Christchurch to Dunedin

July 15, 2008
International Antarctic Center- The International Antarctic Center is the public face of the facility from which the United States, New Zealand, and Italy manage their Antarctic research stations. Inside there are a variety of exhibits detailing the kind of jobs and work that are done at the research stations and the difficulties the people working there face. There are more than just scientists there. The bases also employ truck drivers, chefs, machinists, clergy, and artists.
There is a cold room at the center where people from warmer climates can experience a little taste of Antarctic style cold. Inside is a floor of real snow, an igloo, and a slide made of ice. There is also a large thermometer indicating a constant temperature of -8 degrees Celsius (17 degrees Fahrenheit). If you like you can press the button on the Wind Chill Machine. This turns on a fan which allows you to enjoy the icy caress of a -18 degree Celsius wind chill. Before entering the staff issues you a pair of rubber overshoes (to keep the snow clean) and a South Pole grade parka. I’m not sure what the parka is made of (maybe lead or Kevlar) but it sure was warm. None of this cold bothered Zada who went down the ice slide perhaps a hundred times. In the end we had to pull rank with her to get her out of there.
Every hour a “storm” kicks up in the cold room. This involves turning the lights way down and turning on some very large fans. The wind in the room goes up to about 45 knots which (I’m estimating here) is about 38-40 miles per hour. The wind chill drops to around -22 degrees Celsius (-5 degrees Fahrenheit). At that point it is really not possible to describe the cold. It’s a cold that you can feel right through to your bones. Even with our lead parkas we were forced to huddle up with our backs to the wind like the penguins in “March of the Penguins” in order not to freeze to death. After the “storm” passed we dragged Zada out and turned in our parkas.
The center also serves as a rest home and rehabilitation hospital for injured little blue penguins. This is a species found only around New Zealand. (Of the about 20 species of penguin in the world only 4 live in Antarctica.) We watched their daily feeding during which the number of fish eaten by each individual is recorded. Most of the penguins ate in the water as they would in the wild. Some however were unable to swim and so had to be hand fed on shore. Unfortunately, most of the penguins there had been handicapped by human activity. Getting tangled in fishing line and other garbage is a major problem for them as is eating plastic and other waste. Sadly, most of the birds here will never be fit for return to the wild.
I think that I speak for everyone when I say that the most exciting part of our visit was the Hagglund ride. The Hagglund is a Swedish military vehicle something like a tank. It is designed for moving through extremely rough terrain. It can scale, descend, and traverse a 40 degree incline. It can drive over a gap of 1.9 meters (that’s about 6 feet). It’s also amphibious with the tank treads providing the propulsion when it acts like a boat. They cost $500,000 each and need new treads annually for $80,000. If not for the cost, it would be just about perfect for negotiating the potholes of the typical Houston street. The driver made sure that there was plenty of heart stopping action as he drove up and over the hills of the course all the while extolling the virtues of the Hagglund and pointing out the sites of the Antarctic Campus (even the United States Postal Service has an office here).
Before continuing our drive south we had a snack in the café. Here in New Zealand you cannot just say that you want a coffee. If you do they will ask you what kind of coffee you want. Even at Starbucks you have to ask for “filter coffee” if you want a plain old coffee. The closest thing to American coffee is something called a “long black”. This is a shot of espresso with hot water. It is generally excellent. A great surprise has been the Kiwi ability to make a dessert. At the center we had a carrot cake which was simply divine. Back at Te Papa we had a brownie and a chocolate truffle cake and both were heavenly. We are investigating which of the immigrant groups brought the secret of tasty desserts to New Zealand.
We carried on south which today was nice as there were no steep, twisty roads. There were several charming towns along the way. We didn’t stop until we got to Oamaru where there is a blue penguin colony. Our attempts to see the penguins was foiled by the fact that the birds spend the whole day at sea eating and don’t come back to shore until evening. Perhaps our penguin dreams will be fulfilled in Dunedin.

July 16, 2008
This morning’s first stop was the Moeraki Boulders. These are boulders ranging from 2 to 5 feet in diameter. They are almost perfectly spherical and are scattered across about 180 feet of Pacific beachfront. The boulders formed about 60 million years ago when this area was on the sea floor and lime salt formed around a solid core. Today some are still being eroded out of the cliff above the beach. Some have been cracked open by the ravages of time and are now strewn about, large chunks of gray stone lined with yellow crystal. The beach around the boulders is covered with lovely iridescent snail shells. Zada made a good attempt to collect all of these and only reluctantly put down several large handfuls when we told her she would have to abandon some of her other treasures in New Zealand for want of baggage space.
Upon arriving in Dunedin we embarked on a 40 minute quest to find parking. There is no street parking for more than an hour anywhere in the city. There are a few parking garages but only one was tall enough to accommodate the Beast. For $2 an hour we were able to leave the camper and visit Cadbury World. This is the place where such delightful treats as Crème Eggs, Caramello, and Dairy Milk bars come from. During the course of the tour we were able to fill goodie bags with full size Cadbury candy bars. We each earned an extra bar from the guide for answering questions. It is a fascinating facility where they turn out 95% of the chocolate made in New Zealand. Inside an old storage tank they have created a 50 foot chocolate waterfall. In 30 seconds it spills out a ton of melted chocolate. The guide assured us that none of that chocolate goes into the food. The tour ends where all good tours end, in the gift shop. The Cadbury shop sells the half pound blocks of chocolate for about $1.50. Mmm… treats!
After the chocolate shop we walked around the city’s Octagon. That’s the central district, covered in charming cafes, shops and gorgeous buildings. Dunedin is apparently less subject to the subterranean forces that rock and rip so much of the rest of the country as wonderful examples of Victorian and Scots/Edwardian architecture abound here. There are several impressive churches, the Municipal Chambers, the Law Courts and lovely homes lines the steep streets – no doubt anchored in place by the weight of gingerbread trim they carry.
The Railway Station was the real heavyweight though. This stunning building, constructed with contrasting Oamaru limestone and central Otago bluestone, is impressive inside and out. It is done in a sort of Northern Renaissancesque style with richly ornamented dormer windows projected from a steeply pitched roof. A 120’ clock tower surmounts the whole. The interior is equally rich with railway themed mosaic floors and an intricately wrought frieze of Royal Doulton manufactured cherubs and floral swags underlining the wrought iron balcony. This will be our point of departure tomorrow (weather willing) for our Taieri Gorge rail expedition.

July 17, 2008
Today we split forces. Kimberly and Zada explored the Otago Museum and Brad went on the Speights tour.
The Otago Museum has a marvelous collection of Pacific Island treasures. The entrance to the galleries is manned by a splendid Easter Island Moai. These galleries are filled with masks, musical instruments, ceremonial garb and weapons from Micronesia, Polynesia and Melanesia. Interpretive panels explain the relevance of such rituals as the Kava ceremony (only a ritual with certain groups – enjoyable beverage to others) and explain the similarities and differences (genetic, linguistic and cultural) between the various peoples of the Pacific. Zada was most impressed with the necklaces and headdresses – beautiful arrangements of shell and feathers or somewhat terrifying strings of human teeth and armored fish skins ringed with shark teeth.
Across the hall is their Maori collection – not large, but with some extraordinary pieces. Their waka, war canoe, is one of the largest and most elaborately carved we seen so far. They also give a good bit of gallery space to information about archeological excavations of an early settlement in the Shag River area.
The whole museum was amazing, other galleries housed a plesiosaur, skeletons of several moa and a recreation of the NZ La Brea tar pits equivalent swamp that trapped so many of these flightless birds. There were fossil dolphins, sea turtles and other marine mammoths.
At the top of the museum was a true hall of wonders! There was a photograph showing the museum in its original late 1800’s splendor – several floors of galleries lit by skylights over a central atrium. These galleries housed wooden glass-fronted cabinets filled with …everything on earth. They have recreated this original Victorian gallery on the top floor – called “Animal Attic”. It was unbelievable, the Victorian passion for collection, collation and cataloging in all its glory. There were cases filled with the taxidermed or skeletal remains of Noah’s Ark. Except there was only one of each kind. I found it a little overwhelming and also a little disturbing, but I was completely alone in this as I have never seen so many completely fascinated and transfixed children ever. They couldn’t see enough, read enough, or ask enough questions.
I did learn the origin of the “Rat King” in the Nutcracker, as they had a preserved example floating in a jar. A “Rat King”, you are no doubt breathless to know, is a rare phenomena. The tails of all the juvenile rats in a nest become snarled together in the nesting material and the rats are the inseparable (one wonders who ever tried to separate one and why?). It will further interest you to know that if a “Rat King” were found in a house, the house would be razed and all the women burned as witches.
As if all this weren’t enough for one day we next made our way to the train station and boarded the historic Taieri Gorge train. The train travels alongside the course of the beautiful Taieri River. We took the train as far as Pukerangi and then returned. It was a very lovely and enjoyable journey. The pictures fell victim to the over-bright Southern light – in real life it gives a remarkable brilliance to everything, photographically is shrouds the world in mist. The train traversed several aqueducts and high iron trestles spanning 100 foot gorges. We were again amazed to note that almost every square centimeter of land in NZ is in use. I had no idea that sheep and cows could graze on mountaintops and at a 60% angled slope. They are far more surefooted than you’d guess.
We got back to the campground in time to explore the creek trail and go searching the cliff faces for glowworms. Yes, a word here, again, about NZ campgrounds - they are incredible! And, yes, this one in Dunedin has a lovely creek and wooded trail area complete with glowworms on the grounds. It was delightful to see those little fairy lights shine through the trees and ferns along the trail.

July 18, 2008
Today we went to the top of the world’s steepest street. Baldwin Street, in Dunedin, is certified by the Guinness Book of World’s Records as the steepest street in the world. It is a ridiculous looking thing- it climbs at a 38 1/3 degree angle according to the propaganda, according to me it was a sheer cliff face – easily an 88 or 89 degree angle. How do the people who live there manage? I have never owned a car that could manage that incline – they must replace their brakes and transmissions at least twice a year. Zada cavorted, skipped and frolicked all the way to the top. Brat. My legs shook for at least half an hour after we got down. They hold an annual event, charmingly titled “The Baldwin Street Gutbuster”, which requires participants to complete the lung-scorching, heart-bursting course in two minutes. We missed the Jaffa race, sadly – this is an event where they roll Jaffas (a roundish Cadbury chocolate) down the hill. The street was still fairly well coated in the squished remains of the contenders.
We headed back into the city center to see the new Chinese Gardens and visit the Cadbury climbing wall. Zada was a champ at this and more than earned the snack sized Moro bar prize. She frittered her rapidly dwindling financial resources away on a regulation rugby ball and a possum fur/merino scarf.
Fortunately, by the time we got back to the Yellow-eyed Penguin Reserve office, the gift shop had closed. The excitement of viewing so many of these incredibly adorable and terribly endangered animals would doubtless have triggered an orgy of fridge magnet, plush toy buying. We were run like hunted rabbits through a bewildering series of underground trenches. Racing the penguins from one viewing blind to the next and standing breathlessly (holding our breath because they are highly sensitive to noise, which was challenging, as racing madly up and down dunes and hills had us snorting and blowing like racehorses)still and silent while we watched for them to bodysurf onto shore. They “porpoise” out in the surf for an irritatingly long time. When they’ve assured themselves that all is well, they shake themselves like little dogs and begin their hop-waddle up the beach and into the dunes.
We were lucky enough to see several of these wonderful birds; they are the only non-social penguin. They dislike the sight of each other, much less anything else, and will not appear if they feel threatened in any way – hence the underground viewing blinds and injunction for silence. We also saw a Little Blue, or Fairy Penguin, in a nest. These are the world’s smallest penguins and we struck out seeing them once before because we hadn’t done our homework and learned that they only emerge from the sea at nightfall. The one in the nest was a juvenile, who apparently hadn’t got the memo that they feed all day in the winter.