AWL- Absent with Leave
No, I haven’t dropped off the planet, but I have been away for several weeks in Dunedin, undergoing follow up treatment from surgery I had 18 months ago. Home again, and all seems to be well, and my grateful thanks to the staff at Dunedin Public Hospital and at Daffodil House (where I stayed) for their care, professionalism and good humour.
I came home each weekend, so 4 nights in Dunedin, and 3 on the Island. The drive up and back was more that a slight eye opener, especially the number of heavy haulage “B” trains on the road. Although I did make use of them, tucked in behind and allowing them to do the driving made my driving easier than expected. If they could get around a corner at 90K, then so could I.
Busy Time Away
I was able to keep quite busy while away. We give our guests a short DVD and photo album and it was due for a rebuild … a couple of weeks work..You can see a YouTube version of it in the link below
I was also able to tidy up our digital photo album. Obviously a long over due exercise, as I found just over 2000 un-cataloged images.
And that led on to a general house cleaning amongst the files that just build up
But it wasn’t all work, and each week I went out and explored some of my memories
Out & About
Both of my parents were born and grew up in Dunedin, and both of our children went to school there, so I was able to re-visit many of the places I was familiar with both as a child, and later as a parent with our family. I have always said if I had to l;ive in a city Dunedin would be my choice. The old Port Chalmers and Oamaru stone buildings are stunning, and with the hills and harbour the views are spectacular to say the least.
Taieri Gorge
One afternoon was on the Taieri Gorge Rail trip. We departed from Dunedin Railway station at midday and headed south to Wingatui, and then turned inland up the Taieri Gorge proper. I love rail travel, and used to take our children on this trip when we put them into secondary school each year. They were not always that thrilled after the first trip. But this time was quite depressing, as I realised just how long ago that was. What then was high country farmland is now several years into second rotation pine forests, and a rotation is probably around 30 years. Old fart now.
Otago Peninsula
The views over Otago Harbour from the Peninsula are stunning, and the drive itself through farmland, past Larnach Castle (I didn’t stop, but it is well worth a visit) down to Portobello where my maternal grandmothers family settled when they arrived from Holland on the Caribou in 1865. Although Caribou sailed from Glasgow the Scholten family … parents, two brothers and two sisters …. were Dutch. Past Portobello the road ends at Tairoa Heads, and the Albatross Colony. Again well worth a visit, although again I didn’t go in, as I’ve been up close and personal with Southern Royals on the Auckland Islands.
The other side of the harbour takes you down to Port Chalmers, especially scenic if you go up Northeast Valley and over the hills to Port Chalmers, and then down to Aramoana and “The Spit”. My Fathers family was from “Port” and his father was once mayor, and a shore engineer for the Union Company. At The Spit is a man made mole stretching out off shore to form the west entrance to the shipping channel. My fathers Uncle had a holiday home there many years ago, and I remember several hot summers holidays enjoying the sun and the sea … a huge thrill for a country boy.
At the west side of the entrance of Otago Harbour is “The Mole”, with stunning sandy beaches and the small village of Aramoana
Tairoa Heads, looking east from the “mole”
To the west of the mole is a beautiful seaward beach, and immediately below the high point of the hill there
used to be a wonderfully high steep sand hill. Hard work to climb, but great fun to slide down on a tray.