Tour of Invercargill

Tuesday 22 April 2008.
Still have the news of yesterday to give you! Eunice took me on a tour of Invercargill by car, pointing out some of the main buildings, including a rather lovely Roman Catholic domed church, a bit like looking at London's St Paul's - only different! There is also a rather splendid water tower, a reservoir of water in town serving the inhabitants of the city. This end of NZ is very Scottish in that its former settlers came from Scotland and in building here, named their streets after Scottish rivers - Tay Street, Earn Street, Deveron Street, Dee, Street, TWEED Street, etc. Of course the style of buildings is very different from home, rows of wooden weather board shops reminiscent of the American and Australian style with covered walkways, though large concrete blocks are now being built.
This photo is of Dee Street, one of the two main shopping streets. Well, it's one half of it. The streets are very wide and in some cases have plants growing down the middle, as in Dee Street here.

From town we headed to the Southland Museum and Art Gallery, where we were to meet some very special characters. However first we walked round a fantastic exhibition of fantasy dolls, made by a local lady with lots of talent and imagination! Again can't show you photos right now, but as soon as I can locate a USB point at the next internet cafe, I'll add some. The photos I'm adding here are not my own, but were pinched from the internet.

The characters we were to meet next were tuatara (tooa-tara - one tuatara, ten tuatara), lizard-like reptiles that can only be found in the wild in certain areas of New Zealand, and these are offshore islands with limited access. The Southland Museum operates a breeding scheme with the aim of releasing tuatara back into the wild on the islands where they first came from. They also go to other areas to be exhibited in zoos too.
Thanks to Eunice knowing Lindsay, the "main man" in the tuatara department, we were taken through to the "nursery" to see the recent tuatara baby boom, little lizardy creatures with long grey tails and bodies and pale grey, almost white, heads.... so cute and so very frisky. Boy can they move - unlike their parents who can stay still for ages! The highlight of our visit was that I was allowed to handle one of the adults, and even have my photo taken with it on my arm and then in my hand! A cool creature with a soft leathery feel to it! Wow!

There were other things to see in the Museum and Art Gallery, including an exhibit about Kiwi Bert Munro who broke land speed records in USA and NZ on his 1920 Indian Scout motor bike. The film "The World's Fastest Indian", starring Anthony Hopkins, was Munro's story. There was also a section on the Maori, and one on NZ wildlife; and an art gallery with two or three rather gorgeous paintings I wouldn't mind hanging on my walls at home!

On the plane down from Christchurch, my companion had recommended a visit to Anderson Park a few kilometres out of Invercargill so that was our next stop. The house was built in 1924 for a family of Scottish descent, and though not a big stately home it is an interesting house, now an art gallery. What I found most interesting was the design of the house, and its layout. Because of the weather, which was very wet, we were unable to walk in the grounds, or visit the park in Invercargill, and my idea of going to NZ's third island, Stewart Island, from Bluff, had to be abandoned too! Too bad!

Today I picked up a hire car at the airport, which I will leave at Picton on 5th May when I cross the strait by ferry to Wellington. I had intended leaving Invercargill today for Queenstown, but by the time I got the car - A Toyota Corolla with manual shift - it was really too late to make a leisurely journey to Queenstown, which is probably only three hours straight driving, so I needed little persuasion from Eunice to stay another night. It has been a great visit with her and the family, and boy has she spoiled me rotten! Thanks for everything, Eunice. I have enjoyed Keith's stories too, and Ken has helped me so much by putting the photos I have taken so far, onto disks. I'll add another few pics into a new bit of blog after this... maybe tomorrow!
So, that's me from Invercargill! Next blog should be from Queenstown... where I could do a bungee jump, or jet down the Shotover river, or any number of other adrenalin pumping activities! What do you reckon?
Talk again soon!!!