Category Archives: Uncategorized

Shumpty on tour: Dunedin to Invercargill

March 18, 2012 By in Uncategorized Tags: , , Leave a comment

After two wonderful days in Dunedin it was time to move on from the Rossyln apartments and head southward to Invercargill. The day did not get off to the best of starts with the owners of the apartments I was staying telling me that there was nothing to do in Invercargill. Nonetheless, I loaded up the trusty Yaris and set off.

Two comments about driving in New Zealand: there are camper vans everywhere and drivers are more impatient than any I have ever encountered. These factors certainly made the 221km drive in my tiny hire car more interesting than I expected. Adding to the joy of the drive was the rain which went from mist to torrential in about 5kms just outside Dunedin and has stayed that way since.

On the way I stopped at the hamlet of Milton and tested out the only Cafe in town. Yet again I was struck by how friendly the people were and taking the recommendation of the waitress tried out the toasted cheese. I know this is in breach of the current no bread diet I am on but I was starving and it looked good! I can report that it tasted better than it looked and four slices later, the Yaris was again pushing southward with the traffic.

It was also on this trip that I discovered, to my surprise, that shops just do not open in New Zealand on Sunday. When I stopped in Gore to stretch my legs a survey of the shops in the main street showed only the cares and a fast food joint open.

By the time I got to Invercargill all I wanted was to sit on the lounge BUT my tactical error in not getting a GPS came back to bite me on the buttocks as I got hopelessly lost. 40 frustrating minutes later I finally found the B & B I had booked into just outside of town.

A surprising fact about grocery shopping in NZ: Woolworths is not known as Woolworths but Countdown … I only realised after driving past 3 times. A weird aside I know there but along with checking out buildings the little differences between Brisbane the world continue to amuse me every time I see one!

The B & B I am saying in is called Beersheba and I have the main cottage with a private garden. It is very quiet and peaceful and with the fire roaring I can hardly tell the rain is still pounding down. That will change though as I have discovered that the only way I can access the wifi here is in the middle of the back garden. Tomorrow, before heading to Bluff to check out the harbour and then to the museum in honour of the guy in the moving the “the worlds fastest Indian”, it will be straight to an NZ telecom store for a sim card.

All in all, I am still in love with NZ and looking forward to exploring this old fishing town tomorrow.

Till then: thank you for reading. I know this post has been a little boring but it has been a very relaxed day today.

Shumpty

A day in Dunedin: Speight’s brewery tour

March 17, 2012 By in Uncategorized Tags: , , 2 Comments

Day 2 of the Shumpty on Tour tour of Southern New Zealand began with a sleep in and a coffee on the balcony under the bluest of blue skies. Have I mentioned how much I love the weather here?

When I finally got motivated to head into the city centre of Dunedin my preferred mode of transport was my own two feet. This is a great place to walk around and it is ridiculously easy to find where you need to go. After a 15 minute down hill stroll I made it to the Octagon which is the central hub of the city. Whilst it was only 11am the Irish were out and about in abundance celebrating St Patricks Day. I hope all of my Irish friends celebrated with appropriate vigour.

Whenever I travel to a city I like to check out the architecture and particularly the churches. Not because I am particularly religious but because I am fascinated by the structures. I was particularly enamoured with the St Peters Anglican cathedral today which is just off the hub.

After wandering around for a while it was time to head to the Speight’s brewery for the main game of the day. For those of you who don’t know the Speight’s story, Speight’s beer has been brewed in Dunedin for nearly 125 years and is brewed in a brewery that sits in the middle of town. Simply, Speight’s is to South Islanders what XXXX is to Queenslanders.

The tour was brilliant: our tour guide was the great grandson of one of the founders of the brewery. Needless to say he knew his topic. The tour was broken up with 30 minutes about the history of beer, 30 minutes walking around the brewery and a 30 minute tasting season. My favourite story of the trip was how until the 1950s it was encouraged that the workers had a drink during the day. Each of the 8 floors of the brewery had a bar on them. The only catch was that you could not get drunk!!! Imagine working there in those times: would have been immense.

During the tasting session I had a yarn with our guide: an interesting chap in his own right who had worked around the world as an engineer and returned to Dunedin to retire. Great bloke and it was great to have a beer with him. For the record my favourite beer during the tasting was the Speight’s Summit!

After the tour, it was time for lunch in the Speight’s Ale house where, as I have found everywhere this trip, the service was excellent and the food very good. After the tasting and the feed I could not face the return walk up the hill to the apartment so hitched a ride with a friendly cabbie.

Suitably refreshed after an afternoon nap, I am now just watching the end of the Hurricanes v Highlanders game which, at the time of writing looks a cracking contest that will go down to the wire.

Tomorrow it is time to move on for this great place and drive down to Invercargill. Will be sad to leave but looking forward to forward to getting down there an looking around.

All in all: another great day on holiday. Till tomorrow.

Shumpty

Brisbane to Dunedin … The tour begins

March 16, 2012 By in Uncategorized Leave a comment

Well having started to write about cricket and rugby I thought I would branch out and write about stuff that interests me on a daily basis.  Hence this is the first post of Shumpty on Tour.

Today in my first day visiting the South Island of New Zealand and as first days go it has been very good.  Firstly let me say that Virgin Australia was brilliant.  On time, friendly staff and it never hurts to upgrade one to the exit row seats.  It is a little thing but was very much appreciated!

Three and a half hours in the air and I arrived in sunny but chilly Dunedin.  I don’t know what it is about New Zealand but this place just lifts my spirits every time I arrive.  The air is clean, the weather crisp and the people friendly.

I am staying in Roslyn which is a suburb high in the hills above downtown Dunedin.  The apartment is lovely and sits just down the road from the town centre of Roslyn. After sipping a Monteith’s Black on my balcony in the chilly air I wandered down to the restaurant recommended to me by the landlord of mapartments: a little place called Luna?  To say I had a great meal would be an understatement.  Chicken parmigiana with pesto fettuccini was just what the doctor ordered after a long day travelling.  Anyone coming to this neck of the woods ought check it out.

The only negative in my day has been the discovery that my apartment does not have pay tv and thus the rugby is not readily available for viewing.  Thank goodness for live updates on Twitter.

It is onto tomorrow then and a visit to the Speights brewery.  This may well be the highlight of the whole trip.

Anyhow, time for me to sign off.  Till tomorrow all.

Shumpty77