Dennis Dixon is heading West!: New Zealand 2017 - Day 21: Steampunk, Clay Cliffs, Twizel, Mount Cook Village

Wednesday, March 8 - Steampunk in Oamaru, the Clay Cliffs, Twizel, and up to Mount Cook Village:

Not too many kilometers today, so a nice easy start.

I got up early, and left the house at 7 (still dark) to get back to the penguins. First of all, I wanted to take a picture of the area; but I also thought "Well, we saw them come up out of the sea last night; maybe I'll see them 'march like penguins' down to the sea this morning." Alas, no penguin-sighting - maybe they are like people - we all go to bed about the same time, but we get up at different hours?

Checked out of the Highway House Bed and Breakfast in time for the 10 AM opening of Steampunk HQ:

Steampunk science fiction is a genre that, instead of looking at the future from our current point in technology, it looks at the future from the standpoint of 1890's technology (following in the footsteps of Jules Verne and H.G. Wells with their "industrial solutions", and "steam power"), but applied to our current society (or even the society-of-the-future) - hence "steampunk".

"The Portal" was really cool:

Anyone for "Living in The Matrix"??

Steampunk HQ actually works quite well in the retro-architecture of Oamaru:

It is beautiful driving inland up State Highway 83, past Lake Aviemore:

We took a wrong turn in Omarama and wound up going down along the Ahuriri River:

which wasn't too bad a "mistake".

Backtracked, and found the correct road to the Clay Cliffs. It was great getting a little walk/hike up around them:

The view back down the canyon was pretty impressive:

I wanted to include this sign because on the New Zealand Drivers Test, one of the multiple-choice answers is "Dancing School":

Wendy and I laughed every time we saw this sign!

Just south of Twizel is Lake Ruataniwha:

Twizel is another Lord of the Rings location:

I'm thinking the actual location is the field of Ben Ohau, just north of Twizel:

but I'm thinking I need to see those movies again - this area is PRETTY DESOLATE:
looking northeast:

looking southwest

So we continued on to Peter's Lookout on the shore of Lake Pukaki:

(Yes, that is Mount Cook in the distance!)

As you get closer, the pictures just keep getting BETTER:

Checked in to the Aoraki/Mt Cook Alpine Lodge around 4:30:

and this is the afternoon view from the common room behind that deck on the upper right:

Mount Cook in the distance:

After dinner, Wendy and I took a hike up behind the Village, and were able to see the moon rising over the Mount Wakefield ridge:

Off to bed! (Hiking Adventures TOMORROW!) THANK YOU GOD for these wonderful adventures in these Beautiful Places!!

Music today - music from my silver nano:
various artists - Bones soundtrack, 2008