not see the similarity. And not until we arrived did we assess that Larnach Castle is not really a castle, nor is it on par with any castle we've ever seen before. It's more of a Manor House of sorts.

We stayed on the castle grounds in the former stables. The rooms are very simple and rustic. We chose to have dinner in the castle, in the formal dining room. We sat at a table with 20 other people from around the globe, and it would have been a fabulous experience if the kids would have cooperated. But, Elle was tired, and as previously stated, Liam is not the best dinner companion at the moment. Justin and I took turns with Liam, and eventually bowed out entirely. Lucky for us, the hosts were extremely gracious and even had dessert delivered to us in the stables.

The next morning we awoke and had breakfast in the stables and learned about the tsunami threat. We walked to cliffs edge to wait and observe and wait some more... for nothing. I guess that's a good thing. We toured the rather small castle and then took off for Dunedin. The clouds/fog rolled in and the air was chilly and heavy, and that's about the last similarity I saw to Edinburgh.

Compared to the rest of New Zealand, Dunedin completely underwhelmed us. In fact, we spent most of the remainder of the day in the hotel room watching TV and surfing the internet. This morning we stayed put as well, so Justin could watch USA/Canada hockey and then we began the long drive to Christchurch, our last stop in NZ.

Two nights here and then we are Australia bound.

All in all, we could have skipped both Larnach and Dunedin. Still, it made for a fun adventure.

Tsunami update

We watched for a long time this morning, and we noticed the water got really, really low, probably much more so than at a normal low tide. But we never noticed a surge. Later, however, the water was back at normal levels. So most likely, at some point, the water surged back in. I have read some reports on high water and tsunami related issues in NZ, but for us, we noticed nothing.

All these earthquakes lately are a bit scary though...

Tsunami!

We picked a great day to move to New Zealand's coast. Last night we stayed at Larnach Castle in Dunedin. At breakfast this morning the server announced that there was an 8.8 earthquake in Chile and a tsunami was racing across the ocean and was set to hit New Zealand's coast in about a half hour. We all gathered around the one TV to watch coverage and some of us stood watch on the cliff to view the sea. So far, nothing, but we are still waiting.

What we didn't do...

We did a lot in Queenstown, but there was so much we did not do. Maybe next time...
-Ziplining
-Helicopter tour, or Heli-fishing, Heli-biking, Heli-whatever you can imagine
-River Rafting
-River Surfing (you are given a body board and helmet and surf down a raging river)
-Lord of the Rings Tours
-Horse Riding
-Tramping/Trekking/Hiking (sure we did a few minor ones, but this is a country of 5 day tramping excursions)
-Rock Climbing, Abseiling
-Target Shooting
-Hunting
-Sky Swing (combo bungy jump and insane swing)
-Hang-gliding
-Skydiving
-Bi-plane trick flying
-All sorts of off-roading adventures
-Photo Safari's
-Wine Trails
-Harley Tours
And more! It's not hard to see why Queenstown has the nickname "Adventure capital of the World!"

We are off tomorrow to explore Dunedin, aka Edinburgh of the South. Then on to Christchurch for a day, and next Australia!

Last Day in Queenstown

Today was our last full day in Queenstown, and we are all a bit sad to leave this amazing town. (Rock climbing was yesterday;)

We spent the morning at Onsen Hot Pools which were amazing. These well run and impeccably clean hot pools came highly recommended by the locals we've met and we were not disappointed. They are set high in the mountains with an incredible view of the valley and Shotover River below. Each room is private with it's own shower and dressing area, and the roof retracts so that you feel as if you are outside. It was a relaxing and restorative way to end our event filled weeks in Queenstown.

I had lunch and said goodbye to my new friend, Vicki. And Elle got to say goodbye to her new "friend"/babysitter Maddie, with a trip to the pools and slides.

For dinner we headed in to town for one last meal by the lake. To cap off one of the prettiest days we've had yet, the sunset tonight was spectacular. The sky turned the brightest pink/orange, so much so that the lake also turned pink!

All in all, a wonderful way to leave Queenstown. I think we've all decided we could live here!

Glenorchy

Oh, the places our car has gone

Panning for gold in the Shotover River

Glenorchy

Running from the Tasmanian Devil

Bryant Glacier in the background







Yesterday we drove to Glenorchy, a village of just 200 residents, mostly because it's a beautiful drive and frankly because we had done everything else on our list... It turned into a great day. The landscape once again was spectacular, and we got to get pretty close to Bryant Glacier.

We had lunch in town, and remarked that even in a town of just 200 you can get delicious coffee. It's kind of like Italy in that way. The espresso/coffee drinks are fantastic everywhere.

We did a little off-roading in our station wagon, heading for a town called Paradise. We never made it, but it made for a little adventure. We are very glad that our car held up so well! A break-down would not have been good in this remote area.

On the way back we stopped at the Shotover River, one of the world's richest gold rivers. They say there still is a lot of gold to be found, so we gave it a try. Unfortunately, we came away empty handed. Well, Liam found a rock he liked...

Settling in...

Just in time to take off again. The last few days have been a little less action packed, but fun nonetheless.

I got to have lunch with a local, thanks to a friend in LA. (thanks Peggy) Vicki and I met at an adorable cottage cafe near Arrowtown, the gardens are lovely and they have a children's play area to keep kids occupied. Elle came along and made friends from Hong Kong and England. Vicki has helped us to set up the babysitting we have had, and made some great suggestions of local places to eat and things to do. Her husband also owns/runs the largest helicopter tour company in the area, and Justin and I are hoping to go up with him before we leave Queenstown. She's also made me a much needed hair appointment in town, and even assisted in finding us a babysitter in Australia! Just another example of how friendly the Kiwi's are and how they go out of their way to assist.

Justin got a fly-rod and has been equally successful with his fly-fishing as he has been with his reel. He has brought home beautiful brown and rainbow trout. I'm sure he only wishes he had it earlier in our trip!

Elle has been back to the local aquatic center several times, where there are hot pools, a huge swimming area, a lazy river and two slides. She loves the slides! There is a "slow" slide and a fast slide. The slow slide is incredibly fast itself and a bit scary. When I commented on it, the lifegaurd told me that the fast slide has actually been closed due to the number of injuries it has caused. Sure enough, our babysitter told us that she went down it and came out with cuts and bruises!

Justin hiked up the mountain we can see from our kitchen window, he's been threatening to do so since we arrived. He made it, and the picture of the lake was taken at the summit.

Elle and I went into town to the bead shop and made some great jewelry, I think we both equally enjoyed this outing.

Liam is growing so much, and changing every day. He's become dangerous at the dinner table, swiping food away and knocking things over. He's also become very interested in our food, often dive bombing our plates. His favorite seems to be avocado and he squeals if we don't keep it coming fast enough.

Despite all my early attempts to have Elle become vegetarian, she has proven a mighty opponent. I knew this of course, for years ago when I told her that bacon came from a pig she looked me in the eye and said, "mmmm yum, I LOVE pig". Still, I got a little shocked to watch her savor New Zealand's famous lamb and venison, along with her dad, and still not show any revulsion when told what she was eating!

We've watched our share of the Olympics, from New Zealand's perspective. We watch an entertaining show each night that details highlights of the day, and focuses on the few NZ athletes in the Olympics. They are quite self-deprecating and the show is often hilarious.

Elle is keeping up with her schoolwork, in fact, she's completed everything the school provided us and now we are creating our own work. We've been doing a lot of research online. Her current fascinations are Pompeii, tasmanian devils and geisha girls.

We are finally becoming adept at driving on the left side of the road, after more than once finding ourselves driving on the right side with a none too happy Kiwi heading straight for us, surely admonishing us American tourists. Although knowing the Kiwi's, it was probably in a good natured way.

Today we are driving to Glenorchy, the site of many scenes from Lord of the Rings.

TSS Earnslaw, a more sedate affair

Yesterday we had a much more sedate and leisurely boat ride. We took a trip aboard the TSS Earnslaw, a steamship built in 1912, it is the only coal-fired passenger ship still in regular use in the Southern Hemisphere. The ship makes several trips a day across the lake to Walter Peak High Country Farm, where visitors can tour a real working farm and have high tea, or perhaps a full lunch or dinner. We went for the high tea service and farm tour and couldn't have been happier with our outing. The organizers do a fantastic job making the trip entertaining and informative without being too gimmicky.

The ship's engine room is open for viewing and it's pretty cool to see the interior workings of the coal ship. The ship also serves food and drink, has a piano player for entertainment, maintains a small museum, and has many decks inside and out. It's really a beautiful old ship, and we both remarked on how quiet it is and also how fast. Queenstown, the lake and mountain scenery are lovely from the water, it's the first time we've seen the area from this vantage point.

Once we arrived at the farm we were taken to see some of the animals that live on the farm, deer, sheep and Scottish highland cattle. We were able to feed the deer and sheep as you can see above, and Elle did a very good job of making sure they all got their fill. A highlight though, had to be Elle and Liam bottle-feeding a baby lamb. Adorable!

After this, we were taken to the main house for high tea. It was a beautiful place to relax, and Elle loved taking pictures of the many flowers that adorn the grounds.

Next up, we were taken for a demonstration on how the dogs herd the sheep. Quite entertaining and informative. Elle giggled like crazy. Then, we were led in for a sheep shearing demonstration. The sheeps are shorn once a year, and according to the shearer, they don't always like the process of being shorn but love the results. The amount of wool that came off was incredible, but I found it astounding that the entire amount would only sell for about $6 US. He told us that NZ used to have over 70 million sheep, but that number has fallen to about 3.5 million due to the very, very low returns.

Finally, we were led inside for a spinning demonstration and ultimately to the gift shop. Of course!

Then, we boarded the ship for home. Fun for all, and a lot of learning too.