Our Neighborhood
Trip Start
Sep 09, 2007
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Trip End
Ongoing
Roslyn,Dunedin,
New Zealand
Thursday, October 18, 2007
NZ was settled from the UK with the English going to the Northern parts of the country...but the Scots came here. Dunedin is Gaelic for Edinburgh. The first boats to arrive with settlers came in 1840 or so...took 140 days of travel over perilous waters with no stops to get here. No going back to the hardware store at home if you forgot something. Gold was discovered nearby not long after and set off a large gold rush with miners coming from San Francisco,China, and the rest of the world.Dunedin,for a time, was the largest and wealthiest city in the country. Left a legacy of beautiful buildings and a lot of firsts...first University in the Southern Hemisphere, Largest and busiest port at Port Chalmers about 15 k away...first Boy's school...etc.
When the rain stops and the sun comes out...we are having an unusually cold and wet spring...we have started driving around the local region. Go out to eat a lot...the village of Roslyn is only 200 meters down the street with Chinese and Indian takeaway...groceries, resturants,cafes(that means coffee and sweets till 4:30 and breakfast and lunch till 2:30)and the Friday shop.
Our deck post planting
The Friday shop is only open then, is on the Highgate Bridge and is famous. Almond crossiants, pies like you have never had (pie here is not sweet,but chicken,steak,egg and bacon) and are wonderful. Best lemon tarts in the world. THe owner is a French trained chef and cooks all week. It opens at 7am and sold out by 11.Line out the door in the early morning.
The beach is nearby with crystal clear freezing water. Water,ports,bays everywhere...many tidal flats. We went to a Maori training day for my work...Candy got to attend...one of the Maori trainers is going to take us to gather cockles(clams)soon. The cockles are about 1/2 the size of your computer mouse. We buy fresh green lip mussels for $4.00NZ which works out at $3.00 USD..oh, that is for a dozen. New friends have brought over Fresh NZ beef, venison(it is a large species of red deer,farm raised, and muttonbird. Muttonbird is a migratory bird that can only be taken by the Maori...migrates 18,000 miles...they catch them in nets. Very oily,dark after boiling and storage in kelp. Taste like cod liver oil to me...from the sea creatures they eat...I didn't care for it but Candy loved it and charmed the giver...sent over more of them.
This all sounds food oriented...but food and social eating is very important here both to the Maori and to the European population. White people here are clled pakeha, which I have been told meant sweet eating,as the Maori had a history of cannibalism.Captain James Cook had several of his crew consumed on some of the local beaches....but more later,not about thatbut our discoveries.
Comments
More !!
We so enjoyed your photo's and stories. You can never give too much info about food and neighborhoods.More more please!!!!!