New Day - New Adventure! :)
Today our plan is to see a little bit more of Dunedin, and on our way to Lake Tekapo stop and see Moeraki Boulders. Sounds easy and not as crazy as yesterday! That was great and long day! Today we will take it a bit more easy! :)
We started our day by going to the one of the most beautiful view point of Dunedin called Mount Cargill. The mountain is named after the co-founder of the Otago Settlement, Captain William Cargill. At hight of 676 metres or 2,200 feet the mountain dominates the north part of Dunedin. It is beautiful to drive or hike up there. We did drive up there and it was quite easy as long as you are following the map or your GPS. Coordinates you can find on our map and just bellow:
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| Stunning View to Dunedin |
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| Otago Peninsula from Mount Cargill |
GPS coordinates:
S 45° 48.785 E 170° 33.347
UTM: 59G E 465487 N 4926623
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| Mount Cargill Panoramic View |
First time I decided to upload a panoramic view - it is nice right?? A little cloudy but it is still a great view!
Then the other thing what we really enjoyed in Dunedin was Botanic Garden. Usually we are not big fans of flowers and plants (at least me Valdis), but this time even I was amazed by amount of different plants and how well the pace has been made. It was great to see everything clean and tidy! Gardeners are doing really good job there! :) Big plus is free entrance! Take a look at some of our pictures.
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| Flowers in Botanic Garden |
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| Evas Favourites |
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| Nice place where to sit and enjoy the garden |
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| Flowers blooming like crazy!! |
The Botanic Garden is quite big but it is interesting to walk around it when flowers are blooming. There are many entrances and parking lots as well so chose one where is any spots and enjoy the garden! :) We loved it! :)
After the Garden visit we where heading towards Lake Tekapo and on our way there we stopped by Moeraki Boulders! This is another amazing spot in New Zealand!! Take a look at those weird looking rocks! Some of them look like dinosaur eggs, and some of them are even cracked and it looks like a dinosaur is coming out of them!!
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| Valdis acting like a dinosaur!! :) |
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| Different Tips of Moeraki Boulders |
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| and Different Shapes of Moeraki Boulders |
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| Eva Enjoying Historic Moeraki Boulders |
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| Seagulls at Moeraki Boulders |
So you wonder why those rocks are so round?? We did that too, till we found it out! They are something like huge pearls. Here is the story provided by Wikipedia! It is quite a challange to explain those process that created these boulders. The reality is more about geology. By a layering process similar to the formation of oyster pearls, these boulders were formed over millions of years on the sea floor. The seabed was uplifted to form coastal cliffs that have eroded over time so the boulders tumbled down onto the beach. More information you will find also in the information centre just beside the parking lot!
It is easy to find the place if you pay attention just after Palmerston village coming from Dunedin.
GPS coordinates here: S 45° 20.720 E 170° 49.565
After visiting Moeraki Boulders we went to see Lake Tekapo. On our way there we stopped in Timaru where we got some road snacks again and we where on our way again. It was interesting drive to the lake because we saw how the landscape is starting to change. Mountains are getting bigger and bigger but it didn't stop us! :)
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| Sheep playing around at the base of a mountain (New Zealand) |
Our evening we decided to spend at Tekapo Springs Hot Pools where we all enjoyed the view to the lake witch was amazing and nice, hot and relaxing water. We went also in sauna where we relaxed even more after our long drive today. It was about 4 hour drive from Dunedin to Lake Tekapo, so if you plan your time like we did then you should manage to do everything! :) Here you can see +Martins Dinstmanis and +Eva Schultz at +Tekapo Springs.
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| Martin and Eva at Tekapo Springs |
There are many options for staying over night at Lake Tekapo. There is spaces for camper vans, nice rooms for backpackers, hotel and Holiday Homes for families or even bigger companies! By the way - Lake Tekapo has the darkest sky in New Zealand and no wonder that there is an amazing observatory as well! You can book your tour and watch stars and planets and profesional photograph will take amazing pictures with your camera if you will want. We had this experience and it was awesome! Those guides know the sky like their own hand! :) Worth to go there! :)
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