I left beautiful Lake Tekapo this morning to head to Oamaru. I'd mentioned previously that the Lake Tekapo area was known for its star viewing. I woke up yesterday morning around 3:15 AM unable to fall back to sleep right away. As I was right near the shore of Tekapo I walked down to it with my torch ("flashlight' in the States. When people tell me to take a torch somewhere I feel like I'm joining a mob looking for Frankenstein). The sky was clear and black and you could see practically every star in the universe. Lying on the pebble/round rock beach of Tekapo was the perfect place to stargaze. I think I stayed there for about an hour. I'm grateful to have woken up for this as it was cloudy last night so I wouldn't have seen much.
As I drove to Oamaru I considered bypassing this planned stop and driving the extra two hours to Dunedin to buy me an extra day (I'm about 5 days behind "schedule", though I'm certain I'll make it up in Te Anau anyway). However, in driving through the town it looked pretty cool, so I decided to stay the night. So glad I did. The campground is situated right next to a large town park. As this was Sabbath afternoon it seemed the perfect place to spend the day. The Oamaru Public Garden is one of the oldest, if not the oldest, public garden in New Zealand. Not crowded at all and well-maintained. It was an awesome place to walk around and linger at for a few hours.
That evening I went into CBD ("Central Business District", or "downtown" or "into town") and found a cafe that was still open after 9:00 PM. Things close early here. Great meal and I followed it up with a walk around the now empty little town. A surprisingly good stay at what was supposed to be just a stopover.
As I drove to Oamaru I considered bypassing this planned stop and driving the extra two hours to Dunedin to buy me an extra day (I'm about 5 days behind "schedule", though I'm certain I'll make it up in Te Anau anyway). However, in driving through the town it looked pretty cool, so I decided to stay the night. So glad I did. The campground is situated right next to a large town park. As this was Sabbath afternoon it seemed the perfect place to spend the day. The Oamaru Public Garden is one of the oldest, if not the oldest, public garden in New Zealand. Not crowded at all and well-maintained. It was an awesome place to walk around and linger at for a few hours.
That evening I went into CBD ("Central Business District", or "downtown" or "into town") and found a cafe that was still open after 9:00 PM. Things close early here. Great meal and I followed it up with a walk around the now empty little town. A surprisingly good stay at what was supposed to be just a stopover.
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Bushy Beach, Oamaru - home to a Blue Penguin colony and seals. I didn't see any penguins while I was there, but did see a few seals. Apparently, the penguins come back in when they are done fishing, but you never know when that will be exactly. This explains why so many people were sitting there looking at a near empty beach.