Have stretchy cord, will jump off anything

The Kawarau Bridge near Queenstown NZ is a lovely bridge that used to be the main line for traffic travel up and down the central part of NZ. They still have a number of single lane bridges here, but this one is unique with cable construction and solid wood for pavement.

Now closed to vehicular traffic, it is home to one of most fascinating rituals, in which humans will lash themselves to a huge stretchy cable and launch themselves off of this bridge, into the gaping gully below, all for the low, low price of $160 NZD.

See the tiny dingy at the bottom right? The tiny little yellow blob? Yeah, that's where they get your evicerated body after you hurtle through space, into oblivion, or sometimes the water, at the bottom.

And because kiwi's have a great sense of the strange, these are the toilet signs in the visitor center. Puts a whole new spin on bungy wouldn't you say?

The Remarkables

Mountains. Very remarkable mountains.

Skiing included:) Some payment required.

Totara Estate

Hop in the car with me and let's go for an adventure. Through the town and over the hills around the bend in the road where the organic fruit and veggie market are and here we are.

Totara Estate.
The stone buildings greet us, their soft shade of ecru making this farm seem clean and somehow outside of time. The old machines stand silent waiting to be used again to gather in hay, or round up sheep or haul meat to the ships waiting in the harbor, a scant day long drive by buggy.

As the first farm to export frozen sheep meat to Europe, Totara Estate launched New Zealand into fortune and fame by supplying much of the western world in the 1800's with food while famine and disease were plaguing Europe.
Today Totara Estate is a museum, standing as a reminder of the days before cargo was sent by plane, before freezing food had been perfected and before 5 billion dollars of worth sheep were sent off to be someones dinner every year.

Where shall we go?

At the Dunedin Train station is the most lovely train platform I have ever seen. I am not sure if it was lovely because of the joy that this place can be the starting point for so much travel and adventure, or because this place is the destination where so much adventure and travel does take place.

But as the wind whistles past, grabbing at your hair, tugging on your scarf, you can almost here it ask... "Where shall we go today?"

Where? Where? Where?

I'm floored

I love mosaics. At one point in time I was seriously thinking about doing a mosaic restoration course so that I could spend lots of time playing in the dirt with tiny pieces of glass and tile. After a few courses in art however, it was discovered that I lack much natural artistic ability and mosaics require a certain...well... artistic ability. So now I just enjoy looking at mosaics instead. It's a great thing that you can find them all over the world!

This beauty is inside the Dunedin Train station. It is a stunning piece of work. Just to see the train looking ready to go, steam about to pop out of it and chugga-chugga noises squish out of the wheels, makes a heart happy.

I had to tip toe over it. It was just to pretty to walk over.

Dunedin - the Edinburgh of New Zealand

About an hour and a half south of where I live is the windswept, hilly city of Dunedin (Say Done-Eden). Settled predominately by the Scottish you can still hear the Scottish burr when some of the old timers speak. At times it was easy to think you were in Scotland. I just need my traveling buddy with me. (come on down Amanda!) In Dunedin you can see for miles on the tops of the hills.

Overlooking the city of Dunedin

We stopped at St. Clare beach for a peek. No swimming this trip, it’s just too cold. Antarctica is only a couple hundred miles away and it's winter here. Brrr.

St. Clare beach

We went by some amazing old buildings built in the Flemish style like many buildings in Scotland.The train station is the most photographed building in New Zealand. Who actually figured this out and why, is honestly and truly beyond me.

The old Dunedin train Station

One of the many boys schools

One of the many church steeples

And we found (Ok, ok we located it. Everyone knows where it is, so 'found' may be a bit strong) a piece of Edinburgh castle. No joke! The old guys hauled a piece of home off to this new land with them and now it sits on a hill overlooking the city. Sadly it does not have the majesty of Edinburgh castle with it anymore…

A piece of Edinburgh Castle

The Steepest Road in the World

Move over Lombard!

Baldwin Street, in illustrious Dunedin, has the claim to the steepest section of road in the world.
The view from the top of Baldwin Street

Annually there is a contest to run up and down this hill. The standing record? 1 min 58 sec.
Ridiculous!
We drove up and back down. Took us just over 3 minutes.

Elephant Rocks - lots of rocks, not one elephant

I knew I lived in a beautiful country. That knowledge was reinforced with a short trip into the hills behind Oamaru. With my housemate’s grandson in tow, I headed up to Elephant Rocks. These crookedly shaped rocks are limestone and have been eroded over time with the wind and rain.

These may look familiar to some of you who have seen the recent movie “The Lion, the witch and the wardrobe” as the battle scene was filmed here. Yep. I live 30 minutes from the battleground and the place where they shot Aslan’s camp. Very cool!

My tour guide, Shula, did an awesome job of getting us there and giving me a very detailed insight into everything we saw on the way. He also made me look like a weenie when I wouldn’t climb on some of the big rocks. He got right up there, like a little mountain goat.