Suzi's Travels

I had this drafted before and then the connection got lost and I'd forgotten to save my work... I know, I know, first rule is *save your work*. Watch out, this is a huge post...

Last Thursday I left Queenstown and headed on to Dunedin. I've found that I'm running into a slight problem. Having woken up every morning to beautiful views across lake Wakatipu and Cecil Peak and the Remarks, I've been somewhat spoiled. Most of the scenery I've experienced since leaving Queenstown just hasn't measured up.

The drive over to Dunedin was uneventful ... somehow it was better in the dark and covered with snow as it was when Sam and I went over to Christchurch back in June.

Dunedin

Anyways we got to Dunedin in the early afternoon. Dunedin is a pretty nice place and I could have spent more time there... I could also have spent more money so perhaps it's best that I've since moved on!

On Friday I went on a train journey with a girl called Lisa who I met on the bus, up to the Taieri Gorge. I suspect on a beautiful sunny day this would be quite nice but it was drizzling practically the whole journey and was one of those things that just didn't measure up. In the afternoon we went to the cinema to watch "Out of the Blue". This is a movie based on a true event that happened back in 1990 in a town near Dunedin called Aramoana where a dude called David Grey went psycho and murdered a load of his fellow townsfolk. It was really shocking and quite harrowing to watch.

On Saturday I realised I'd gotten up too early so the internet cafes weren't open yet (yes, I got up early on Saturday...) so I went window shopping instead. Strangely enough I actually didn't buy anything... mind you, I didn't pass any shoe shops so that may explain it.

In the afternoon I went to the Cadbury factory and went on a tour to see how they make the chocolate and how they make the bars and how they put the smarties inside the easter eggs. I'm not spilling their secrets and they wouldn't let us take any photos so I can't share them with you :-(

Invercargill

On Sunday I headed down to Invercargill. Invercargill is a small "city" which is probably most famous for Burt Munro - he held the world fastest land speed record on his Indian motorcycle - and was featured in the movie "The World's Fastest Indian" with Anthony Hopkins playing him (pretty good movie too). But it was Sunday and so it was really sleepy so I just headed to the movies and watched "A Good Year" - this is pretty funny but Russell Crowe is getting a little too used to the whole self-deprecating bloke thing - he'll be giving Hugh Grant and Colin Firth a run for their money before too long.

Stewart Island

Then it was Monday morning and time to head over to Stewart Island - the most southern point of New Zealand (and the world bar Argentina and Chile).

I'd thought that the boat ride from Maui to Lanai had been rough in Hawaii. Oh dear god. The captain calmly mentioned that we could expect swells of about 2-3 metres (I'd been told the ferry stopped altogether when they hit 9 metres). Crikey. Even I was reaching for the sick bag on this crossing - I've never been on a sea that rough. Luckily I hadn't eaten breakfast yet so there was very little for me to chuck up. Ewww. A lot of other people weren't so lucky and they were tossing their cookies for all they were worth, poor things, including a group of school kids.

Finally we made it to the other side and I headed out to find my accommodation. It was called "The View" and the name doesn't lie. It doesn't tell you that it's up the steepest hill I had ever seen. Strewth! But it was worth it once I got up there. It's the little tiny house you can just about make out just off centre (left and up a wee bit).

After a quick bite to eat (actually the best fish and chips I've had so far) I went back to the ferry terminal to go on a cruise around the Paterson Inlet.


This was really pretty, but the weather kinda let it down a bit. We looked at a few little bays on our way out of Halfmoon Bay, and then stopped at Ulva Island for an hour's walk. We saw loads of rare birds, including the saddleback (pictured left) and the Stewart Island Robin (pictured right). The Robin was a funny wee thing, seeming to have no fear of us. Our guide scratched the ground in front of her which apparently released loads of food that the robin likes, so soon enough one of them flew down to see us. It was literally about an arm's length away from us - the zoom on my camera is crap, but you can see it really close in the picture.

Afterwards I decided I'd like to see a little more of Stewart Island so I booked myself onto a tour around the village of Oban and the bays around the area. Here's me in the chain linked to the anchor that is, according to Maori legend, Stewart Island.


I figured I'd seen enough for the moment so settled into the pub for dinner before heading back up the hill to the hostel for the night.

The next morning it was up early again for the 8am ferry back to the South Island. This time it wasn't quite so rough, and the ferry wasn't nearly so full, but it was still rocking and rolling all over the shop. A couple of times the captain cut the engines as a precaution!

Catlins Coast

Back in Invercargill I met up with the bus that would take me back up to Dunedin. Unfortunately we had to wait for another bus that was bringing some girls down from Queenstown. Apparently they hadn't been given the right information so were on a different bus and were running late. We ended up waiting for them for a good hour and a half before their bus turned up and they had absolutely no idea that we had waited so long, the result of which was that we would have to cut a few things out of the day due to time constraints.


Our first stop was at Waipapa, the Southern most point of the South Island. We saw some Hooker Sea Lions lounging around on the beach there...

Who wants a kiss???


The next stop was at Curio Bay for some lunch, followed by a stroll onto a rocky beach where there is a fossilised forest. Yonks ago when the South Island was still volcanically active, an explosion buried the trees, and it is only now, with the coast being eroded that the trees are being uncovered. Not quite as spectacular as the Lava Tree Monument on the Big Island in Hawaii though.

From there we drove to a place called Mcleans Falls. This is a pretty cool waterfall which we had to walk through the rain forest to reach.






We stopped off at a couple other places, but the highlight was at Nugget Point. The Nuggets are formed not by coastal erosion, but instead are thrown up by the sea and turned 90 degrees. The formation of the rocks is similar to that found at Punakaiki (Pancake Rocks) - i.e. a layering effect. We also saw some sea lions here including a mum with two babies.


From there is was straight back up to Dunedin as it was getting late. As it was, we didn't reach Dunedin until 8.30pm. But it was a really good day and even though our time had been shortened, we didn't really feel like we'd missed out on anything.

Oamaru

The next day (Tuesday) I got back on the Magic Bus and headed to Oamaru, just up the coast. On the way we stopped to see the steepest street in New Zealand (or is it the world?), Baldwin Street, with a gradient in excess of 1:1. We also stopped off at a place called Moeraki, to see the Moeraki Boulders. These are formed by coastal erosion, and are pretty cool to look at.

Then it was onwards to Oamaru. I planned to stay here so I could see the blue penguins coming in to nest in the evening. I wasn't disappointed, but again, we weren't allowed to take pictures. I went on a behind the scenes tour of the place where I learnt loads about the penguins, and got to see a couple up close including a baby. They count the penguins coming in each evening and then in the daytime they go around all the nests (all artificial, buried into the landscape) and see who is in each one. They told us that they had one old couple, about 11 years old, who had a couple of babies, and one day the dad didn't come back to land after going out for food that day. The mum tried to make it on her own but couldn't keep up the dual job of feeding and keeping them warm. So she abandoned them. Then she disappeared. After a while the staff figured out that she had moved into a nest next door and taken up with a younger bloke, about 3 years old, and had had babies with him!

Then we watched them all try to make it out of the sea, up the rocky ramp and and on to their nests. They were soooo cute, coming up in groups of about 30-40 at a time. They are only about 30cms tall, and adorable. Just as I was about to leave we heard a crying sound - one of them had caught it's wee foot in the fence and was flapping its wings madly. Just as the keepers were about to go in to free it, one of the other penguins got there and it ran away from the fence. Then it just stood there for a good 10 minutes looking at the fence, wondering if it dare try to get through again or if the fence was gonna try and get it again! (The gaps in the fence are huge - not a problem for any penguin of this size to get through.) Eventually it made it's way slowly back to the fence and got through successfully - we breathed a sigh of relief!