BACK TO DUNEDIN

FRIDAY 13th MAY

  It's amazing how quickly the weather can change here.  No sign of the sun today, instead grey clouds, completely overcast and ultimately rain.  I checked out from the Aspen Motel, and was charged the reduced rates for Scott's company - the owner was very chatty and asked me where I lived and I told him Abbotsford, and he asked me if I was going to check on Scotty's work.  I told him absolutely so!

  I set off for Lake Tekapo, but then saw that it was 57Km, so that in all it would add 114Km to my journey home as I would have to go back the way I had gone.  With the weather being as abysmal as it was I decided to cut my losses and turn around and head straight for Omarama.  There I turned left for Otematata and passed Lake Benmore on my left.  The autumnal colours are definitely setting in.

  I then came down to Lake Aviemore which was an amazing colour of aquamarine blue.

This was almost immediately followed by Lake Waitaki with its dam and power station.

I carried on through the township of Lake Waitaki and Kurow, then just outside Duntroon there was a sign for the Vanished World Heritage Centre that stated "Maori Rock Drawings".  I stopped to investigate.

 There wasn't a great deal of information about these carvings, so once I had had a good look I got back in the car and pressed on to Pukeuri where I joined highway 1, heading for Dunedin.  Oamaru came next and seemed to stretch on forever with a speed limit of 50Km/hr.  At Moeraki there was a sign for the boulders and I pulled in and went down to the beach to take a butchers.  These perfectly formed hemi-spherical

stones attract travelers from all over the world (including myself).  Apparently they took about 4 million years in the making.  Local Maori legend has it that they are the remnants of eel baskets washed ashore from the wreck of the Arai-te-uru, a large sailing canoe.  The legend also goes on to explain the rocky shoals extending from Shag Point as petrified remains of this wrecked canoe, and the nearby promontory as the body of the canoe's captain.  I purchased a postcard in the gift shop which illustrates them far better than my photo, as the weather was abysmal with rain and driving wind, so I didn't fancy walking down the beach to get close and instead used the telephoto option on the camera.

 The boulders pictured on the beach at sunrise.

  It absolutely tipped down the rest of the way back to Dunedin, and I got in about 3.30pm.  Scott went out for kebabs for dinner and after watching the Highlanders beat the Hurricanes in the pouring rain at Invercargill I decided to call it a night.