12th October - Glencoe to Oamaru

We were woken up by an insolent cockerel that was very deliberately targeting us by crowing outside our windows and pecking at the car. He seemed to consider himself part of our little crew and stuck close-by, oozing attitude and taking a close look at everything we did, for the whole time it took to re-organise the car and make breakfast.

After trying out our new curtains last night, we realised that they would be better if we could put them up lengthways. I'd bought some curtin tape yesterday but didn't fancy hand-sewing them and so we headed back to the reclamation centre where we'd seen a hand-held machine. It turned out that the shop was closed on Fridays but I thought I'd try my luck. I explained to the lady at the gate that I knew what I wanted and where it was and, surprisingly, she radioed through to someone else, who then came out to get me and escort me through the shop to get what I wanted. Even better, it still had working batteries in it!

Since it was Friday, I was determined to make the most of some of the things that I wasn't able to do yesterday and first stop in the main town, after a quick op-shop stuff swop of course, was Annie's Victorian Tea Rooms. They were everything I'd hoped for and more: jam-packed with period paraphenalia and very elegant indeed. We sat by the flaming fireplace, watched over by a very stern-looking Queen Victoria and a stuffed deer head, and indulged ourselves with giant silver pots of tea and petite dishes of 'Colonial Goose' (mutton) sandwiches with the crusts cut off and Savoury Gem. The waitresses wore period dress and served with a curtsy and a deferential, 'Ma'am'. The sight of the cake trolley that they kept wheeling to the different tables made us both wide-eyed with wonder and we made no attempt to resist. Deciding between them was tough but we somehow managed. We weren't so successful at finishing them though and had to ask to take them away because there was no way we were leaving without them.

We had a chat with a grumpy-looking but very nice Scotsman who had moved to New Zealand 22 years ago and now worked at the local polytechnic. He said that he missed the UK but had only been home once and that was in 2010. I was a bit too scared to tell him that he clearly wasn't trying very hard.

Next stop was Oamaru Cycle Works where we met the owner, David, and rode replica 1880s Penny Farthings, a replica trike from the same period and a 1930s 3-wheeled delivery bike. We started with  small Penny Farthings, and I was proud to be complimented on my technique by a nearby enthusiast. Graduating on to the full-size version was not so successful and though Matt, with his affinity for all things mechanical, seemed to manage the transition smoothly, I went solo for just a few seconds before I started wobbly wildly. David was very chivalrous and made a grab for me before the bike but I still hit the floor. He was very concerned but I was completely unscathed, much to my disappointment since I would have very much liked a small scar from falling off a Penny Farthing.

Small one first 

Anji's fall

Graduated to the full size

Anji & David

We explored the shop and admired the huge touring Penny Farthing, all trussed up with camping gear. David told us that he had spent 3 months travelling around on it which must have really raised a few eyebrows because. not only did he have a very distinct moustache, the bike was nearly as tall as me. He told us that whenever he encountered a hill, he had to get off and walk with it.

I pumped him further for information and found out that he works with Annie of tea-shop fame and that he runs a consultancy helping towns with historical interests, capitalise on them for tourism purposes. I also found out that he had a few songs written about him (apparently not available on YouTube) and that the huge Penny Farthing swing frame we had seen on the park was actually a sculpture of him.

David armed us with information on the town, and we waved goodbye to him, his 'tache and his young assistant, Bailey.  He did insist that we visit the whisky shop and the art gallery so we took his advice.

The whisky shop was worth a look but the art gallery above it was wonderful. The large loft was a piece of art in itself and we were even more enamored by the space than we were the artwork. The Scottish guy was there chatting to the owner and we overheard that he was also a local artist. We chatted to them briefly and the lady recommended going to Shag Point (insert a few jokes from the Scottish guy here) on our way to Dunedin.

We were about to finally say goodbye to this charismatic town when Matt caught sight of the hand-made hat shop, 'Flocked and Fleeced', and just had to go in. I struck up a conversation with the lady inside and she seemed quite reticent at first but soon got into the swing of it - over half an hour later we were still chatting away. She showed us how she made some of the hats, told us more about her love of felting and shared some of her personal family history. I found her really inspiring and encouraging and I left with a very fuzzy feeling and an enthusiastic recommendation for the artisan cheese factory. I must remember to look her up at Hoda Gallery on Facebook.

We had to go past the bike shop to go to the car and David stopped us to insist I had another go on the Penny Farthing and better my 'most elegant first dismount'. I wish I could say that I managed it with elegance and flair this time but instead I simply had to be satisfied with staying upright - and the (hopefully) tongue-in-cheek offer of marriage.

A quick visit to the cheese shop, a glance around their factory and a cheeky purchase of their signature 'Windsor Blue' and we finally bid a sad goodbye to this memorable town of steam Punk, penguins, op-shops, accordion-players, afternoon tea, Victorian bikes, milliners and whisky.

On the road out of Oamaru, we came across Moeraki Boulders, where large spherical calcite rocks over 4 million years old, rest along the beach. They are 'concretions'and are understood to form much in the same as pearls, but around larger bodies such as a bone fragment or bone. I really liked the ones that had split open and lay with their layers exposed.

Further down the road we hit Matakaea Scenic Reserve, otherwise known as 'Shag Point', where it is possible to see sea-lions, seals and penguins. We were walking towards the viewing point overlooking the rocks when I caught my breath; what we thought was a boulder in the grass turned round and looked at us.  There wasn't a single seal near the water but we had just stumbled straight on one lying right beside us on the grass. I had visions of us being chased round the edge of a cliff by an angry hunk of blubber running on two flippers and so steered well clear.

The other notable thing about Shag Point is that an almost complete skeleton of a 7 metre-long Elasmosaur, the largest marine reptiles of all time and extinct for about 65 million years, was found here in the 1980s, at the centre of a Katiki boulder. Katiki boulders are very similar to the Moeraki boulders further north but tend to erode from the inside out.

50km later and we arrived at the city of endless hills: Dunedin. We checked out a few campsites but none of them were very appealing and so we headed for the country lanes.

We parked up next to some pretty sheep but I was still hyped up after our great day and wasn't ready to sleep yet so we had a stab at using the hand-held sewing machine to turn the lengthways curtains into sideways curtains to cover the cab of the car. We guessed that anyone driving past would be too disturbed by the sight of us sat in a pitch-dark lane making curtains to bother us.

After a bit of a difficult start where I was convinced the machine was broken, we made quick progress until, upon completion, I realised that we’d sewn the curtain tape on the wrong way and had actually made upside-down curtains. After a quick debate about whose fault it was, I unpicked the tape and we measured out a new length and started again. Experience made us faster still. Then we ran out of cotton. We had managed to stitch one side of the tape though so even though the curtain hung a bit floppily, it hung nonetheless and we were quite proud of our handiwork.