The temperature in New Zealand is definitely part of my New Zealand memories. There are two nights that stand out in regards to this. One was sleeping in our rented camper van on our first night after landing in Christchurch. The other was on the coast at Oamaru as we watched a colony of little blue penguins.
Ten years ago, you were permitted to camp anywhere by the roadside unless there was a sign prohibiting this. On our first night camping we were determined to take advantage of this policy. The spot we chose was in the middle of nowhere. There was no habitation in sight and the little traffic that we had encountered on the road during the afternoon evaporated altogether once the sun dipped behind the hills. It was pitch black outside and silent.
Nevertheless, before we huddled down in our sleeping bags, Lyle and I ventured outside. It was freezing cold but with no street lights to detract, we felt as close to the heavens as I think that I have ever felt. Wonder of wonders, I was able to see the stars. Perhaps this might not sound like much to you, but for me it was a small miracle. I hadn’t been able to see stars for ages, but that night in the hills and in the clear cold air, there they were. I might not have been able to see the entire spectrum, but it was enough for me to remember the sight some ten years later.
The second really, really cold night was at Oamaru on the east coast of the south island. During the day, we had wandered around the centre of the older section of town checking out the historic limestone buildings. It was warm in the sunshine and when we set off for the penguin reserve around dusk, it was hard to imagine that the night would become as cold as it did.
The penguin reserve was started in the 1990’s by some local conservationists. After the working quarry by the harbour closed down, locals noticed that the little blue penguins were beginning to come to shore on the evening tide to claim the area as a new nesting and breeding ground. Volunteer townspeople recognized this as an opportunity not only to protect the habitat, but to open the area as a tourist attraction.
That November, as night fell, the cold set in and my teeth began to chatter. We sat quietly on wooden benches waiting for the first little blue penguins to swim to shore. I couldn’t actually see this, but in whispers Lyle described to me what was happening. At first, one or two penguins braved the nightly excursion to the shore, but soon this was followed by tens and then hundreds of penguins coasting on the crest of the waves towards land.
When most of the penguins seemed to have found their nesting place the crowd began to disperse. However, one of the guides had noticed my white cane and suggested that we stay to the last when some of the penguins became brave enough to come closer to the trail. This is exactly what happened and lo and behold, I ended up being close enough to see a penguin. It was great and well worth sitting and standing around in the bitter cold.
We saw quite a bit of wildlife between Oamaru and Dunedin. We spent another afternoon (cold again) wandering around a sea lion reserve. We were certainly close enough to see these large animals - close enough that I was even a little nervous. On another day we happened to drive by a sheep auction. There were hundreds, maybe even thousands of sheep herded into small enclosures. I have no idea of how the auctioneers were able to keep track of which sheep belonged in which pen.
When we arrived in Dunedin, I was eager to go to the albatross reserve on the eastern peninsula of the city. I have been fascinated by the idea of an albatross ever since reading The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner in high school. It was not to be. The birds were way too distant for my eyes to discern.
Although I was disappointed at the time, this story eventually had a happy ending. Last year when Lyle and I were in Glasgow, we visited a natural history museum. On display was a mounted life size albatross. It was positively huge – way bigger than I had initially imagined and not only that, I was able to get a really close up view.
There are two pictures with this post. The first is a picture of our camper van. It was nineteen feet long. To me it looked like an old ambulance vehicle and was definitely very cozy inside.
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| Sue waving from the camper |
The second picture was taken as we drove along the valley towards the alps. It was a different drive. We had expected to come across gradual foothills as we do when we drive from Calgary to Banff. Instead, at the edges of a more or less flat valley, individual hills and mountains seemed to pop up from the flat surface. This was so for many miles until we came upon the contrasting mountain peaks.
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| New Zealand mountains in the distance |
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