We've been in the camper van for 32 days now and we're excited that we're down to just 9 more nights in it. It's been an unusual trip aside from living in such confined quarters. The South Island has had incredible amounts of rain. November was a doozy for rain, but some places got several month's worth of rain in the first 5 days of December! The route we've been on has been rainy every day (yesterday we only got some brief, light sprinkles, yay!), but we've lucked out as many roads behind has have closed down because of flooding, erosion, and landslides. The West Coast has significant state highway closures that might last into mid-January! Tourists have been helicoptered out because they're stuck near some of the most famous nature sites over there. Livestock have been lost or have also had to be helicoptered to safety. And for several days it was impossible to get to Christchurch (where we will return the van) from the south. The main road reopened yesterday after being closed for about 5 days. Most people outside of NZ have heard about the volcano erupting rather than the extremely wet weather. The volcano situation is a sad story, nevertheless. It's over a 1,000km from where we are, Dunedin, on the South Island.
Dunedin is a lovely city. It doesn't get tons of praise from international tourists but we really like it. The other day we took a unique train ride from the city into the Taieri gorge. The amount of engineering that went into building the tunnels and trestle bridges about a hundred years ago is amazing. These days, the train only exists to take tourists through this beautiful and deserted portion of the country. As for Dunedin, it's got lovely old buildings, friendly locals, and some good food options. And we got Sam's beloved milk tea with bubbles! And she's gotten to swim at a salt water pool that's right next to the lovely ocean. She's enjoying a second swim there today as I type.
We're here for another night and then will slowly head back up the coast to Christchurch over the next week. Hopefully the worst of the weather is over for the South Island!
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| This wrought iron, curved bridge took a lot of work! |
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| Through the gorge |
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| Giant kelp near Second Beach in St Clair (a Dunedin neighborhood) |
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| Salt water pool in the distance, St Clair |
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| The lovely Dunedin Railway Station |
