Today we traveled on from Christchurch to Dunedin. It was another beautiful day and we were blessed with warmer than usual temperatures and more clear skies. The scenery was breathtaking in places as the ‘Southern Alps’ stretched out before us. We traveled a more interior road for most of the way rather than the coastal road which would have been a bit faster.
Our hosts last night told us of a place where Lord of the Rings was filmed. We were interested in seeing it but were sure where to go and if the road would be open due to the heavy snow last week. A farmer was working with his sheep, so we stopped and I asked him about the film location. He thought the road was still closed so we gave up on that idea. However, we did get to watch the farmer on his ATV and his sheepdog herd the sheep from one pasture to another. It was fun to watch them in action.
We stopped in a town called Oamaru. It was so fun. Many of the old buildings in the city were built of marble because the close proximity of a quarry. Walking the streets in the older part of town truly felt like a walk back in time.
We also managed to visit a beach were penguins come in. It was so fun to see some penguins in the wild.
We are in Dunedin tonight. The sister of a friend in the Solomon Islands helped us hook up with this lovely couple. We have been truly blessed by the hospitality of New Zealanders.
