ALLIE: DAY 50: Thursday, the 5th of April
Shag Point with
neither shag nor penguins, the bolders and historic Oamaru
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| various types of Kiwi shags |
‘Backpacker’s’ accommodation might be cheap but is not
really for us. The loo was miles downstairs and when you wanted a shower, you
had to cue with dozens of others.
At least Phil decided that this was his last
stay in one of these places. So we pack up and escape from this nondescript
city into the countryside. Highway No 1 takes us long the coast.
This is the
main trans-continental route but it looks like a quite backstreet.
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| looking out for penguins but only see shags! |
Our fist stop is at the promising sounding “Shag Point”.
It’s obviously famous for penguins, seals and shags! What sort of shags?
Well,
not the sort you may think of, we are talking ornithological stuff here. There
are three different types of shags: the steward island shag, the spotted shag
and the sooty shearwater shag.
We also spot some sunbathing seals but no penguins. As we
jokingly say, they’re probably down the pub!
The weather is gorgeous and we stop at ‘The Boulders’. These
are absolutely round shaped stones being carved that way by the sea some
million years ago. We walk along the endless coast line and I am very tempted
to try the waters, but it’s VERY cold.
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| incredibly round shaped bolders |
On towards the little town of Oamaru. We have heard nice
things about it but when we drive in, we are at first a bit disappointed: the
same industrial looking harbour front with lots of derelict buildings.
But as
we come into town, we discover some wonderful neo-classical architecture for
the late 19th century. We don’t have a problem to find accommodation
here, it all seems empty and we can choose amongst the 8 rooms in the
“Criterion Hotel” built in 1887. The rooms look like they were left untouched
for 130 years with lots of Victorian interior design and memorabilia.
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| Entrance to the Kriterion hotel in Oamaru |
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| The old harbour |
A stroll through the centre of town reveals that this town
has been at one stage even larger then Los Angels being “the best built city in
the whole of New Zealand” – at least this was back in 1853!
But it still
retains some wonderful buildings and a lot of charme. The range of interesting
looking pubs and restaurants will make it a hard choice for tonight!
 |
| fit elderly people! |
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| coast line near Oamaru |
The best street we find is Harbour Street. This old lane is
packed with traditional English style buildings and a range from a German
bakery, to a Whisky distillery to some arti-farti stone crafters and jewellery
shops.
The Lonely Planet and the locals in town recommend us to go
out to … beach to look out for the rarest penguins in
the world: the Blue Penguins (Eudyptula
Minor). We should not go down to the beach but wait for them at the
look-out – no photographs please! But the birds have decided that they won’t
show up just for some far away travellers.
For dinner we end up at the “Last Post”, the old Post
Station. A very lively pub with great food. Then back to our bar at the
Criterion Hotel for some computer stuff (editing our millions of pics and
fighting with the special computer brains that these things tend to have).
We
see a poster advertising a session of guitar music at the ‘Penguin Club’ down
the road and are debating whether we should go.
That minute three guys walk in
and start to tune up their guitars. The music sounds really great, folkie and
harmonious.
We decide to go to the concert thinking those were the performers.
Unfortunately it turns out that the guy performing is a different bloke called
Paul Urbana Jones and he plays Reggae. We are not quite into that kind of music
and after an hour of listening to his music we had enough. But at least we have
been to a real live concert of “Kiwi Music” in a quirky place.
PHIL: Day
50/5 April
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| at the bolders beach |
An
easier programme today with only Oamaru, 100km up the coast, in our sights. We
fail to spot the promised yellow-eyed penguins at Shag Point (though we do see
some shags) or the blue penguins at Oamaru, however, unlike almost every
NZ town we have visited so far, is a gem of thoughtful restoration and re-use.
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| bakery lady |
A bakery, whisky store, stonemason’s and a host of interesting enterprises fill
two streets of historic port buildings.
Even the town’s main street retains a
kind of Antipodean-Scottish neo-classical style which is reminiscent of Peebles
or
The
Penguin Club has a Maori guitarist performing so we go along only to find that,
whilst he is a skilled performer, the ‘roots’ music is not to our taste, but we
visit a couple of pubs which make up for it.
The Criterion Hotel where we stay
is a beautifully restored Victorian structure and amazingly one of the few CDs
lying in the residents’ lounge is a 1995 recording of our favourite
Bristol-based band ‘Carmina’ with friends Rob and Pippa photographed on the
sleeve.
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