Dunedin ... Dunkiwi

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Our last few days in NZ were somewhat low-key after all of the excitement of the weeks before.
Two very long drives in fairly dreary weather did little to lift the gloom that our time here was coming to an end. Te Anau to Dunedin was just like a drive across Central Scotland and then Dunedin to Christchurch across the flat featureless plains couldn't really live up to the beauty of Fjordland or Kaikoura. We have been struck in recent days by how changeable the weather is here ... no wonder then that the first maoris called NZ 'The Land of the Long White Cloud'.
We did have a lovely day on the Otago Peninsula though in glorious sunshine. A stunning drive along the spine of the peninsula led us to a small carpark over Sandfly Bay. This was supposed to be our best chance of seeing Yellow-eyed Penguins in the wild, from the DOC hide at the end of the beach ...
We didn't unfortunately see penguins - it is roosting time and they only venture out of the sedge grass to the water at dusk and dawn - but we did see some lovely oystercatchers and some huge sea-lions and had a lovely walk across the squeaky sand and through the towering dunes.
Having driven back to Dunedin, past the old and new homes of the All Blacks ('The House of Pain' isn't something to do with divsion after all, William!) we watched the surfers at St Clare's before catching some rays and doing some shell-huntng at St Kilda's beach.
Our last day and night in Christchurch had the highlight of William finally finding the rugby shirt he'd been after the whole trip ... Canterbury Crusaders (although this did lead to him getting stick all the way to Sydney on the plane from the cabin crew and from immigration). Unfortunately the campsite was a bit disappointing with the pool especially proving a letdown - W coming out in an allergic reaction to something and E slicing her foot on the tiles.
All was going smoothly with our transfer to Australia (camper dropped back, bags packed, Kiwi money used up etc) when we were informed at Auckland that there was a problem with W's visa to Australia ... the travel agent in the UK had put down the wrong dob for him ... perhaps all the banter about his choice of shirt was a bad omen? The very nice Qantas lady phoned Canberra for us and had it changed electronically...but this delay (added to lateness of the flight arriving from Christchurch meant we had to run through Auckland airport to beat the gate closing! Such a shame ... Auckland airport has been in the top 10 in the world for the past two years and, veen at speed, it was easy to see why.
Finally, we found the gate and left NZ (3800km, two damaged feet, numerous thrills and spills later!) ... our departure tinged with sadness but with us all looking forward to Sydney and beyond.

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