New Zealand - Dunedin

On the way to Dunedin you come to Moeraki, where there are huge boulders just lying on the beach

They're not just rocks, washed downriver and rounded, as I thought

They're made when sediments under mud have the porus parts fills in by minerals, which leach (diffuse) in, slowly over millions of years.  It starts very small, growing to marble size and ones like this take around 4-5 million years to develop!  The cracks here are when the boulder cracks and dolomite or calcium fills in and hardens.

As coastal erosion continues, they drop out of the mud, onto the beach

Further inland near our camping spot, we went on a tramp up a hillside in a gorge, where we could see out to sea

We sat up on an exposed rock enjoying the sun and the view

The next day we went to Dunedin, which is proud to have Scottish heritage, or so they tell us

The train station, built in 1906, has a Flemish Rennaissance design

Both inside and out

Though obviously Victorian in parts

Made from 2 type of local stone

Mmm!

The courthouse looks very impressive too

With good detail...

A lot of the settlers in the area, arrived from Portsmouth and Edinburgh

St Paul's Cathedral

Robert Burns, the poet is celebrated here.  His nephew was one of the first settlers here, and a reverend

Town Hall in the Octagonal Centre

Local theatre

The Presbytarian First Church, which looked a bit like a rocket from some angles..

Lots of bits pointing upwards..  did no one tell them He is all around, not just up there......

And the local hall named after Mr Burns (not Montgomery)

Inside the First Church

Dunedin, as seen from the Otago Peninsula, opposite

New Zealand - Oamaru

Moving from Mount Cook NP down to Oamaru, the road follows a set of lakes, again with dams for hydroelectric production.  This is the Aviemore Dam

With the river flowing to the next one

Reminded me a bit of a newer, smaller St Chads, Manchester

'...and oh my God, I cannot believe it, I've never been this far away from home....'

Oamaru is quite a pretty town, on the east coast of the south island

There's more than the usual number of limestone buildings here, all built around the end of the 1800's when this place was big for exporting refridgerated meat and therefore rich for that time.  This is St Lukes Church, which is a bit better looking than St Lukes, near my home

It's was the same size as Los Angeles was, back at that time

It's quite a relaxed place with a chilled vibe

And some very odd bits of mechanical art around the place

This weekend, it's a fete where everyone dresses in a Victorian style and they have sculpture contests and ride penny farthings around.  Here's someone who obviously can't wait...

'Thinking 4th dimensionally', obviously

Some of Metrolink Managers and decision makers think and react as this guy would......

The Public Gardens in Oamaru are fabulous

In fact, of all the gardens we've been to around Asia, Australia and New Zealand, these are second only to Penang, Malaysia's Botanical Gardens

Some of the residents are very friendly

There's loads of ducks here..

And flowers, unsurprisingly perhaps..

We stopped for a picnic

...and I forget what else...

It had an aviary too, with some of the birds eyeing me a bit suspiciously...

Looks like the rose garden had just been pruned

Never did get the hang of those daisy chains...

The soldiers memorial takes pride of place on the main street, as it should

Who would need to filter through traffic when you can ride straight over the cars?!

There was a whiskey distiller who unfortunately weren't do tours when we arrived  :-(

But the tasting was still on :-)  There's an 18 year, 21 year, 23 year and 25 year single malt in a row, going from a usual 40% for the first 2.  The last 2 are straight from the cask and were 53% and 56% volume alcohol, hic!