Christmastime in Dunedin

As usual we are two weeks behind on the blog, and a lot has happened since we last wrote. So, bear with us and imagine, if you will, the first week of December...

Dunedin's most photographed building, the old railway station, its parking lot now the site of the Saturday Farmer's Market

We arrived in Dunedin on a cool Friday afternoon, eager to shower at a holiday park and looking forward to the big farmer's market the next day. Dunedin is a college town and as such also has many bars, coffee shops, good ethnic food restaurants, and used bookstores. After wandering around downtown a bit, we treated ourselves to Indian food (excellent lamb curry) and then drove out to a beach on the Otago Peninsula with the goal of seeing more yellow-eyed penguins.

Sandfly Bay, looking deceivingly peaceful

Unfortunately, the second half of our evening did not go as smoothly as the first. The beach was called Sandfly beach not, as you might guess for the insects there, but rather for the tornado strength winds that sweep down the dunes causing the sand to "fly." Lovely. After fighting gale-force winds bombarding us with tiny needles for an hour while we slid down the dunes and stumbled across the beach, we realized that we were too far away from the hide to make the trip before dark. (We also questioned our ability to navigate the numerous, very large fur seals set up like obstacles across the beach). So we turned around to head back to the car, every exposed surface of our bodies covered in sand, and face the daunting task of climbing back up the steep dunes. With our heads down and hoods pulled low, we slowly climbed, sliding back one step for every two taken. Not our most successful venture yet, but pretty entertaining once it was all over.

The next day we got up early to go to the farmer's market. It was the biggest we've seen yet, with dozens of vendors, live music, and even a belly-dancing group. Our next stop was the local public art gallery where they were advertising free use of their foil collection for making Christmas decoration. We were feeling a bit of the old holiday spirit, with all the decoration around town and cold, grey weather so we joined the ranks of kids and moms on the second floor of the gallery to try our hand at foils. We didn't really know what we were doing, but you can see the results of our art project below:

Living in a van requires a little creativity, hence the Christmas Tea Towel

We were planning on attending the Christmas Parade in town on Sunday, but found out at the last minute that it had been postponed until the next weekend because of the rain. We were pretty disappointed, though probably not nearly as much as all the little kids that were lined the streets waiting for Santa.

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This last picture has nothing to do with Christmas, but we've been wanting to post a shot of this classic New Zealand sign for a while and since we had a great view of it from the holiday park...

Perhaps the new poster child for the anti-sugar campaign?

This is a brand of pre-packaged cookies sold at most gas stations and grocery stores, and the big signs can be spotted in most towns around the country. We think it could well be the best warning against eating sugar, since the monster appears to have lost most of his teeth, is perhaps high on drugs (is sugar the new "gateway drug"?) and looks to have been in some nasty fights recently.

Merry Christmas!!