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Miles of wild open spaces. High desert plateaus extending from the horizons. Virgin
forests of giant prehistoric trees. Grassy plains. Jagged granite rising almost 2.5 miles
above the ocean. Glaciers descending into the jungle. Parrots and penguins in the same
rain forest. A wild ocean crashing into footprint-free beaches. Boom towns. Ghost towns.
No towns. Clapboard false fronts. Dusty main streets at high noon. Cowboys and sheepmen
trading stories at the general store and the post office. Country fairs where lumberjacks
saw and chop, shearers slice wool, and horsewomen debate Western vs. English, while all
covet the prize-winning pies. Wyoming? Montana? Alaska? Mexico? Argentina? East Africa?
Australia?
In Part One we galloped through the North Island,
stopping to gawk at prehistoric trees, Maori fishing villages, clapboard towns, artist
colonies, geothermal playgrounds, until we reached the San Francisco of the South Pacific,
Wellington, and the end of the island.
In Part Two we flew
to the South Island and explored the water wonders and wine lands of Nelson and
Marlborough country, then headed for bloomin Christchurch with a short stop to spot
the whales off the Kaikoura Coast. We took a great rail journey from coast to coast,
crossing the Southern Alps and arriving in wild Westland, where we saw glaciers, went
fishing, and visited frontier towns along the Tasman Sea. Finally, we crossed New
Zealands highest road pass, driving from the coast through the rain forest to the
alpine heights and down into the arid rain shadow of Wanaka in Central Otago on the
eastern slope.
In Part
Three we explored some of
New Zealands most famous, most majestic, most remote, and most touristed country,
home of the bungy, the kea, the jet boat, and the great treks. We went back a century in
Arrowtown, went extreme in Queenstown, and couldn't believe our eyes in Fiordland.
Now, Part Four takes us in either of two
directions back to civilization at Christchurch. One direction leads to Scotland on the
Pacific Coast. The other crosses the great New Zealand Outback by way of the highest point
in Australasia. Along the way we see penguins and albatross, lots of rabbits and a few
sheep. Come with us as our Wild Frontier itinerary leads back to Christchurch by way of
Dunedin and Mackenzie Country.
PART FOUR
The Central and Southeastern South
Island
Choices, choices. But on the South Island, ultimately all roads lead to Christchurch
Airport. You take the high road, and Ill take the low. And Ill get to
Christchurch afore ye.
Choice 1: The Low Road Home to Christchurch
FIORDLAND TO THE PACIFIC COAST AT DUNEDIN
This is the low road from Fiordland to Christchurch and home. Begin by taking Route 94
east from Te Anau to Gore, then Highway 1 east and north to reach the southeast Pacific
coast of New Zealand at Dunedin. Its more than 170 miles across Otago to Dunedin,
the Edinburgh of the South, the University City of New Zealand, the Second City of the
South Island. The miles through Otago along routes 94 and 1 to Balclutha are pleasant, but
rather repetitiousranchland, farms, sheep, cattle, the occasional hill. At
Balclutha, where you cross the South Islands longest river nearest its mouth at the
Pacific, the terrain becomes more coastal, but not necessarily more interesting, for the
last 50 miles along National Route 1 to Dunedin.
SCOTLAND IN THE SOUTH PACIFIC
Its never fair, but we do it anyway. We humans
cannot help but describe new experiences in terms of old. Therefore, Wellington becomes
San Francisco (Far) East, Christchurch preserves a bit of Olde England in the South
Pacific, and Dunedin is the antipodal Edinburgh. Well, regarding the latter, weve
been to both Dunedin and Edinburgh, and the big city of Otago aint Auld Reekie.
Still, Dunedins got some good golf, and miles of coastline, and a masonry
architectural style that wouldnt seem terribly out of place in Midlothian County,
Scotland. Nor would the citys fondness for rugby and beer.
Two more things come to mind. Dunedins great
cultural contribution to New Zealand is doubtless the University of Otago, certainly one
of the great learning centers of New Zealand, as the University of Edinburgh is for
Britain. Finally, both cities have remarkable landmark rail stations, and both provide
rail dramatic journeys into the remote wilderness. From Dunedins beautiful Flemish
Renaissance stationknown locally as "Gingerbread George"daily 4-hour
round-trips depart into the Otago interior on the Taieri Gorge Limited. Like
Wellington and Christchurch (and, for that matter, Kingston), Dunedin has a remnant of the
old narrow-gauge New Zealand Railways still in active operation. The
line proceeds northwest from the landmark Dunedin Railway Station along the Taieri River
deep into the sparsely inhabited Otago interior to the village of Middlemarch. During the
holiday season, October through March, the specially appointed tourist train operates at
least one 4-6-hours round-trip daily through the remote Taieri Gorge and into the Otago
highlands. Some trains go as far as the remote village of Middlemarch; others only as far
as Pukerangi, where a bus connection is offered to Queenstown. Middlemarch is not much of
a village (pop. 250), but it does have a museum, some historic farmsteads, three churches,
and offers horseback riding for the 1-hour layover before returning to Dunedin.
Like Wellington and Christchurch, Dunedin has a fine
peninsular drive. The drive on the low road and high road of the Otago Peninsula features
sweeping harbor views, important Maori sites, the relics of regions large whaling
industry, and rare animals and birds. Among these latter, the peninsula offers the great
contrast of its rare, flightless, yellow-eyed penguins living in close proximity to a
colony of Royal Albatross, the greatest of all flying birds.
DRIVING NORTH FROM DUNEDIN
After Dunedin, the trip north is occasionally
interesting in the way that a collection of minor ephemera can be, like sea flotsam, odd
stones, or souvenir spoons. Despite the minor attractions of the region, the coastline
here is largely under-visited, with long, flat beaches minus crowds and shabby seaside
resorts, without so much as a blanket or sand castle. Headlands, coves, beaches,
inletsnatural and unspoiled. The beach at Moerakimid-way between Dunedin and
Oamaruis best known in the region, not for sand and surf, but for its perfectly
spherical, dumpling-like boulders, strewn on the beach like giant marbles, a minor
geological curiosity in a country full of such places.
The coastal plain most of the way north
to Christchurch is, well, coastal and plain. The small cities (their viewpoint) or large
towns (our viewpoint) of Oamaru and Timaru are speed bumps on the way north, albeit worth
waking up for as a change of scenery. Otherwise, the trip north on Highway 1 is noteworthy
for the series of broad, rocky, river deltas of numerous arteries emptying the snowmelt of
the eastern flank of the Southern Alps into the South Pacific. Christchurch is a welcome
oasis after this desert of humdrum scenery.
CONTINUED ON
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This article is excerpted from Home at First's
exclusive "New Zealand Activity Guide".
The "New Zealand
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