Dr T

Whoever submitted my blog to Planet LCA 2006 is gonna be in some serious trouble if I win the $100 photo-blog competition! You have been warned.

Over an awesome breakfast at Bean Scene, I convinced Anton & Jeremy to hire bikes too – they didn’t really require much convincing to be honest.

So we headed down to the bike shop and got another couple of 2nd hand bikes, helmets & locks. We rode up to the conference, dodging traffic, and hung out for a bit in the lounge checking email etc.

After a while we headed out to Lunch at the Governor on George St. After lunch we decided to make a little detour on the way back to the conference, via Lanarch Castle – a quick 40 something KM round trip.

The weather was awesome, warm, but not too hot, although the sun was burning, even through sunscreen.

We took Highcliffe Road, which heads along the ridge of the peninsula, so to start with we had a bit of climb. After that there were a few minor hills, though nothing too killer.

After about 8 KM along the ridge we finally got to the castle. Having ridden for two hours to get there I thought they might shout us the entry fee, haha. Regardless we hung out in the garden for a while, drank a bit and took a few photos.

The ride down was awesome, what took us about an hour of climbing took literally 5 minutes to come down, at serious speed. My great slick city tires weren’t gripping too well under brakes, which made the whole experience a little more fun. At one point I locked both wheels up and slid for a good 20 metres on the smooth bitumen, weeee.

The ride home along the seaside road was great, although the traffic was a little annoying. It’s dead flat, funny that, and quite smooth, so we made really good time.

Another awesome day in Dunedin.

Thanks to the Blanchinator for some of the photos.

View the photos »

Took it pretty easy on Saturday, needed to catch up on some sleep after the last few weeks. Got some breaky at a cool place called “The Metro”, which has a map of the London Underground on the wall. I amused myself for quite a while reading all the names, Bottomleigh, Chudsworth, Pudding Mill Lane .. OK I made those up, but the real names are funny too.

I found a cool internet cafe, hence the blogging, with awesome hot chocolate. After years of Tilley’s made-to-order hot chocolate I’m pretty picky. But this was pretty damn good, and further reinforced my opinion that hot chocolate must come with marshmallows, and preferably in the chocolate.

Today (Sunday) started with rain, which was a bit of a downer, I’d been keen to ride out to the castle on the peninsula. Instead I took my time, waited for the rain to stop, and eventually it did. So I raced down to the bike shop, and after very little haggling had myself a pretty decent mountain bike, but with slick tires for around town, all for $100/week.

By mid afternoon the sun was out, so I just started riding north for the hell of it. After a while I saw signs to “Signal Hill” which sounded promising. 90 minutes of serious hill later, I found myself at a pretty cracking look out. Check out the photos if you care.

Needless to say the ride down was pretty awesome. About 10 minutes of serious speed, if I get the time I might ride up again just for the descent.

View the photos »

Phew. Got into Dunedin about 5pm last night, after a bit of a long day. Owing to certain commitments, cough, I only got about 3 hours sleep on Thursday night, so I was a bit stroppy for the flying yesterday.

After unpacking I felt a bit saner though, so I thought I should get out for a walk – especially seeing the sun was shining, something that doesn’t happen that often ’round here apparently.

I ambled up the nearest hill, looking for a view. I never quite got the panorama I was after, but it was pretty spec’y anyway.

There’s some gorgeous little places around here, perched on the sides of hills and such. There’s lots of greenery up above the hotel too, which is lovely, little sections of (maybe) natural bush.

After about three hours I made it down to the Octagon and set about finding some food. There’s a bunch of places a few blocks north, some a bit pricey, but others look like my style.

Was keen to find a pub to sit in and watch the cricket, but by the time I started looking the South Africans had made a balls up of it so it wasn’t really worth the trouble. A rockin’ day tho anyway.

Although I didn’t buy any, of course (hi mum :D), I stumbled across a shop, in the main street, selling “Party Pills”. They apparently contain BZP, which is somewhat similar to Ecstasy, but legal and regulated. Far out. I wonder what the bikey gangs do for money over here?

A few pics from ’round the place …

ps. Woodford pics are coming soon I promise!

View the photos »