022 - South Island (Arthur’s Pass, Methven, Oamaru), New Zealand – Penny For Your Thoughts?

From Greymouth on the west coast our fellowship veered inland through the twists and turns of the mountainous Arthur’s Pass,

To Devil’s Punchbowl Falls.

We read in our Lonely Planet about a short little walk through a cave at Cave Stream Scenic Reserve just past the village of Arthur’s Pass. It sounded cool, so we stopped at the information kiosk to inquire about renting a flashlight.

“Um yeah, about this Cave Stream thing. We read you should have a flashlight, can we rent one or something?”

As the attendant proceeded to ramble on about buying a fifty-dollar headlamp I zoned out, thinking instead,

“I’m sure the flashlight app on my iPhone will be fine. Let’s just check the power here…31%?...yeah, that’s good.. ”

I snapped back to reality when I caught her saying something about “…the first part is the deepest…” while gesturing to her waistline.

“Um... so is this hike, like, in the water?!” I asked incredulously.

Yes…apparently the Cave Stream Trek, is in fact in a pitch-black cave AND in an icy stream… for over an hour.

Go figure.

In fact, they recommend not only one, but two waterproof flashlights, a wetsuit, neoprene socks inside your hiking boots, and a helmet, along with other assorted climbing paraphernalia.

As I stood there in my T-shirt and sandals, holding my seven-month-old, I suddenly felt rather ill-equipped. We had to give that one a miss.

We forged ahead past multiple “Lord of the Rings” filming sites,

To arrive in the bustling alpine ski village of Methven. The place was packed; we were lucky to find a spot…

We were there just long enough for Britt to forget an entire outfit hanging in the bathroom after her shower. Not to worry, we phoned and they’re ecstatic about hanging onto her dirty underwear until we head back that way at the end of the month.

We pulled into Oamaru on Friday evening in time to check out the live entertainment at the Penguin Club.

We were all set to head out after a couple beers, when Ciel caught the eyes of a couple strangers… one thing led to another and the next thing you know...

Since Britt obviously can’t even keep track of her own clothes, I was promoted to custodian of Ciel’s wardrobe.

Someone is primed for her Footloose audition...

...or a tour of historic Oamaru.

In keeping with the spirit of the era, I signed up for a Penny Farthing riding lesson. They started me out on the five-footer,

However, I was quickly demoted.

And then sent careening down a narrow street filled with parked cars and pedestrians.

I did manage to make it back in one piece.

Britt opted for the less treacherous alternative.

All that activity worked up an appetite, so we stopped at the pub for some lunch,

Before finishing our tour of town.

Ciel couldn’t resist having a splash in the wading pool at the park on the way home.

I think she was still feeling the effects of her late night of partying when she crashed for an afternoon nap.

Oamaru is home to two different types of penguins, Yellow-Eyed Penguins and Little Blue Penguins. Our RV park offered an evening bus ride out to see the colonies, that included a tour of town. What we didn’t know was that the tour would be given by a (possibly drunk) grizzly old local with no real planned route or script. He rambled on as much about local gossip as he did about the historic limestone buildings.

But, we did get a great view from the lookout.

And some close-ups of the Yellow-Eyed Penguins.

As with our Phillip Island experience, we weren’t allowed to photograph the Blue Penguins. The staff get quite concerned about scaring the little guys as it might cause them to head back out to sea instead of coming in to feed their young.

The penguins were cool, but the highlight of the evening, was the drama that unfolded as we were pulling out of the car park in our bus. People had gathered around to watch a small group of penguins that had wandered into the laneway en route to their burrows. We had a great view of them… as they blinked into our high beams. Our crazy tour guide/driver continued to creep indifferently forward as a local (self-nominated champion of penguin rights) woman at the side of the lane frantically gestured at him to stop.  Eventually, exasperated, she cried out in a hushed voice. “Stop!”

Thinking that our driver might comply, we were surprised when he replied in a booming voice “ NO!”, whilst simultaneously emphatically flipping her the bird in front of the thirty or so people that had gathered around.

He then continued to roll right on through, scattering the penguins, as the crowd stared, mouths agape, in horrified astonishment. Priceless.

Next we moved south to see the Moeraki Boulders. Apparently, you get the best view of them at low tide. We conveniently rolled in an hour before high tide. It was close, but we still managed to catch a glimpse without getting stranded.

Ciel had a ball.

(apparently, this blog has degenerated into a series of terrible puns…)

We’ve since arrived in Dunedin, home of Speights Brewery and the third-largest Cadbury chocolate factory in the world…should be an interesting couple of days.