Oamaru - Victoriana, Steampunk and more penguins

Oamaru

Our next stop, Oamaru, was one of our favourite towns to visit in New Zealand. It didn't necessarily have the most impressive things there, but it was a friendly place, with great Victorian buildings, the excellent steampunk HQ, nice little shops, and more of those great little blue penguins.

Bushy Beach, Oamaru

Let's start with the penguins. Firstly, there is a place called Bushy Beach, a short drive out of town, where you may be able to spot yellow eyed penguins. There are only a couple of pairs in the area, but you could be lucky. Don't go down onto the beach itself, as if they are around you will just scare them away. Instead, there is a hide up in the cliffs where you can watch from. Be warned, it is windy and liable to be cold, so wrap up warm. We didn't see them when we went, but we know others who had more luck.

Oamaru

But while the yellow eyed penguins may be elusive, the little blues certainly aren't. There is a conservation project right here in town, where you can go for penguin viewings much like we did on the Otago Peninsula, and you are pretty much guaranteed to get a nice sighting of lots of them coming in to nest.

We decided not to do this though, and instead to take the free option, of walking up near to the official area and spotting some of the individuals coming back to nests a little further down. We managed to see quite a few popping out of the water and scurrying across the road to the scrub area on the other side.

Little blue penguin, Oamaru

If you decide to do it this way, please do have some respect for the birds. We saw some kids running at them and (in fairness unintentionally) scaring them, which as well as being nasty anyway, can prevent them from getting to their nest and make them easier targets for predators. Their parents did stop them, but they should have prevented them in the first place.

Watching them here is fine, but keep quiet, keep a reasonable distance, don't get in their way, and no torches or flash photography. The latter is not just to avoid scaring them, but because they come and go in the dark, their eyes are very sensitive to light, and that kind of exposure to bright light, even briefly, can seriously damage their eyesight, which can leave them unable to feed and stay safe.

But they aren't just around the conservation area. Penguins have been spotted in the centre of the town, and are often hanging out around the old railway tracks. So wherever you go, keep your eyes peeled for them, and if driving after dusk, do watch out for them on the road.

And check under your vehicle before driving off - we had to stop a camper van that was about to drive away with a little blue penguin just in front of its rear wheel. Thankfully we'd been speaking to the owners earlier, so they stopped for us rather than thinking we were dangerous lunatics and driving off anyway!

Oamaru

While you may well be looking at penguins in the evenings, during the day, it is well worth checking out the town to see the excellent job it has done of preserving the Victorian architecture. They have also used this heritage to encourage some lovely independent shops, with antiques, crafts and kitschy-in-a-good-way Victoriana.

Oamaru

Oamaru

Oamaru

Oamaru

Oamaru

Oamaru

Oamaru

Oamaru

Oamaru

Oamaru

  

Oamaru

There are some rather quirky galleries too, with interesting, clever, and at times slightly disturbing looking pieces of art for sale.

Oamaru

And the art isn't confined to the shops. There are some great sculptures and carved trees in the park too.

Nic had to have a go in the giant hamster wheel, but was soon tired out from all that exertion.

Oamaru

Penny farthing, Oamaru

Do also keep your eye out for a guy out cycling on his old penny farthing - I kid you not, he really does use it to get around town.

Outside of town, we were recommended to visit a particular restaurant Riverstone Kitchen, where they grow much of their own food. It was a very nice restaurant, and I would certainly go again, but I guess we would have to refer to the family as a tad eccentric. They are building themselves a huge castle to live in next door, and they have (sadly kitsch in a not so good way) shops and have a mock up Boot Hill.

Riverstone Restaurant castle, Oamaru

Riverstone 'Boot Hill', Oamaru

Steampunk HQ, Oamaru

But back in town, perhaps the most unusual attraction here is the Steampunk HQ. For those who have never heard of it - or indeed who have heard of it but still don't know what it is - steampunk is a genre that describes fantasy worlds with technological inventions driven by steampower rather than electricity. They are typically set in a kind of futuristic Victorian era.

The term steampunk was coined in 1987, by K W Jeter, who along with people like Tim Powers and James Blaylock, wrote in this genre, to describe their brand of fiction. But whilst it is a relatively new term, HG Wells and Jules Verne are generally thought of as the forefathers of steampunk.

Steampunk HQ, Oamaru

The Steampunk HQ here is basically a collection of steampunk art and machinery. I suppose we were a little disappointed that most of the exhibits were static rather than automated, but nonetheless, we enjoyed visiting. The working organ was good fun, and there were some great pieces both inside and out.

Steampunk HQ, Oamaru

Steampunk HQ, Oamaru

Steampunk HQ, Oamaru

Steampunk HQ, Oamaru

Steampunk HQ, Oamaru

Steampunk HQ, Oamaru

Steampunk HQ, Oamaru

Steampunk HQ, Oamaru

Steampunk HQ, Oamaru

Steampunk HQ, Oamaru

Steampunk HQ, Oamaru

Steampunk HQ, Oamaru

The Portal, Steampunk HQ, Oamaru

By far our favourite thing there though, was The Portal, which they describe as "a retro-futuristic mirror and lighting installation that features original glowing light sculptures with a theme of skulls and mythology." It is a tiny room that you walk into which, thanks to clever use of mirrors and lighting, makes you feel like you are looking into an infinite space. We loved it, and were glad that we were there on a quiet day so could have a few goes inside. And the photos of it are fun too.

The Portal, Steampunk HQ, Oamaru

The Portal, Steampunk HQ, Oamaru

The Portal, Steampunk HQ, Oamaru

The Portal, Steampunk HQ, Oamaru

The Portal, Steampunk HQ, Oamaru

The Portal, Steampunk HQ, Oamaru

The Bishop Arts District and a good samaritan (Throwback post)

 One of our favourite parts of Dallas had to be the Bishop Arts District.  It was a bit of a haul out there, and the good bit are a few up and coming streets in what has been a relatively run down area, but it is worth the visit.

There are some lovely little independent stores, including Dudes Sweet Chocolates, which were very tasty.  We also found a great cafe called Oddfellows.

Now Oddfellows turned out to be even better that we had thought it was on our second visit, and not just for the food.  Our overnight Megabus out of Dallas had been booked when the downtown stop wasn't available, so we had to go to Fort Worth to pick it up.  With a distinct lack of buses to get there, we had decided to go back to the Bishop Arts District, which is part way, have something to eat at the cafe, and then get a taxi the rest of the way.

Our server had called the taxi company and they had said they didn't take prebookings but to call back when we needed the cab.  So we enjoyed our meal and a good chat with our server and then she phoned again.  And then they told her they don't go out that far.  We're only talking about a ten minute drive!  We couldn't believe it.  She couldn't believe it.  But we couldn't get a cab, and we had no other way of getting there.

As we were thinking about how we could get ourselves onto this bus, our server came back to us and provided us with the solution.  She had already spoken to one of the guys she worked with and arranged for him to drive us there in her own car. Needless to say, we were very grateful to her and gave her an excellent tip.

So he drove us to the bus stop and we made it in good time, very relieved to be on our way to Memphis.

How lovely - and lucky - to meet people who are kind enough to put themselves out to help a couple of complete strangers.

Keeping Austin wierd (Throwback post)

From Houston it was another bus trip to Austin, Texas, where we happened to arrive during South-by-SouthWest, a huge festival that encompasses technology, film and music elements.  Unfortunately we were there during the technology bit rather than the music bit, and to be quite honest we really couldn't be bothered to queue up to go into the events that were open to the public, so we gave it a miss.  We did discover a few sites where you can get free or reduced tickets to events though, so if you do plan to go at any time, do a bit of internet research before you spend your money.

So why were we in Austin if not for SXSW?  Well, in the main, it was (a) on the bus route and (b) where we could meet up with one of our travel buddies from our first Antarctica trip.  We'll come back to our catch up with Emily later, as she was away for the first few days, so we had a few days to look around Austin ourselves first.

We stayed in an Airbnb place that was actually a tent in a back garden.  It was a good size tent with the very civilised addition of an air bed, and was fine the first night.  However on the second night there was an almighty storm and the tent started leaking.  Thankfully the woman whose place it was quickly ushered us inside and we set up our bed in her dining room, much to the interest and excitement of her friendly dogs.

We had no particular tourist activities on the agenda for Austin, so we simply enjoyed wandering around the town. The motto for the city is 'Keep Austin Wierd', and whilst we wouldn't call it weird exactly, we could kind of see why, as by comparison to most places we had been in the States, it is far more laid back and unconventional. And where else has a recreation of the Bates motel from Psycho?

We especially like South Congress.  We were a bit unsure to start with because as we started walking up the road it seemed that there was nothing there at all.  But just as we were about to give up, we reached the good bit.

As well as lots of interesting shops to poke about in, and in my case buy a few bits of jewellery, we found a few places to sit and have a drink while listening to live music.  In the spirit of weirdness, one of these was outdoors and there was a couple who had brought their pet parrot out with them, and had it sitting on their shoulders.

There was a great cafe called Woodland, where we had our first US cream pies.  Very tasty.  We also ate at Snack Bar, which had a great patio, nice food and some good drinks on the list.

Outside of South Congress we found a few other places to eat and drink including the Le Cafe Crepe and Cru Wine Bar, which had a great selection of wines with champagne half price on Thursdays - how could we say no to that?