Dunedin - Larnach Castle

There are gems all over this island, and Dunedin holds a great many, we visited so many things while in town... if it was only 10 degrees warmer... there may be more residents, but then you would lose the charm.

We loved the peninsula, driving along the ridges of the landscape amongst the sheep, looking over a harbour on one side and the ocean on the other. Then on the top of the peninsula a real slice of history - Larnach Castle. www.larnachcastle.co.nz

The effort involved in shipping the materials from all around the world in the 1860's is truly remarkable, and the end result, astounding!

The gardens were beautifully kept, and we enjoyed a devonshire tea in the ballroom. A real treat. If you get to this part of the world, make the time for a visit, you won't regret it.

Christchurch

For a city that shook, it has been doing an incredible job tidying up the dregs of  the buildings and the rubble on the streets.

When we drove through, we could see boarded windows, protective fencing, empty blocks of land, and some buildings still being pulled down.
What amazed me most was on one street everything was fine and dandy, yet around the corner a full block was turned to rubble.

In the clean up process it seems as though they had run out of room, and we saw a large warehouse / shelter that was full to the roof with broken pieces of buildings. Really brought home just how much work has been done... and how much there still is to go.

From the Water, Aurora australis?

This was an unusual sight we saw on the East Coast of the southern island.

Rays of light heading UP from the ocean, the sun was behind us, so it was nothing to do with the sunset... we actually are very unsure of what we were looking at... was it the Aurora Australis?

Because the location of the light was so close to the water, rather than in the upper atmosphere, and the rays of light were straight rather than arcs or bands, it's very hard for us to tell. Regardless, it was an amazing and beautiful sight.