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04/4/2005 - Dunedin to Invercargill - Day 4
Tour around Dunedin , first we go to The World Steepest Street, Balwin St. (Pic - 04a) Later, we visited University of Otago , the whole environment there is so relaxing and calm (at least for us as tourist). There are very modern glass building, old grandeur building, monuments, gardens, work of arts etc. It's holiday break and can't feel much of the "normal" day to day life there. (Pic - 04b)
After that, went to the center of Dunedin , the Octagon. It is an octagon shape based road and town layout. What a strange city planning, it is unique and quite efficient. There are plenty of shops, great architectural grandeur and monuments all around us. Some of the special is Train station. Finally, we paid a visit to Cadbury World. One will get to know everything and anything related to chocolate, chocolate and chocolate. I found out that it was originated from South America Inca before spreading to Europe - quite an interesting history. (Pic - 04c)
Around 10:30 am , we drive out of Dunedin and taking the Southern Scenic Route . It was raining quite heavy in the early part of the journey till Balclutha. As a result, we are unable to stop to explore around some of the beautiful surroundings. Luckily, the sky clear went we reach Kaka Point and Nugget Point. Along the way, saw protest banners and signs at nearby fishing village. Majority of the slogan is "No Way". We are confused what it means; only later we found that local people reject Government decision to turn the area to be a national reserve.
Kaka point has some special coastal bushes. Here, I have my first experience driving on an unseal road which was covered with small pebbles. It is very bumpy. However, its difficulty lies on the "slippery", as tires don't have much grip. Initially, I drove very slowly but after getting to know the behaviors the car reacts, I drove more confidently at slightly faster pace. (NOTE: One need to be careful not to drive fast because there is virtually no much braking grip). I am a great fans on rally racing game especially Colin McRae WR Series on PS, found that the feedback and all behavior of car is quite similar in both real and digital world. However, driving on the real one is 10X more fun even I don't dare to push the throttle hard as in video games.
Stop by at Nugget Point, explored the surrounding area.We saw seals, sea lions and Yellow-eyed penguins.(Pic - 04d) Later hike up to the lighthouse, the coastal views is spectacular.
Pic: Nugget Point
However, we didn't spend much time there because it starts to rain again. Continue our journey, driving (with some unseal road) towards Owaka to refuel, some nice scenic, farmland and coastal view along the way. No much opportunity to stop as the sky still falling. Nevertheless, I do enjoy it as view is very much different; dark skies, green farm, blurring far distant, rainbows etc. We noticed sheep tend to face / position them all at one direction, which will have minimum wind blowing and rain pouring at them, pretty smart. (Pic - 04e)
Reach Invercargill around 5:30pm and check in to Tuatara Backpacker, very funky place.(Pic -04f) Immediately, we drove out and head to Bluff, a small fishing town ½ an hour away. It's also serving as Port Township , which one will notice upon getting it the town as there is plenty of shipping activities going on. Went to Bluff Hill, the wind is the strongest I have ever met. It almost wants to sallow away our car's door when opened. Only able to stay up at the tower briefly, aligning our step and standing is a struggle. Just enjoy time to admire the Southland and Steward Island (not sure) views. (Pic 04g)
Finally, we drive to Stirling Point, the most southern point in Bluff (Note: The actual most southern point in South Island is Slope Point. However, the most southern part of NZ is Steward Island ). Later, look for Bluff famous oyster and have our dinner here.(Pic 04h)
After back to hostel, did our laundry and so much needed rest.
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 01 Christchurch -1
02 Mt Cook
03 Dunedin
04 Invercargill
05 Milford Sound
06 Queenstown -1
07 Queenstown -2
08 Frank Josef Glacier
09 Greymouth
10 Christchurch - 2
11 Kaikora
12 Picton
13 National Park
14 Rotorua -1
15 Rotorua -2
16 Rotorua -3
17 Auckland - 1
18 Kaitaia -1
19 Kaitaia -2
20 Auckland -2
21 Auckland -3
22 Changi / KL
23 Penang
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