Friday 29 July - Omarau

We have made the decision to stay another night in Oamaru –   the beds are comfy, the welcome is warm and we could all do with some time in one place. We venture out into the town and visit the Whitestone cheese factory. We are able to watch the making process in the factory and enjoy tasting the finished producst in the little shop attached to the factory.
  

Oamaru has the best preserved collection of Victorian buildings in New Zealand. Most of these buildings are fashioned out of a gorgeous sand coloured local limestone and still used for the purpose for which they were intended. The Opera House was amazing. At 7pm each evening it put on a spectacular lightshow. The numerous fascia front windows were systematically lit in various colours.

 We spend time exploring the Victorian historic harbour and watching a limestone sculptor at work and then enjoy a rare treat of coffee, hot chocolate and cake "out".

We decide to try and find the elusive penguins in another spot and after lunch head further down the coast to Shag Point. Lots of sea birds, cormorants and shags, but no penguins. Very disappointed! We have been given several places to try so in the rapidly descending dusk and after a series of wrong turns up single track, very dodgy roads we locate the Moeraki Lighthouse and trek down the steep hill to a purpose built penguin hide. Very quietly we open the viewing windows and immediately are rewarded with the view of seals on the little beach below us and a handful of penguins hopping about on the rocks. They make a tremendous amount of noise as they head up the hill to their nests in the grass and bushes! 

Wednesday 27 July - Akaroa to Lake Tekapo and the importance of vegetables!

After breakfast we take a walk around the very pretty and sheltered Akaroa – it is obviously popular all year around and a big boating community. Akaroa itself is situated on the Banks Peninsula and is the site of the first and only sortie for the French to NZ. The town has contined to play on it’s French heritage and there are tricoloure and french street names in abundance.

  

 

We walk along the beach road and up the jetties before ending up at the lighthouse built in 18This imposing, six-sided, wooden lighthouse looks thoroughly at home on Cemetery Point. But this is not its original site. The lighthouse was first built on a rugged headland at the entrance to Akaroa Harbour, more than 80 metres above sea level. The site was chosen in 1875 and the lighthouse built in 1878-79, to a design that was developed by an engineer, John Blackett, for New Zealand conditions. It  was replaced in 1977 by an automatic light. 

  

We pass a statue of  Frank Arthur Worsley - a native of Akaroa who joined Shackleton's Antarctic Expedition of 1914.The aim was to cross the Antarctic continent, but the ship became frozen in ice, and was eventually crushed. All 28 men from the expedition floated on the ice until they put to sea. Then they sailed in three lifeboats until, thanks to Worsley's navigational skills, they reached Elephant Island, off the Antarctic Peninsula Worsley, Shackleton and four other men then sailed the 22-foot some 800 miles across the stormy South Atlantic Ocean, eventually arriving at their intended destination, South Georgia. This was an astounding feat of navigation by Worsley, who used a sextant in a tiny boat that encountered 50-foot (15 m) waves and storms. Shackleton, Worsley and seaman Tom Crean then walked across South Georgia in a 36-hour march to fetch help.All men were rescued from Elephant Island.

The French references continue as we pass the boucherie du village – sadly shut for the winter and also the patisserie – full of croissant and delicious looking pastries. 

The sun is shining as we jump into Nelly the Nissan and head south towards Lake Tekapo and the mountains. We head back and up along the twisty roads and have to stop as Tiegan feels sick – it could be a long journey! But she eventually settles into it and we don’t stop again until we eat our now familiar car picnic lunch in Ashburton – home of the salmon farm and the slightly weird Salmon World. 

We reach Lake Tekapo and Nicole does her stuff – negotiating the last budget room in Lake Tekapo lakefront hotel. Our now usual routine of find a backpacker, unpack and head to the supermarket follows and after a slightly heated discussion about the importance of vegetables the family settle down to chicken, mash, broccoli, sweetcorn and carrots. Sadly we missed the observatory trip as the girls are pooped and it is also very expensive!