The Southiest we've ever Southed

   

Playing on a teeter-totter while waiting for a ride

Victorian Precinct

Iconic Ionic

We got an early start to our hitchhiking journey by getting a ride with Pien into Christchurch. She dropped us off at a gas station, and even though it was still dark, within 45 minutes we were in a car headed south. As always, a day of hitchhiking is a day of interesting stories and characters. Six rides and eight hours later, we bid farewell to our last ride, stepping out of his car in downtown Oamaru. All that was left to do was to contact Peter, our host, so he could pick us up and take us to his lifestyle block. After finding a cafe with wifi and having a disappointingly thin milkshake, we emailed Peter, and decided to take a leisurely walk around town while waiting for him to respond. Our heavy and cumbersome bags greatly limited our exploration radius, but we did find the visitor's center. There we watched an informative video about the town, and learned its history. Although we had traveled across both the North and South Islands, Oamaru had a completely unique vibe. When the town was first established in the mid 1800s, a lack of trees and surplus of quarries caused the town to be constructed completely out of limestone. The stunning architecture and antique decor gives it a Victorian-era wild west feel. In it's heyday, it was larger than Los Angeles was at the time, and quite an important port. It went into decline in the early-mid 1900s, when a more convenient port opened up further north. In the last 30 years there has been a renaissance, and many of the beautiful old stone buildings have been restored, and now there is a charming Victorian precinct, reminiscent of Europe.

The Steam Punk Headquarters
The train shot flames out of its stack on the hour.

Stationary penny-farthings
do not count.  

     So, with bags in hand, we set out to explore the town, but not before "riding" the mounted pennyfarthing. After eating lunch on a nice cliff overlooking the ocean, we gawked at the impressive architecture. As the sun started going down, we realized we really needed to get in touch with Peter. But, he had not responded to our email, and he did not answer his phone. We waited around, hoping he had read the email and would come pick us up, but after waiting for a few hours in the hail and sleet, we decided to give up.

A gaggle of penny-farthings

typical New Zealand robotic fauna

 Luckily, there were a few "backpackers'" (hostels) in town, and the second one we tried, Empire Backpackers was open and welcoming. It was incredible to come in from the freezing rain to a warm, dry hostel with a roaring fire. They took pity on us and gave us a private room for the cost of 2 dorm beds, and the cozy bed quickly erased the days' tribulations. After the long day, we had just enough energy to whip up some homemade burgers (delicious grassfed beef is crazy cheap in New Zealand) before collapsing on that magnificent bed.

What we're missing

     We began the next day well-rested and well-fed after a leisurely breakfast. The hostel owners graciously offered to let us leave our packs at the hostel while we explored the town. And so, with light hearts and light shoulders, we set out to see the sights and find our missing host. Taking a seat outside the local library, we sent an email to Peter, hoping to hear back soon. While waiting, a young man approached Randy and asked if he was Sam. When Randy answered that he wasn't the man then asked if we wanted any drugs. Apparently, he was willing to sell drugs to anyone who isn't Sam.

A tricycle built for two

     Our next stop was a big mistake. The local rotary club was holding a "Bookarama" and we foolishly thought there would be no harm in seeing what literature was there. An hour later we were standing over our box of books wondering how we were going to possibly fit them in our packs. It didn't help that as we were culling the pile, it was announced that all books were now 50¢. 

What it lacks in comfort it makes up
in cute dog-face thingy

     Next, we lugged our books down to the local farmers' market. We hadn't been to a farmers' market since the year before and were excited to check out the local farming scene. It was late fall and the season was wrapping up so there weren't many vendors. We bought some fresh carrots, added them to our growing "luggage of the day", and headed over to the Victorian Precinct.

The closest we got to riding a pennyfarthing

Hand-crank tricycle

     It felt like we'd stepped into 19th-century Europe, complete with the occasional carriage or pennyfarthing on the street, and even some people in period costumes. While wandering around we found a bicycle museum displaying all kinds of unique and old-fashioned bicycles.

I feel the need..
the need for Velocipede!

We were a few dollars shy of being able to ride a pennyfarthing, so we set out to the nearest ATM. Tragically, while we were gone the museum decided to close an hour early, and Randy was unable to fulfill his life goal of riding a pennyfarthing

Oliphaunt birthing

It is physically impossible to make a cooler swingset

logical blow was softened by the discovery of the coolest playground ever. After running around like excited children, sampling all the outlandish equipment, some actual children showed up and we decided we should probably let them have a turn.

Hamster Holly

     In Hawaii, our host, Tane, had recommended that we see penguins while in New Zealand. Oamaru boasted two colonies of penguins, one of blue penguins and one of yellow-eyed penguins.

Industrial cast-offs repurposed
into a sweet grill and picnic area. 

The penguins...

 Besides differences in appearance, the two penguins species had different schedules. After a long day of aquatic hunting the yellow-eyed penguins return to their colony-site just before dusk, whereas the blue penguins arrive just after. Because special spotlights are required to view the blues, they charge $40 for the privilege of viewing them. They have set up bleachers, do not allow photography, and have made quite a hullabaloo about the whole thing.

...kept getting...

Meanwhile, down the road, the humble yellow-eyed penguin parades about in the daylight, granting any passersby an eyeful. Guess which colony we checked out?

beautiful New Zealand coastline

...closer...

    The viewing platforms were about 100 feet above the beach, so at first all we saw were fuzzy black and white dots in the distance that we assumed were the penguins. Soon enough penguins were coming ashore close enough for us to see their yellow eye-stripes. As twilight approached, we started to leave, but came across a lone penguin who had clambered its way up the steep hillside to within a few yards of the path.
     It was the perfect way to end our penguin-viewing, and we happily headed back to town. A

...and closer!

half hour later we were on a bench in front of the visitor's center eating gross focaccia, and a half hour after that we were in Peter's car, finally on our way to our last New Zealand stop!