This morning we
drove 197 k’s from Timaru to Dunedin.
Along the way we were we impressed as we passed through Oamaru by some of New Zealand's best 19th century architecture including the Opera
House and Forrester Gallery in the beautiful Victorian Precinct.
We stopped at Moeraki and walked along the beach
to
see the huge scattered spherical boulders.
Each boulder weighs several
tonnes and is up to two metres high.
According to Maori legend, the
boulders are gourds washed ashore from the great voyaging canoe Araiteuru when
it was wrecked upon landfall in New Zealand hundreds of years ago.
Scientists explain the boulders
as calcite concretions formed about 65 million years ago. Crystallization of
calcium and carbonates around charged particles gradually formed the boulders
in a pearl-like process that took as long as four million years. The soft
mudstone containing the boulders was raised from the seabed around 15 million
years ago; waves, wind and rain are excavating them one by one.
Tonight we are staying in
Dunedin, known as the Edinburgh of the South. It is proud of its Scots heritage and has as its heart a
statue of the poet Robbie Burns, and many of its streets carry the same name as
streets in Edinburgh.
We arrived in Dunedin just in
time for the Otago Farmers Market at the Dunedin Railway Station and purchased some
local food directly from the people who made it for another ‘platter’ dinner
tonight. We loved the friendly atmosphere, the fresh produce not to mention
that one of the vendors at the venison sausage stall offered to take mum for a
ride on his Harley!.
The vendors are the people who grow, make, rear, catch, brew, pickle,
smoke, roast and produce the food they sell on-site. The vast majority of
vendors come from Otago, a region that provides some of the finest produce in
the world.
This is an Otago ‘Flatto’ Peach…it was delicious
Dunedin Railway Station is one of the best examples of railway
architecture in the southern hemisphere. Opened in 1906, the Flemish
Renaissance-style building is fabulous. We had lunch in the Railway Station
Café and admired the mosaic floor made up of 725,000 Royal Doulton porcelain
squares that form images of steam engines, rolling stock and the New Zealand
Railways logo.
Two imposing leadlight windows
on the mezzanine balcony depict approaching steam engines,
light s blazing,
facing each other across the ticket hall.
From there we visited ‘Cadbury
World’ and picked up some chocolate
that we’ll have with coffee after our
‘platter’ dinner tonight.
Guess who?
We’re staying in Moray Place at
the ‘Chapel Apartments’. The outer shell (including the fabulous leadlight
windows) of the original church is completely intact and internally seven
modern, self-contained apartments have been installed.
This place reminds me a poem from A.A.Milne that begins like this…
Hush, hush whisper who dares, Christopher Robin is saying his prayers….
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