Christchurch, Dunedin and Oban NZ February 11-13

We continued our marathon visit to NZ with a series of visits to small towns with interesting aspects.   Our first port for this entry was Christchurch.  You may have heard of it as the home of the International Antarctic Center.  This is the starting point for the trips to the South Pole.  You may have heard of some of the names such as Scott, Amundsen, and Shackleton that were here.  Today it is a modern complex of buildings including a very nice Antarctic attraction, passenger terminal, and equipment storage area. 

Here is a picture of the van that took us out to the Center.  Our photographer didn’t tell us about the sign but we loved the penguins on top of he “Penguin Express.”.

The US hanger as part of the international group.

This is the Boeing C-17 that is used to make the flights to the South Pole during the season.  I couldn’t get any closer.  There is also a C-130 that I didn’t get a picture of.

Inside the exhibit at a base recreation.

We took a  ride in a snow cat made by a Swedish company.

An interesting item with this vehicle is that it floats.  Here we are in three meters of water (and dirty windows).

This was what we had time to do in Christchurch except for a great lunch in a local restaurant.  A picture of downtown Christchurch.

On to Dunedin (February 12th).   I think I mentioned that a chief export from NZ is timber.  Here is a picture of a ship loading timber across the dock from us.

Dunedin is also famous for it’s Albatross Colony that lives on the tip of Otago Peninsula.  Sorry, no pictures of them.  Noreen and I took an easy day wandering around the town.  Any Cadbury chocolate lovers out there?  This is the home of the Cadbury factory.

Local row housing.

And single family homes.

For you nautical types, note how narrow and widening the channel is.  It is almost like a slalom run.

Next was Oban, Half Moon Bay.  The town is located on the eastern coast of Stewart Island at the south end of NZ.  The area is also home to the Rakiura National Park.  There are only two directions in this town area…….up and own.  Here is an picture taken while walking up from the tendering dock.

A shot of a house built for the slope.

The off- season population is about 400 people.  Yep, back to more on the ship than on the island.  In season it is about 2,000.  The ferry service is kind of small.

OK, they really have bigger ferries.  But this is really the only jewelry shop….really.

They do have a number of cars and need to be careful of the local wildlife.

Remember the shot of the ship through palm trees in the south pacific.  Here is a shot of the ship through the local vegetation.  No palm trees here.  I am at Lookout Rock one of the highest locations on the island.

Panoramic shot of the island area as we sailed out.

That is all for this entry.  Things were quiet on our last few stops.  Tomorrow we will be cruising through the Fjordland National Park and Milford Sound before heading out into the Tasman Sea and over to Tasmania. 

Ken & Noreen