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  • Day 164

    spoonbills and steampunk

    February 26, 2017 in New Zealand ⋅ ☀️ 13 °C

    On the advice of the checkout lady from four square we headed back south to Kaiteriteri to see if we could see some Royal Spoonbills. Lucky for us there were about 10 of them in the estuary feeding. They are a lovely white with a very funny crest on top that makes them look like punk rock stars. They also have a rather creepy yellow spot above their eyes which, when they look at you, is all you can see so they look a bit like demons.
    Their funny long black bills obviously look like spoons and they spent most of the time with them in the water. We caught them all having a little break to do some preening through and it was pretty hilarious to see about 6 of them swishing their long black bills from side to side to rid them of water whilst their crest of feathers flopped from side to side on top of their heads.
    They looked pretty awesome in flight too, flying low enough too that Rob got some really nice photos.

    Next up was a drive back North again to Oamaru. When we arrived last night I forgot to say how much of a creepy horror movie set it looked like here. The sky was getting dark and stormy and this whole part of town by the docks was deserted. The buildings are all Victorian in style and it was bit like they had been frozen in time. Rob half expected a load of Zombies to appear lol. One of the penguin workers actually said that it is used for sets sometimes and we are not surprised.
    Today it was far less deserted, in fact it was quite busy. This is the Victorian precinct with all the roads named after rivers in England, including Humber Street! The buildings now house workshops, art and craft shops, antiques, knitwear and steampunk outfitters. It turns out this is the location of the steampunk HQ and as you can imagine it looks pretty cool. There is a huge steampunk train outside, lifted as though about to launch unto the sky and although it looks impressive enough like that, when I put $2 in a box it blasted out engine noises, steam blew from the organ like exhausts and the chimney produced a flame. Awesome!
    We were keen to check out the inside so we paid $10 to have s look around the exhibits. They were really weird and so interesting. Some were interactive like the organ they had and a really cool room of mirrors and lights that put in a display that seemed like it went in for miles. Some of the sculptures of wildlife were pretty incredible considering what they are made from, it's amazing how they do it.

    We spent a good while in this crazy little place before heading out to wander the old streets some more. A very very surreal place, especially so when you see people rocking corsets in their Victorian steampunk getups.

    We couldn't stay all day however and so we decided it was time to finally head off on one of the last legs of our New Zealand journey. Off to Christchurch!

    We took the scenic route there, however have since realised it is actually mainly just farmland, so not so scenic compared to the rest of New Zealand. It also took so long that we have stopped at Raikai Gorge for the night with plans to see the gorge in the morning and then head to the city. We were greeted with more of the brilliant blue water of the river as we arrived, a sight I have missed this past week! It astounds me every time.

    Anyhow, time to wrap up and visit the bathrooms by torchlight (no lights here) and head to bed.
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