We awoke again today to find it raining. We really are getting a bit tired of the rain but what can we do. We have been able to find alternative activities so we are still getting to learn more about this area of New Zealand. Already we have added an extra day to our time in Dunedin. Today we still have a few things to do before leaving. Our first stop was going to be the Cadbury Chocolate factory but we ended up parking beside the Dunedin Railway station which was to be our second stop. We learned that this building is the 2nd most photographed building in the southern hemisphere (second to the Sydney Opera House). The Dunedin Railway Station is a jewel in the country's architectural crown. Designed by George Troup, the station is the fourth building to have served as Dunedin's railway station. It earned its architect the nickname of "Gingerbread George".
The station is constructed from dark basalt from Kokonga in the Strath-Taieri with lighter Oamaru stone facings, giving it the distinctive light and dark pattern common to many of the grander buildings of Dunedin and Christchurch. Pink granite was used for a series of supporting pillars which line a colonnade at the front of the building. The roof was tiled in terracotta shingles from Marseilles surmounted by copper-domed cupolas. The southern end of the building is dominated by the 37-metre clock tower which is visible from much of central Dunedin. Today the Sports Hall of Fame is housed in the facility. I should also mention that the gardens in front of the station have been sculpted from low hedges and colored with a variety of flowerbeds.
We walked from the railway station to the Cadbury Chocolate Factory to sign up for a tour. (I should point out that the cost for the tour was 18 dollars each but by the end we were given close to that in chocolate bars during the tour.) You start the tour by walking through the Cadbury World.
The experience begins with a display on the origins of chocolate and the associated industry, with lots of fascinating insights into human sacrifices among the historic cultures of South America, chocolate as a medicine and favored drink of the nobility, and much more. There were lots of displays and facts presented to help us learn about the history and development of milk chocolate. Once we finished browsing, the tour proper starts. First off is a DVD presentation of the history of Cadbury and the Dunedin location in particular, as well as a short safety message.
Once bags and jewellery are safely stowed away in a secure locker (cameras had to be left behind so there are no photos from inside the factory), a guide took us through various parts of the factory, where we saw many of the production processes that turn cocoa beans into those tasty snacks. We even got an explanation of how the hollow eggs are formed.
As a special fashion bonus, you get to wear a rather fetching paper hat. It keeps hairs out of the chocolate. For those of us with facial hair we also got a paper mask to put on. How handsome we must have looked.
The factory produces chocolates of all shapes and sizes, from individual chocolate buttons to massive 12.5kg chocolate bricks for trade use. The guide's talks was supplemented by regular video presentations and posters.
One of the tour highlight was to witness a tonne of melted chocolate fall through a deep silo before your very eyes. If you're unlucky (lucky?), some of it might splash on you, so take care. Once the tour was finished we were able to take some pictures of a couple of antique delivery trucks.
We finished our tour at Cadbury’s and had heard about Baldwin Street while on the tour by the tour guide. Baldwin Street is considered the world's steepest residential street. A short straight street of a little under 350 metres length, Baldwin Street runs east from the valley of the Lindsay Creek up the side of Signal Hill, rising from 30 metres (98 ft) above sea level at its junction with North Road to 100 metres (330 ft) above sea level at the top, an average slope of slightly more than 1:5. Its lower reaches are of only moderate steepness, and the surface is asphalt, but the upper reaches of this cul-de-sac are far steeper, and surfaced in concrete, for ease of maintenance (bitumen — in either chip seal or asphalt — would flow down the slope on a warm day) and for safety in Dunedin's frosty winters. At its maximum, the slope of Baldwin Street is approximately 1:2.86 (35%) – that is, for every 2.86 metres travelled horizontally, the elevation rises by 1 metre.
We arrived to find a young lady looking at the street with her bike considering riding to the top and then biking back down. Wes and I decided to park at the bottom and walk to the top and I can assure you we were out of breath by the time we got to the top. The young lady meanwhile started to bike up the hill but she found it too steep so ended up pushing it the really steep section. If you look at the pictures you will see how much of an angle she was in just to push the bike over this section. I tried to find a way to show how steep the hill was but the best I could do was show the slope of the road compared to the houses along it. These driveways must be fun during winter.
We finished at Balwin Street and then headed out of town towards Oamaru finally getting back on the move. The drive is a short one but we still wanted to stop and check out the Moeraki Boulders on the way. The Moeraki Boulders are unusually large and spherical boulders lying along a stretch of Koekohe Beach on the wave cut Otago coast of New Zealand between Moeraki and Hampden. They occur scattered either as isolated or clusters of boulders within a stretch of beach where they have been protected in a scientific reserve. The erosion by wave action of mudstone, comprising local bedrock and landslides, frequently exposes embedded isolated boulders. These boulders are grey-colored septarian concretions, which have been exhumed from the mudstone enclosing them and concentrated on the beach by coastal erosion.
The rock comprising the bulk of a boulder is riddled with large cracks called "septaria" that radiate outward from a hollow core lined with scalenohedral calcite crystals. The process or processes that created septaria within Moeraki Boulders, and in other septarian concretions, remain an unresolved matter for which a number of possible explanations have been proposed. These cracks radiate and thin outward from the centre of the typical boulder and are typically filled with an outer (early stage) layer of brown calcite and an inner (late stage) layer of yellow calcite spar, which often, but not always, completely fills the cracks. Rare Moeraki Boulders have a very thin innermost (latest stage) layer of dolomite and quartz covering the yellow calcite spar.
We continued on our way and arrived at our campsite late afternoon. We learned that there was the Oamaru Blue Penguin Colony with tours to watch the penquins as they return from fishing. We decided that we really wanted to see Blue Penquins which are the smallest penquin at about 30 cm high as an adult. This colony has been protected and there is an effort to sustain the colony while not interfering in any way. As a result, they have a section where the penguins nest protected including setting up predator traps to protect them.
To support this endeavour they have set up a stadium / bleachers for tourists to watch the penguins in an environment that does not interfere with the movements of the penguins. Because the penguins are so small, they do several things to protect themselves. They need to go out and fish each day but if they have any young in nests they must return to feed them. So they leave just before light in the morning while it is still dark and they return at dark in the evening. While they are fishing they swim on their own, but when they come back in to shore they first gather as group (called a raft) and then approach shore as a large group. Then they walk up the shore to their nests.
As tourists we are able to watch them and because they can not see the color orange, sodium lights are used to light up the area. However, all other lights will cause problems so cameras, phones, video cams etc. are forbidden in the bleachers so again I was not able to get any pictures (the ones on the blog are taken from the internet). They enforce this so strictly that if you even have a camera out you might be asked to leave immediately, and will be escorted out. There were actually a few people who tried to sneak a picture and we saw them being escorted out so it is a serious concern.
I should step back a second and talk more about the tour we signed up for which picked us up at 6:45 pm. We first were taken for a tour of the city and shown some of the historical buildings. What I enjoyed seeing was the use of Oamaru Stone on so many buildings. I really liked this stone since it was a creamy white color naturally and looked very clean and bright. We also got to see a couple of very old streets with original buildings. These narrow streets reminded me of some of the old streets in Quebec City.
From the city tour we went to Bushy Beach to look for the Yellow Eyed Penguins which nest on this beach. The beach is closed from 3 pm each day and not opens until later in the morning to ensure the penguins can leave in the am for fishing and return in the afternoon. Often they return between 4 and 6 apparently. We walked along the top of the bank overlooking the beach and watched for returning penguins and try to spot any in their nests. We only found one adult that was visible and no babies. We were not too concerned since we saw several yesterday.
From here we went to the Oamaru Blue Penguin Reserve to be in the stands by 9 pm to watch them come in. This was really worth doing but the weather was really not working for us. There was a strong wind, and cool air (about 9 degrees C) so everyone was feeling the chill. Hard to believe we are in the middle of summer here when it feels so cold. Both Wes and I were prepared since it had been chilly all day we took our fleeces and wind breakers. Wes also had a pair of gloves to keep his hands warm (I did but those who know me know my hands don’t get cold very often). Even then we really did enjoy watching the Blue Penguins come in and walk across in front of us on their way home. By 10 pm we also were ready to get out of the cold and head back home, which we did.
This has been a very eventful and full day.
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