Penguins and albatross

Saturday, April 16, 2011
Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand
We had started by flying from Kuala Lumpur to Christchurch, a route that had been just opened days earlier by Malaysian budget carrier Air Asia. The entire centre of the city was cordoned off, and we stayed in Riccarton closer to the airport, but even out there you could see a lot of earthquake damage. We rented a car ($25/day) which we drove for the next three weeks around South Island. We bought a BBH (Budget Backpacker Hostel) card, and stayed in private rooms in hostels affiliated with this group, for NZD $50 to $80 a night, a New Zealand dollar being valued at the time at 75 to 80 cents US. A few of the hostels were large and noisy, but most were small and cosy. Some were converted houses, and in a few cases the owner/managers were still living upstairs. There is always a shared kitchen and common area, usually a laundry, sometimes a beautiful garden. The peak season having finished, there was no difficulty finding space, and occasionally we had a hostel to ourselves. (Camping would of course be another excellent option throughout NZ and Australia.) We made most of our own meals, at the hostels. For lunch we usually packed ourselves a sandwich.

I spent seven weeks in NZ in 2001-2002, when my main focus was hiking some of the many tracks . This time, seven weeks again, Frances and I didn't do any overnight walks, but we did do a short walk (one to three hours) on most days. Because of the attractive climate and the varied and spectacular scenery all within a relatively small space, for me New Zealand is the best country in the world. Being far away from everywhere else helps a lot. (It's not even very close to Australia. Kuala Lumpur is as close to Johannesburg as it is to Auckland, and almost as close to Athens).

Before the earthquake, Christchurch was, in my opinion, the best city in the best country in the world. Dunedin has probably inherited the title for the time being. Auckland is fine, too, although big enough to make traffic jams a concern. Wellington scores well except for the wind and rain. All the cities are appealing, and even in the smaller towns like Nelson you can get anything you want, and attention is paid to history and the arts.

I've heard New Zealand described (by an Englishman) as more English than England, and while the refreshing absence of class snobbery might create some reservations about this conclusion, no regrets there .

The central part of South Island is a rainshadow with some brilliant lakes. We walked up Mount John above Lake Tekapo, had great weather at Mount Cook, and stayed on a farm called Buscot Station near Omarama. Back on the coast Oamaru is a pleasant town trying hard to maintain its historic buildings and use the blue (or fairy) penguins as its main attraction. They go off to sea all day, then at dusk they start popping up on the beach, pause at the top of the rocks much as we used to do before crossing the street in China, then when the group is large enough they waddle over to their burrows. At another beach there are yellow penguins, which can be viewed from the top of the cliff. We stayed at the Swaggers Hostel, run by a woman named Agra who had a lot of character and information.

The Otago Peninsula is an appendage of Dunedin but feels remote with sheep, empty beaches, penguins and an albatross sanctuary which we visited. We were lucky enough to see a family group, both parents feeding their huge fluffy chick simultaneously, which is unusual because they normally stay away for couple of days and return for an hour or two, usually taking turns.

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