| Submitted by: R Wicks, United Kingdom |
| Submission Date: 31 December 2006 |
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A small gravel car park on top of the cliffs overlooking Roaring Bay is the top of a very narrow path leading down the cliffs to a hide built into the cliff face with a great view over the whole bay.
Roaring Bay faces due south and the wind was still very strong and whipped up a great surf before howling into the hide and straight into our faces as we looked for signs of penguin activity. We stayed there for almost an hour, a testament more to wearing the right clothing for the conditions than our patience, for we saw no penguins. We did see a great sunset though.
We have 2 days of our holiday left, 2 days to get to Christchurch and catch a flight to Auckland to get our return flight to the UK. Our options are the quick route up the East coast or take the slower South Scenic Route. We chose the later and headed for Oamaru. In the morning we back tracked a few kilometres to Purakaunui Falls for some photos and then made for Cannibal Bay. So named because a large quantity of human bones were found there.
The bay lies at the end of a winding narrow gravel road and has a fine golden sandy beach, on which we saw 2 Hooker Sea Lions basking in the sun.
The road from here goes north through Balclutha, Milton and Waihola. From here it turns onto a gravel road and climbs steeply through a newly planted forest before descending back down to the coast at the fishing village of Taieri Mouth. From here the road follows amazing white sandy beached edging the deep blue Pacific Ocean through Brighton and Ocean View to Dunedin where the South Scenic Route ends. Making our way quickly through Dunedin we joined Highway 1 North and stopped for coffee at the Harvest Moon Cafe in Waikouaiti before making Oamaru in time for dinner.
Oamaru has a conservation and research centre for the Little Blue Penguin in an old quarry down on the harbour. NZ$15 buys a guaranteed sighting of penguins coming ashore in the evening. So we paid our money, took our seats in the purpose built stand along with dozens of other tourists and waited in the cold wind. Sure enough as darkness fell the penguins began to appear on the beach below before making their way up the rocks and into the nesting boxes built into the old quarry.
We have at last seen some penguins.
In the morning we headed north on highway 1, crossing the 45th parallel for the second time just north of Oamaru, heading for Timaru and Christchurch. There are 2 possible routes to take, the quicker main highway which follows the coast and the Inland Scenic Route which follows highway 72. Apart from the town of Geraldine near the beginning of the route there isn't much else along there but rolling farmland, sheep and cattle. We decided to cut this short and following a signpost for Christchurch turned off onto South Eyre Road, which must be one of the longest straight stretches of road anywhere. Almost 40km. with hardly any reason to even twitch the steering wheel.
We spent the night in the Airport Lodge Motel just a couple of kilometres from the airport, went for an evening stroll around Cathedral Square in Christchurch before dinner of Venison sausages, Kumara chips and Watties baked beans, washed down with a bottle of Montana Sauvignon Blanc.
Tomorrow we fly to Auckland and then on to Hong Kong and home.
Our Air New Zealand 737 put us down in Auckland on time and with no bags to collect, they were checked through to Heathrow from Christchurch, we took the short walk in warm sunshine to the international terminal and the Cathay Pacific check in desk. Not forgetting to pay the NZ$25 departure tax first. New Zealand is such a great little country they charge you to leave.
The Airbus A340 was less than half full on the leg to Hong Kong and we secured seats at the back of the plane so we could stretch out and get some sleep. I like the Airbus, it's quieter than the 747 and there is more legroom in economy.
Hong Kong airport sprawls across reclaimed land on the edge of Lantau island and it seemed like we walked the whole length of it from the arrival gate to the departure gate. It took us about 15 minutes. The last time we did this East West journey we arrived in Hong Kong a little later in the evening and the airport was almost deserted. Very strange. But this time it was much busier and all the shops were still open at 8pm. |
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