Rapid Round Up

Castles, Squid, Penguins and Empire

Dunedin and we head for the day onto the Otago Peninsular. We head of first to Lanarch Castle, reputed to be the only castle in New Zealand. Not strictly accurate it's not a castle but the residence created for a banker. Interesting as a route into the history of the area. The man who it was built for seems to have suffered a few business reversals, signed the place over to his wife to dodge any risk from bankruptcy and then had to diddle his kids out of the place once she suddenly died. Throw into the mix he ended up blowing his brains out at the NZ Parliament. His son blew his brains out too. The kids hated the castle. Actually an interesting period home, good gardens and good cake in the tea rooms.

Next port of call is the Aquarium, great touch tanks, nice Octopus (I didn't realise they only lived two years and for the male sex is pretty much death and breeding is for the female. Makes you wonder why they bother. It isn't big but the person talking to us is knowledgeable. Nice stuff about large squid too. I end up buying Cal a Shark glove puppet.

Grab lunch at the Bistro in Portobello at the end of the road from the Aquarium, good it is too. Cajun chicken for me, bowl of chips for Cal and Fish and Chips for Monst. All washed down with Coke.

Highlight of the day though is our visit to the Penguin Place. A series of trenches and hides bring you close in at a colony of yellow eyed penguins. This goes down well with Cal who is extremely well behaved throughout and keeps quiet and doesn't get over excited. This is despite the fact he loves penguins and this lot are so close. It is well cool and is a highlight I think for all of us.

Eat bloody awful pizza on the way back to the hotel where I drop the folks and head for a drink at the Empire a place with musical significance for me at least. This is all too brief but enjoyable. Head back and collapse in bed.

Straight Road, Slow Speed, No Ticket

Dunedin to Christchurch, a memorable journey, the highlights of which are that the weather forecast is for snow so I keep a weather eye on the clouds trying to beat the weather. I've been involved in this sort of thing before, we drove through Texas once stopping at Billy the Kid's Real Grave and Lubbock only running away from snow. The clouds get grey but nothing but raindrops. The road is straight, the scenery isn't as good as some we've seen this trip, Monst is akip in the back of the car, I'm watching the speedo to keep within the speed limit, I even find time to take a photo of my view from the car I'm that bored. Highlights of the trip turn out to be breakfast, stopping for a piss and lunch. We arrive at Christchurch at about 3.00.

We check into the hotel which is very nice, Monst changes the room for us because it only has one bed for the lot of us. Not a problem, people are helpful. I'm bored out of my tree so decide to walk into town in the rain. Deep joy it pisses down, I post my days postcards from the day before and retrieve a set for the day and return to the hotel.

Nip to a local Thai for dinner, excellent, garlic prawns, Pad Me, Chicken Kra Pow, chicken rice, good stuff. Stuffed, we fall asleep and kip.

The Few and the Trippy Head out to the Airforce Museum today. Cal thoroughly enjoys the place, it has planes which goes down well, simulators that go down better and a staff who are great with Callum. There are a bunch of schoolkids rushing around doing there schoolkid thing, they get to go to a plane on the tarmac. Cal wants to visit it too and when Monst asks the guides rather than saying no that's not part of the deal one of them takes him out to have alook and they chat away as they go. Nice exhibition area for me, impressive on the history front, enjoy the 1940's house especially. It really is a good museum.

Next port of call is a game of mini-golf. The weather is freezing so we opt for the indoor 3D option. The course is Western themed, you wear 3D glasses, listen to dodgy C&W as you play and the pattern in the carpet lifts off the floor and you play through it. THe whole experience is incredibly trippy. Still Cal enjoys it. Return to the hotel and I throw myself at the mercy of the one way system in search of cotton buds,

Flying Tonight

Wake and dress so as not to disturb the folks who are sleeping on. Due at the airport at three, plan is to run off some energy at the International Antarctic Centre.

Technorati Tags: Lanarch Castle, Dunedin, The Empire, Otago Peninsular, Yellow Eyed Penguins, The Penguin Place, Potobello, Christchurch, New Zealand Airforce Museum, Mini Golf, Trippy, International Arctic Centre