New Zealand Out-Takes, 2023: Part The Fourth And Final

Sign wall at Mt. Cook visitor center

Even before the recent floods, cyclones, earthquakes, etc., NZ
had some infrastructure issues

For example...ever more issues after this summer

Another entry for "stick man's very bad day"

Worst RV parking ever; I couldn't even get to the cab (on the right
side here), much less in it; many incredulous passers-by took
pictures; the driver, a Kiwi, readily moved when I asked...

Remains of a great meat pie from Doughbin in Wanaka; boeuf
bourginon in a pastry; wonderful; and no soggy bottom

The rest of the world might take note and consider...

Sweater with tails...

Eh, what's up, Doc?

Just add wine (freeze-dried fruit)...

The great bra fence at Cardrona...well, half of it...
always worth a second look

Utilities cover in Queenstown

At a gallery in Queenstown...Sir John Falstaff's
armor

Not a Fergburger; not even close

Minding our own business at a Queenstown supermarket, a '74
Morgan parks right beside us; I couldn't resist commenting...
a real beauty, all original, the matronly owner said....

Near the Jucy facility, a tumulus...has it been excavated? I asked....

Not what "gone potty" means to me

Surely you've always wondered what the backside of a 1928 art
deco Oldsmobile/Chevy dealership facility would look like...

Yellowed eyed penguins not far away down the coast...

Another micro-niche market

Rappelling down onto the sidewalk? 

Public health notice; of course a Gondwanaland strawberry might
look just like this...

Dunedin, 2023

We'd been to Dunedin before, in exactly the same circumstances--to catch a trip's-end flight--and, in the limited time we had on March 20th, we wanted to replicate our previous major Dunedin experience, namely, a visit to Speight's Brewery. Alas, though we knew it was a holiday, Otago Day, it did not occur to us that the brewery might be closed. The brewery, FCS?! Yes, it was closed, as was pretty much everything else except a few saloons and milk stores. Apparently New Zealanders take their state (province, county, whatever) holidays very seriously. We still had a few hours to kill, and so did a bit of a walking tour, many of the results of which will appear in the out-takes. 

City hall, from the Octagon

Anglican cathedral, ditto

Robbie Burns and feathered friend, ditto again

Wouldn't you know? Dunedin does a festival and
a fringe, just like it's namesake back in Scotland

Alas, again, there were no events until after our
plane left

There were a few specimens of art deco

Presbyterian cathedral

Otago Times building

Apart from the harbor area, it can be a hilly place

Main bit of an interesting art deco building

More

Turns out to be the local GM dealer, from 1928

Chinatown

 Note fire escape

Still a theater...

Great art deco, except the color...

Queenstown To Dunedin

Our travel plans for returning to the US got complicated when we divined that we would need Australian transit visas and that the latter were almost impossible for foreigners to get in New Zealand. (Details upon request). And so it came to pass that we turned in our rental campervan at the Jucy facility in Queenstown and then took the bus to Dunedin, on the east coast, for a flight the next day to Auckland, and another flight, the day after, to San Francisco. The territory between Queenstown and Dunedin is a part--one of the few parts--of New Zealand we had not seen before, and the bus ride turned out to be interesting and scenic. Below are a few pix as a memo to remind us not to skip this area should ever we return.

The route follows the Kawarau, aka the Anduin, the Great River,
to its confluence with the Clutha, then veers northwest to Dunedin,
on the Pacific coast; the first many miles are crammed with vineyards

And rocky craggy heights

And vineyards

And heights

Ditto

The Great River

Goldfields and ghost towns along the way

In Cromwell, fruit capital; perhaps not that Cromwell? Beyond
Cromwell but not pictured...many interesting little towns and
hamlets, very NZish

Just past Cromwell the Kawarau is dammed, creating a sizeable
reservoir

And then one enters a land of weird, flaky rocks

We love weird rocks

More canyons

As the mighty Clutha wends its way toward Balclutha and the Pacific