Wow! Have we been busy!! Our apologies for the lack of posts but we have just been on a whirlwind couple of trips.
2 weeks ago we traveled 6 hours south of Christchurch to the beautiful Catlins region in South Otago, NZ. Our friend Scott who we have met here is from there and his parents invited us to stay on their farm for the weekend. The 6 hour drive went so much more quickly because on the way there was just so much to look at! The scenery here just gets better and better. Owaka is past Queenstown on the South Island and is basically as far south as you can get.
We stayed in a room where the bathroom was actually the outside bathroom used for the farm. Initially they told us that Americans were not allowed to stay in the house with everyone else. The Kiwis just love winding us up!! Jocelyn decided though that having to leave the warm bedroom to use the toilet was about as close to camping as she would ever like to get!
Our friends all participated in a tri and duathlon and we cheered them on. Man were we good cheerleaders! For Scott and Debi doing these types of races seems to be their thing. It was great to experience this with them since it gives us better insight into who they are and what they enjoy doing. Scott finished 2nd place in the men's individual race and Debi took 1st place for the women! Quite impressive. It was cool to be going home with the winners :)
After the race we went back to the farm and were introduced to 9 day old puppies of one of the farm's sheep dogs. They were so tiny and didn't even have their eyes open yet. Incredible. We got to hold them and here them coo.
After folks changed and showered we headed out to the town's local pub. It was really awesome to experience a true "hometown" pub New Zealand style. It seemed to be literally in the middle of nowhere. On the way it was hills, mountains, sheep, and of look, our local pub! :) It was essentially the "Cheers" of Owaka. Everyone certainly knew everyone's name.
After the pub we went back to the farm for dinner - or as some people call it here -tea. Still not sure where that comes from. We had some delicious home cooked meals while we were there, compliments of Scott's mom and dad who welcomed us into their home with wide open arms. Of course much of the food we ate was direct from their farm so it could not have been fresher. The meat, the veggies, the potatoes were all perfect!
The following day was our adventure day where we explored the region with Scott as our tour guide since he grew up there. We saw some magnificent waterfalls, went to a place called Nugget Point and even found a quirky little place where a guy creates some really crazy gadgets and you can play with them all. For example, there was a bike that was hooked up to a tv. When you peddled, it turned the tv on! If we had this in our house Jocelyn would work out for sure just to avoid missing any shows!
On our way home we decided to veer off the drive and go see the Moeraki Boulders.
The Moeraki Boulders are a number of huge spherical stones, found strewn along a stretch of Koekohe Beach near Moeraki, a small settlement just south of Hampden on New Zealand's Otago coast. These boulders are grey-coloured septarian concretions which have been exposed through shoreline erosion from black mudstone coastal cliffs that back the beach. They originally formed in ancient sea floor sediments during the early Paleocene some 60 million years ago.
The boulders weigh several tonnes and are up to three metres in diametre.
Maori legend tells that the boulders are remains of calabashes, kumaras and eel baskets that washed ashore after the legendary canoe, the Araiteuru was wrecked at nearby Shag Point (Matakaea).
They were totally awesome to see in person and we just couldn't help running around on the beach climbing on them like little kids on a playground. It was hard to not feel completely free in that moment.
It was a fabulous weekend spent with some of our newest friends: Scott, Debi, Gordie and Babs.
Unfortunately we were also hoping to see the blue penguins of Oamaru on our way home but it is just another reason to make our way back down south for another excursion!
We will post more pics of this trip shortly so stay tuned!
