Another wonderful two days was had by the 25 who took part in our Duntroon and Moeraki field trip.
Tea and coffee was on offer as we meet at the Vanished world centre and Neil Thorpe gave a very interesting talk about the geology of North Otago.

We were soon filling up 4WD’s for a sortee into the Marewhenua slucings area. A relatively adventurous bit of four wheel driving up a creek bed took us to a nice spot but alas the growing pines and gorse thwarted our attempts to find the old Chinese tunnels we hoped to look at.

We did however discover some particularly interesting ‘rattling rocks’ – hollow stones with chips of stone rattling around inside them which you could hear if you held them to your ear and gave them a shake!

Next we headed up the hill for some fantastic views and hopefully a nice picnic spot for lunch. Unfortunately a chilly southerly was blowing up there so back down the hill to the Golf Clubhouse which turned out to be perfect!

After lunch we were back up another hill onto Pisgah Downs station for some more adventurous 4WD ing and a decent walk to some marvelous old schist dams built for the gold miners. The photos say it all!

Then we were back to the Vanished World Centre for afternoon tea and a quick look at Nicol’s Forge which is in the early stages of renovations and Brewers Hole which is a very interesting opening into a limestone underground creek and cave network (soon to be opened up as a tourist attraction). Lot’s of exciting projects afoot in Duntroon! We might need to repeat this trip in a couple of years and see all the finished results.

Fish ‘n’ Chips were ordered and ready for us at Lockies in Hampden (best fish ‘n’ chips in the world?!) as we made our way to Moeraki and our accommodation for most of us at the Holiday Park. The day finished with a couple of home made cakes  (Thanks very much Edith and Ruby) and cream with tea and coffee for all in the very cosey unit nunber 1!

As advertised, day two dawned clear and calm for our cultural heritage tour of Moeraki with local Te Runanga O Moeraki representative David Higgins. David was a great guide with wonderful stories including personal family histories to share at such points as the local Church (possibly the oldest in NZ?) the whale lookout point, the Marae (where we had a wonderful morning tea) and the Kaik.

David left us from the Kaik and we made our own way to the lighthouse and penguin lookout area which, on such a beautiful day was just an absolute delight!

Saturday lunch and the final item on our itinerary was a set menu at Fleur’s Place. What a fantastic restaurant! If you haven’t been already it is very much worth while! The location is worth it, the design and atmosphere inside is worth it and then the food is just top notch! We started with either a cauliflower and blue cheese soup or a seafood chowder (with bread), followed by 4 platters of whole baked Moke and an extra platter per table of an assortment of kai moana. Thanks very much Fleur! How lucky are we to have you as our patron!

Thanks very much for coming along all those that participated and if you missed out on this one watch out for our next one in September. Secure your spot – they are such fun!