Advertisement
Published: November 18th 2008
Edit Blog Post
Moeraki Boulders, Dunedin, Otaga Peninsula, the Catlins
November 17, 2008
Got an early start out of Oamaru and as usual we didn’t get very far, but packed the day with good stuff.
First stop was at the Moeraki Boulders. These are strange rock spheres that are strung along a beach. We thought we’d be there a short time, but they were so interesting we stayed an hour.
We drove on to the town of Dunedin, kilt stores and a giant statue of Robert Burns in the city square (actually an octagon) are clues to its Scottish heritage. We went into a bookstore and bought the NZ Lonely Planet Guidebook. When the clerk asked Joe if he wanted a bag he said, “Yeah, we don’t want people to know we are tourists.” The people behind the counter thought the joke was a good one as I had the camera around my neck and Joe had binoculars around his.
The Otaga Peninsula is near Dunedin and we drove that hairy scary road so we could visit the Royal Albatross Center that is at the very tip of the peninsula. We knew that we couldn’t see the nesting areas
because it is egg hatching time. We didn’t know if we’d see any albatrosses, but did know we’d learn something at the center. When we drove up we immediately saw several albatrosses circling overhead. I even got excited watching them, they are so big! This peninsula is the only place in the world where they nest on a mainland so it’s a good place to see them. The Royal Albatross will be added to Joe’s list with five stars next to it.
We had taken the low road going to the center and it was so narrow and so close to the ocean that we decided to try the high road going back to Dunedin. We didn’t think it could be possible, but that road was even narrower with steep drop offs. New Zealand doesn’t spend any money on guardrails and their absence raised my anxiety level a few notches. But…what incredible views! Around every turn there were sights that almost made my eyes hurt from the loveliness.
Soon we were off the peninsula and driving on the south coast of the South Island in an area called the Catlins that is chock full of birdlife and gorgeous
coastal/pastoral scenery. We took a gravel road to Nugget Point where we walked about 20 minutes up to a lighthouse to get another knock-your-socks-off view of rock stacks in the ocean, seals, sea lions, and MORE albatrosses!
Our caravan park tonight is near Owaka on the ocean in a forest. It’s a small one with fun people. Our neighbors are from New York and just sold their home and are traveling for a year with their two sons doing work for National Geographic. Hope we get to spend some more time with them tomorrow.
Tonight I was holding the pasta drainer in one hand, the pan with the boiling water and pasta in the other and was going to lean out the back door to pour the pasta into the drainer. I hit my head (hard) on a cabinet and dropped the plastic drainer onto the stove and it started on fire. I quickly tossed it outside into the grass. Glad I didn’t burn down the campervan. It’s cold tonight, we have the little heater going so we’re toasty warm.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.079s; Tpl: 0.016s; cc: 12; qc: 31; dbt: 0.0427s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Connie
non-member comment
What phenomenal rock formations- sort of reminds me of formations found at the End-of-the-World peninsula in Washington state. Did you discover how they were formed? The city is lovely-