Roadtrip: Rotorua to Dunedin

As part of my work, I often have to travel to Dunedin to visit field sites. Usually we fly down, but last week (for logistical reasons involving transporting lots of wood) we drove down! For those of you not familiar with NZ geography, Rotorua is towards the top of the north island and Dunedin is towards the bottom of the south island. So, even though NZ is not a big place, it was quite a long trip, involving driving through mountains, hilly wine-growing regions, along coastal cliffs, and navigating the traffic through NZ's second and third largest cities (Christchurch and Wellington). Oh, and a lovely three hour ferry trip across the Cook Strait and through the gorgeous Malborough Sound in a massive car ferry. I drove down with my colleague Margaret, who is great company and we split the trip over two days. (I think it was about 14 hours driving all up with a three hour ferry ride in the middle).

Here are some of the highlights of our trip:

Our car ferry in Wellington

Marlborough Sound

Me in Picton
Seals and giant kelp near Kaikoura

Moeraki Boulders (weird round rocks on the beach near Palmerston)

Dunedin at last!

It was a great chance for me to get to see a fair whack of NZ and it certainly is a pretty country! Also, kiwi towns often have pretty funny names, which kept me highly amused. Here some of my favourite names of places we drove through: Waiouru, Taihape (pronounced Tie-happy), Bulls, Foxton (but no foxes!), Paraparaumu, Spotswood, Hinds, Waipopo, Makikihi, Kakanui and Shag Point.