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Published: November 4th 2007
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Sealion
happy, clapping sealion! fab Dunedin was the next stop, a true Scottish settlement complete with a cadbury's chocolate factory which smelled divine! We travelled down to the peninsula where all the wildlife is, it was a beautiful day again so the views were once again spectacular! You are all probably getting a bit sick of us saying that!
There are a few well known places that are obviously in the lonely planet guide, one of these such places is Sandfly Bay. a bit of a nightmare to find the road as it is like a maize with roads going up hills left right and centre! We parked the pimp mobile after driving about 4kms on a gravel road then headed down to the beach that we could clearly see......it didn't look so far......famous last words hey! We started on a muddy grass track then that followed with a very bushy walkway down to some untouched sand dunes with no footprints on them!!!! Instead of wondering why there were no footprints we were taking it all in being somewhere so remote and being the only people in this gorgeous place! We haphazardly got ourselves through the dunes, following the red arrow markers on wooden posts.
Sandfly bay
The sand dunes and beach, the long way around We finally got to the bottom and could almost see the shoreline we had been walking for well over an hour and were just chatting away when what we thought was a rock bloody moved and transformed into a sea lion and not a small one! A few choice words and a very fast walk away from the big blubber on the beach! You are warned that they can be aggressive if you get close enough so we were doing as we were told. we got to a piece of high sand dune and we could then clearly see that the beach as covered in them, but there were a few people walking past them and they were not bothered. We quietly went down past the sea lions and that's when we realised that there is another road that takes you right onto the beach with no walking cross country involved.....as we had walked downhill on the way it was all uphill on the way back!
As we stood back and watched the sea lions laze around on the sand in the sun, we had one not so far away that was flat out on her back and the
Sealion Beach
"get away from my missus" waves kept lapping at her flippers, not very happy with the water doing this she kept moving around and at one point yawned and clapped her flippers together (see photo)!!!! magical, absolutely magical, these wild animals just going along on there day to day lives and allowing us to join in on it! and all for free in the most untouched surroundings!!!!!!! After this the high of seeing them is what i think got us up the hills back to the pimp mobile.
On our way to Oamaru we went to visit the moeraki boulders, these are perfectly round pieces of rock on the beach, that are made from limestone and take a long long time to from. We also visited the elephant rocks where the lion the witch and the wardrobe was filmed.......aslan's camp to be precise!
Oamaru has a lot of history and many of the buildings are still intact to how they were in Victorian times, so it gives the place real character. The main reason that we were here is to see the blue penguins. They are the smallest penguins only weighing 1kg. The only place that you can see them is at the
Worlds steepest street
Ste attempting to climb baldwin street in Dunedin centre they have built there. The conservation people and volunteers set up the centre to protect the penguins who have been nesting in the old quarry for years. They were seen as a pest by the locals! We paid to go on a behind the scenes tour and viewing which involved us going down there at 7pm and having a brief tour around the nesting area. at this time of year there are birds that are sitting on eggs and some with chicks so we got to see both through plastic panels in a dark room that allowed you to see them without disturbing them. The penguins here are free to do what they want when they want they do not interfere with them. After our tour which was amazing as you would never get to see penguins like that normally and so naturally, we went and took a seat in the wooden stand that overlooked the bay area. Once it was nearly dark the penguins started to come home to feed there young and give the penguin in the nest a break. It was so funny you could hear the lady penguins shouting to the males who were taking
Moeraki Boulders
strange rock formations! there time resting on the rocks as if to say "come on i have been in this house all bloody day with the kids". They are out at sea for upto12 hours fishing having 2 minute naps as they go so i think they deserve a rest! We stayed until 10pm watching the dramas unfold in the penguin camp, they are such characters. It was one of the best things we have done on our trip and would tell anybody thinking of doing it that we would highly recommend it! Unfortunately we have no photos of the penguins as there eyes are very sensitive and they are very shy, We have the best memories from the night instead.
Mount Cook is the highest point in NZ standing at 3800m, so we had to pay it a visit, it is situated in a national park with the usual backdrops that don't get boring. all of the lakes that surround this area are so blue, due to the sediment inside. they are bluer than the sky unbelievable! We took a short walk up through the park to Kea point (where there are no Kea birds) you could clearly see the peak
Elephant rocks
Aslans camp, he wasn't in when we visited though in all it's glory complete with a large sprinkling of snow.......you could hear the snow cracking in the distance as the ice melts. On the drive back we stopped at lake Tekapo which is home to the church of the good shepherd. A small church that was built from stone and oak and sits in the perfect position for views!
Yesterday we payed a flying visit to Christchurch, as we are running out of time we will have to do the tourist bit here next time! We went to visit my cousin Tim and his family who i had never met before. We had lunch overlooking the views of the mountains and the city which was beautiful!
We are currently in Kaikoura, for some more wildlife spotting!!!! Our ferry back to the north island is tomorrow afternoon so we haven't much time..........
speak to you all soon xxxxxxx
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Nana and Grandad
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Hey ste and becky you seem to be enjoying yourself in New Zealand - Its a shame for you to come back so soon. We hope you find some work and you both can stay. Your mum showed us the dvds and pictures and we did them on our laptop for beckys mum.. with some help. Tiffer will be upset when you come home because hes got used to his own play and room hahaha. sounds like you both dont want come, dont blame you - Nana hope you find enough work because theres nothing here to come back to except us :-) . i like the pictures. The pictures are very good. take care stay safe hope you both have a good christmas if we dont see you. take care love nanny and grandad x x x