Dunedin Part 3 & Karitane

Well the last 3 days have involved lots of golf - Sunday we played on the challenging (and exhausting for me!) Balmacewen course in Dunedin with all it's steep hills and many bunkers. It took us a lot longer to play than normal and if you didn't stay on the fairway you were punished! But the shower in the club rooms afterwards was really nice.

Teeing off on Balmacewen's signature hole

Then it was onto Waikouaiti, up the coast from Dunedin, where there is a very nice long beach dominated at the north end by Cornish Head. You can hear the waves from the 9 hole golf course where we stayed the night. From the bus in the car park the course looked rather flat and boring but when we played it the next day we were pleasantly surprised and I actually found parts of it enjoyable compared with the previous day. There was an old hen that kept running for our golf balls - she must have been broody!

View to Karitane's south beach from the walking track

The highlight for us of the trip up to Waikouaiti was our trip back to Dunedin on the scenic coastal route which runs from the beautiful little beach settlement of Karitane down to Warrington. Karatane must be NZ's best kept secret with it's two surf beaches either side of a river and headland and lovely walking tracks overlooking the views both ways. There is no doubt that it rivals the Mount for scenic beauty and if you want tranquillity there are only about 300 residents.

Karitane beach with Waikouaiti beyond

From Warrington where we did a very long walk down the beach to the river estuary in the hope of seeing seals and penguins for which it is known but I think it was the wrong time of day, we drove over the spectaculary scenic Blueskin Road, high up in the hills to Port Chalmers. We walked through the village and headed back to Dunedin, regretting on the way that we hadn't known about the flat cycle track that hugs the railway line along the edge of the harbour (and sometimes in the harbour) all the way from the Dunedin station to Port Chalmers - probably about 12km and a ride that we will definitely do when we are here again.
After a very long day it was getting late and so we stopped for the night in The Railway station carpark which is permitted although I don't recommend it for light sleepers what with all the traffic and the odd train going by. You can hear the whistling of the lines long before the train actually arrives. We had nice fish and chips at the The Best Cafe close by - it won an award in 2012 for having excellent reviews on Trip Advisor for it's fish (clearly not for the rather old-fashioned decor) - and it is worthy of a visit.

Today,Tuesday, is brilliantly sunny and warm and we have just played golf at the lovely St Clair course with it's spectacular ocean views. It's Ladies Day and we set off just before them - what a lovely, friendly group they are and very interested in what we are doing.