Garden Motel Dunedin

When we entered Dunedin we had a campsite we wanted to stay at so tried to find it, we ended up driving round a peninsula for ages- there was no way of turnign around as the road was too narrow and the sea was right next to the road! It was a bit like Dartmouth or somewhere in Devon! We finally found a layby thing where we turned around and drove back at snails pace. We found a campsite on the edge of the town. set in hills and with ...

... slot. Now, it is clearly wrong for anyone to write this. You could never fit a baby in that slot. I also found it amusing to discover that the three television channels in New Zealand are quaintly called TV1, TV2 and TV3. The locals also pronounce their vowels in the wrong order. They pronounce I's as U's, U's as A's and E's as I's. If you ever have to ask a Kiwi for a deck chair you're in for a whole lot of trouble. But fortunately I can't really imagine a set ...

... offers spacious rooms and has under cover secure parking. being a students city there are score of very cheap eateries.
An interest thing that happened most night we were there is, you head out to a bar in the early evening and you are the only one there except a solitary staff member with his head buried in a book tilted something like Advanced Brain Surgery 101", he gets up and serves you and goes back to his books carefully taking ...

... for every 2.86 metres travelled horizontally, the elevation rises by 1 metre. We huff and puff by the time we reach the top. After lying on the road we exchange thank yous and bows, for photos taken, with some Japanese retired tourists. Back at the hostel we get the "Whale Rider" film out. It's based on a translated novel by Witi Ihimaera - a moving story of New Zealand Maoris seeking, with the leadership of a stubborn and harsh elder to sustain ...

... the previous one had been made of wood). Chris and I left them with the boat in the water and walked up the track to the High Road and the site of the new house that Hugh and Karen are having built and we admired the tree-house, stage one of the build. When we walked back 'Mist' was still in the water as Hugh and Steve had problems with the winch for the centre-board. Chris was left with the tricky job of reversing Mist back into Hugh's drive! In the evening ...

... do nome ("shag" em Inglês tanto pode querer dizer corvo marinho, como quéca), e ficámos surpreendidos por encontrar uma colónia de focas relativamente grande, a primeira vez que vimos focas na Nova Zelândia, e era uma colónia reprodutiva pois haviam bastantes crias. Para além das focas havia também uma colónia de gaivotas com montes de crias. Não chegámos a parar em Dunedin, em vez disso seguimos directamente para a Península de Otago, que, para além da paisagem ...

... off to dinner. Another great meal and good company. They had cherries jubilee tonight - very nice.  We bought the photo taken with the captain at the Captain's Club party - not great, but okay - and then headed to the show, which was a Christmas show.  There was a segment with the younger children who had been attending the Fun Factory, and that was good. Lot of people comment on the entertainment, but it's been on the whole, been pretty reasonable. 

... Things we don't love; vodafone, ring-bound travel journals, slow mail deliveries. What we will miss; our loved ones, regular feeds of curry, RBC, beautiful Dunedin, normality/routine (just kidding!), and a variety of clean clothes. What we are looking forward to; much falafel, the desert, ancient wonders, wild animals (close, but not TOO close), and making a difference, we hope.

We arrived in Dunedin by 4pm which gave us plenty of time to book our tour of the Speights Brewery- The Pride of the South, for 7 that night. Checked into a campsite and rambled back to town for a looksee. The tour was good with a much better setup than the Guinness Brewery tour. There was a group of 6 with the one guide and he brought us through and showed us about the history behind the company how they got through the ...

... were in a ghost town - there was hardly any sign of life. We checked in for the night to find we were the only two guests in the 100 room hotel, which did mean that we had a very personalised service! As there were no other options we ate in the restaurant on site (again, only two customers all night for two chefs?!?!) and they served us what had to be the biggest selection of wholesome vegetables and salad on one of the biggest reclangular ...