with all four of us having cameras, i didn't take as many pictures as i should have, and often let them handle pictures, saying i'd get them from them later. when this later is, i have no idea. probably next time i'm in tucson ... the point being i don't have a pcitures from a lot of things we did, since i let them handle it. and no pictures of us.
we had absolutely spectacular weather the whole time they were here: no rain, warm, sunny. definitely not the dunedin i know and love. and then they left and it rained so much the leith flooded.
but anyways.
they arrived easter sunday and we had a nice afternoon in my flat and a brief driving tour of dunedin (it's amazing how quickly you can drive everywhere compared to walking). we went down to st. claire's beach - a great surf beach - that i hadn't been to and walked around, watching the surfers and down a little path.
monday we met up with one of my dad's friends from grade school, mike, and drove north to see the moeraki boulders - a sort of geological anomoly where little balls of sand get rolled back and forth so much and for so long that they form these boulders. this does happen in other places, but what's so unique about these is that a) they're so big and b) there are so many of them.
pretty cool, really. although it is a bit of a tourist trap, with a gift shop and cafe above the beach that actually tries to charge you for beach access when there's a free access point via DoC right down the beach.
everyone was (obviously) quite keen to see penguins, and both mike and i had heard that there was a great place to see them in oamaru, a little town just north of the boulders. it was early afternoon, and the best time to see penguins is at dusk, so we decided to bum around oamaru for a little while - the lonely planet claimed cool architecture and a historic district.
we stumbled into a pseudo art gallery / theatre company which was quite strange, with all these masks and faces staring out at you. i tried to take pictures of it, but none of them quite capture the bizarre atmosphere of this place.
there was also a book binders and a fantastic second hand bookstore where my momma bought me middlemarch and the shopkeeper even wrapped it up in brown paper and twine. quite cool.
the best part about oamaru though, holding up to its reputation, was the penguins. my dad's pictures are heaps better, i'm sure, but still, these are pretty cool:
my god, they're adorable, aren't they?
it was absolutely fantastic. the penguins were right there - we could hear them calling to each other and watch them come up from the surf. incredible. it was amazing to see so many and to have them so close.
we stayed in dunedin on tuesday and visited the otago museum and the public art gallery. the gallery had a great exhibit by ans westra who has photographically documented kiwis, particularly maori, wince the 1950s. it was really remarkable to watch history go by as you walked through the exhibit.
on wednesday, we drove down to the catlins, a national park an hour or so south of dunedin. the area is covered with all these little walks and beaches, so we stayed mostly along the coast, visiting a beach,
the purakaunui falls,
and nugget point.
everywhere you go in this country, there is another beautiful landscape or scenery or beach unlike anything else you've ever seen. it really is amazing.
on thursday, we rode the taieri gorge railway, which runs (surprise surprise) through the taieri gorge. back in the good 'ole days during the otago gold rush, the railway was huge, but now it's just run for tourists.
it was great though - there was a running commentary all the way up the gorge done by an absolutely hysterical kiwi guy, complete with stories, history, and random facts. it was very nice and relaxing and i really felt like it gave me a greater understanding of the history of otago (which i am embarassed to admit, wasn't very great before this trip).
[the end of the railroad]
we also went to robbie's on thursday night. i couldn't have my parents and granijo come visit me in dunedin and not take them to jazz. i even think they enjoyed themselves.
due to various complications, we had decided to do a day trip (rather than an overnight) to christchurch, which is about four and a half hours drive from dunedin. christchurch is the biggest town on the south island and is considered really artsy, english, and good for shopping on the south island. [and the perfect place for me to buy a pack]
we left at 7:30 am and managed to get there by noon, which is pretty impressive, considering that the kiwis only have two lane motorways. for most of the afternoon, we split up and did our own thing. my parents came with me to look for a pack - always an interesting experience. we went into a few different shops and i tried on a number of packs - adding weight, walking up and down stairs, adjusting the size, considering different features and so on. i finally found one later in the day on attempt number two and store number three. a 60 L vaude (german company) which i am quite proud of :)
but. anyways, my mom and i went to the center of contemporary art (coca) in the afternoon. it's more like an art gallery than an art museum. there were a few great exhibits by some local artists and then one full of work by grade school students with a "global citizenship" theme. our favourite was by a 14 year old boy - a green landscape that had a barbed wire fence with ripped pieces of flags from all over the world on it. his comment was that he thought that global citizenship meant no borders or fences. really quite a powerful and impressive piece from someone so young.
we got through coca pretty fast, and so headed over to the arts centre - a collection of different galleries in an old building for a bit of a wander.
and then back to cathedral square to meet dad and granijo and see the cathedral.
we went to dinner at a little sports pub and then headed back to dunedin, arriving around 11:30. i sat in the front and talked to my dad on the way back to help keep him awake - it's quite a long drive for one day.
it was really great because i got the chance to talk to both of my parents independently. i think one of the strangest things about growing up is the divide that forms as a result of distance (i hear almost nothing about their day-to-day lives) but also how much easier it is to relate to their lives. obviously, there is a generational gap, but i love being able to talk about bits and pieces from my life and theirs and feel some sort of mutual understanding.
on saturday we spent the day in dunedin again. went to the farmer's market at the railway station and did some souvenier shopping. we also drove out to the peninsula and out to tairoa head to try to see some albatross, with no luck, but the drive really is beautiful. and the view from the head is stunning.
it was granijo's birthday on monday, so we had a little party for her that night. granijo was off early the next morning to join her tour (she stayed in new zealand for a bit longer after my parents left), so i said goodbye to her that night. the next morning, my parents came by my flat to say goodbye before their flight left.
i feel quite lucky for having parents and a grandmother who would travel halfway around the world to spend a week out here. it was so, so nice to spend time with all of them (and i promise i'm not just saying that because you read this).
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