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Wednesday, February 5th, I drove to Duneden, a city Lynda and I had briefly visited
a year ago on our cruise to Australia. Duneden was not my main goal, however. Instead, I wanted
to explore the Otago Peninsula where we had done some sea kayaking on our first visit. Here then is
the story covering the 5th and 6th of February 2008:
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| The city of Cromwell, about 50km from Wanaka. |
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| Scenes of downtown Duneden |
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| It was Waitangi (independence) Day and the city was preparing for a
celebration later that afternoon. |
Just a street scene |
Now, that's a fancy building for the tourist information center! |
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| A couple of street photos of downtown Duneden. |
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| The road along the shore of Otago Peninsula was curvy and narrow.
Once again, as in Coromandel Peninsula, I was not able to stop the vehicle and take photos of
the real hairy spots where my outside wheels were only a foot or so from the edge of the road
with a drop-off into the bay. The drop-off wasn't more than a few feet but dropping a wheel
off the unguarded edge would have been disastrous. |
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Lynda, do you recognize this spot?
Click here for the answer
It's where we started our sea kayaking adventure! |
The road to the Royal Albatross Centre |
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| Entrance to the Centre |
View towards Duneden |
Seagull sat on peoples' cars |
I had wanted to take a closer look at the Albatross that we saw from
a distance when we paddled by the cliffs a year ago, but the entrance to the area was available only on a
guided tour. I (grudgingly) paid the $30 ($23.50 USD) for the one hour tour and went on it. What a
disappointment! We got a lecture on Albatross -- which was fairly interesting -- and then went
over to the viewpoint where they furnished us with binoculars. We saw a total of three Albatross
mothers sitting on their eggs, without moving hardly at all. How exciting! I took no photos
during this tour :-(
The next morning I had planned to try to find the beach we visited last year -- the one with
sea lions lying on it. After a couple of attempts to find it the clouds began to roll in and
I decided to scrap the search and head on out towards Invercargil on the Southern Sceninc Route.
First, I needed to fill up my gas tank so I turned in towards Duneden and ended up in a traffic jam. |
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| The next morning the weather wasn't so good. |
Rush hour in Washington DC? No, in Duneden! |
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| The Southern Scenic Route from Duneden for the first 50 or so kilometers was quite beautiful and
interesting. Part of it passed along the coast and part was in the inland hills. |
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| As I said before, I thought these plants were beautiful! |
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| An inlet along the scenic route |
Bus stop |
Marker for the route |
| The markers for the scenic route were rather small, and in some places
partially hidden by foliage or by parked tall vehicles. Twice I missed a turn and had
to turn around to see where the route went. Luckily, both times it became obvious only
a few seconds after missing the sign that I was no longer on the route and was able
to make a u-turn, so no time was lost to speak of. |
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| Scenery along the coast |
On the inland portion |
| About 50 km from Duneden, the scenic route joined State Highway 1 and the
scenery became dull. According to the map, the Southern Scenic Route was to leave SH1 after
Balclutha, about 35km later. When I got to that spot, the clouds were definitely
thickening and I decided instead to skip it, taking the road to Te Anau instead. Te Anau
was the goal to begin with; I only ended up there a day early as I would not have made it
all the way in one day on the longer and slower scenic route. |
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| Once there was Bill... |
... and Al ... |
... and now they have a highway!!! |
The forecast was for cloudy skies -- but no rain -- around the Fjordland National Park area
so I made no plans for the next day. The forecast turned out to be right and I spent the day
doing laundry, writing these notes, and cleaning up the van.
After the chores, I took a couple of short hikes, one to Lake Mistletoe and to
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| Had to photograph the sign |
Lake Mistletoe |
Plant life there |
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| Nothing much worth photographing here |
My favorite with-wine snack! |
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