I was up for about 8am, and made myself some ham salad sandwiches for breakfast. An odd choice you might think, but it used that last of the ham, salad and bread, so that I had no food left over. As there had been free to use milk in the fridge though, I did have milk left, so I put a 'drink me' label on the carton and left it in the free to use section of the fridge.
Sara messaged me just as I was getting ready to leave, to advise me that I needed to spend a bunch more money at home, which I agreed to do, since I won't get a tenant if the place isn't fit for purpose!
After checking out of the hostel, I headed to the Settlers museum, so that I could learn a bit about the people who came to Dunedin in the mid 19th century.
The staff let me leave my rucksack in a locker room, so that I didn't have to heft it around the museum, and I also learned that there was a room showing the first European settlers to arrive. I got an idea that maybe I could find out more about Archie MacDonald, my ancestor, so decided to go there first.
It didn't take me long to find two good sized photographs, one of Archie and one of Janet, and so I managed to capture those on digital 'film', and then went to the large screen digital exhibitions which described the characters whose photos were around the walls.
Archie had a good amount written about him, indicating that he had written a comprehensive journal of the experience of the people on the ship 'Philip Laing' as they voyaged to New Zealand from Scotland. Only a small part of the diary remains, but it may be something I can get a copy of if they still have it in archives, so I went to the research area and spoke to the person at the desk there, who gave me the details of the main archivist in charge.
I also learned that there was an incident involving the MacDonalds and the Crawfords, where Archie's hen was shot by Mr Crawford, for straying in to Mr Crawford's field, and an argument ensued including the chicken being used as an offensive weapon in an all out brawl, which eventually went to court. I subsequently managed to find the newspaper article about the incident, and sent the information on to Mum to research further.
After that I had about an hour left to go round the museum so enjoyed seeing Dunedin through the ages, and the kinds of situations that faced the locals from the
19th century to present date.
I collected my bag around 12.35pm, and headed to countdown to do the grocery shop for the next few days in Queenstown/Milford Sound. I was mindful that I needed to fit it all in to the day sack, which I had managed to leave empty for that very purpose. After getting spplies for some lunches and some fresh sausages, I made my way to the bus stop. I made it there for 1.30pm, plenty of time before the bus was due to leave, despite the fact that the bus stop for Dunedin seems to be out in the middle of an industrial estate rather than somewhere sensible like the i-Site information center.
Once we were loaded on to the bus, I noticed that there was a sign on the bus station door window saying to check in at the desk rather than be checked on the bus, so I went there, and received a pink voucher to present to the driver.
The bus set off about 30 minutes late, as we had to wait for a bus from Christchurch to arrive, and it was also late.
Once we were en route, I learned of a 7.3 earthquake near fukushima that happened just in the last hour or so, and was presented with the moral dilemna of whether or not to mention it to the people in the seat in front of me, who were Japanese.
I decided that there wasn't much they could do about the situation and that it would only serve to detract away from their holiday if they were to sit on the bus worrying needlessly, so I decided to say nothing.
Trivia that the bus driver gave on the way to Queenstown:
- Milton named after the 18th century poet
- Waitahuna River - Mauri name - Wai = water, Tahuna = eel
- Clutha - largest river by volume
- Roxburgh power station 4th largest
- Clyde 432 MW power station biggest hydro in new Zealand
We stopped in Roxburgh for a tea and rest break. I took the opportunity for a few photos, as Roxburgh is a town in the Scottish borders, near the Teviot hills, and there was a Teviot Tea Rooms, clearly indicating the origins of the name
We passed through an area with boulders strewn all over the landscape, and I wodnered if it might have been where they filmed a lot of the orc scenes from Lord of the Rings. At this point, the bus driver was musing about how to deal with the non-native pest problems in New Zealand, those being Possums, Rats, Hedgehogs, Rabbits, Stoats. One solution he thought of was to cross breed Kiwis with Possums so that the Kiwis could defend against them all, and another solution was to cross breed them with Tolien's Orcs.
The scenery became more and more mountainesque as we approached queenstown, with the Remarkables looming ever closer, looking very majestic with its rugged ridge lines - very reminiscent of the Fench/Swiss Alps - and indeed these mountains in the south island are called the Alps here too!
We made it to Queenstown at around 7.30pm, and I found my way to the hostel, via a travel Pharmacy that was still open, so that I could pick up some insect repellent as all the guides for Milford Sound say I should use some for the Kayak tours and the walks. i had to wait a while to be able to check in, as by this time of night only one person was at reception, and she was helping someone book a tour in queenstown.
I got to the room and unloaded the groceries straight in to the fridge (yes, the room had its own fridge!), and started to put on some sun cream as it was still clear blue skies and scorching hot outside, and I fancied a wonder.
Michelle and Spencer from San Diego arrived as I was getting ready, so we introduced ourselves - they are on their honeymoon, and spening 2 weeks in New Zealand. They drove from Auckland to Wellington and have done some of the south Island too - Te Anau (which I will pass through tomorrow), and had just come back from Milford Sound, after doing the Kayak trip in the morning
Betsy had recommended that I try a Fergburger while I'm in Queenstown, so I decided to make that my dinner option, though when I got there, I discovered that they were closed for the staff christmas party. Christmas seems so far away to me just now, because it's the middle of summer - also, it's not even December yet - has mankind gone stark raving mad already?
The staff at the Fergburger recommended I go to the Fat Badgers Pizza Parlour instead, so I did this, and ordered a Fat Badger pizza ... Chicken, Itallian Sausage, pepperoni, Mushrooms, spanish onion, roasted pepper, ricotta and NZ mozarella cheese. I also saw a bottle of Tui IPA, so I ordered that too - it was all delicious, if a little pricey, but I had already been set up to expect Queenstown prices to be expensive!
I got back to the hostel and got ready for bed, as it was after 9pm by now, and I wanted to be able to get the bus early in the morning without too much stress. Of course at that moment, Spencer and Michelle arrived back too, and the other room mate arrived shortly after also, so we introduced ourselves- the last guest being Tracey from Leeds, who has been in New Zealand for a month, but is here on a working visa so is about to start job searching.
We all commented how rare it was to be in a dorm room with no Germans in itand indeed that we were all native English speakers. As the conversation died we went to sleep, ready to face the next day.