Curious Catlins

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It was with waves of nausea from my self-inflicted hangover that I left Queenstown and all my good bus buddies and went into the unknown of the deep deep south of NZ. First stop Dunedin where I saw the steepest street in the world. Yes, I thought it was interesting too. Dunedin is a very student-dominated town with the University of Otago, and all locals call studenty hangouts "Scarfey" bars (Nic, it looks like you weren't the first to coin that phrase, sorry). It is also supposed to be like Edinburgh and is heavily influenced by the first Scottish settlers here. It was dull and grey and cold, so I suppose it was very like Edinburgh! I couldn't face the Speights Brewery tour, not in my state, so I opted for a Cadbury's Factory Tour instead. Much nicer, with less beer and more chocolate. Having been to Cadbury's world in Birmingham, I feel I now know all there is regarding chocolate.
After Dunedin we headed into the Catlins area (staying in Curio Bay - you can't get much further south without going to Stewart Island), very uninhabited and with unpaved roads and little civilisation I really did feel like I was getting away from the excesses of Queenstown and previous sites of debauchery. It was a great place for wildlife viewing and I was very privileged to see several rare Yellow-Eyed Penguins, the smallest dolphin in the world, Hector's Dolphins, and good dollop of Hooker Sea Lions, all species that are native to New Zealand. Fab. Throw in a fossilised forest 180 million years old and some windswept coastlines it really did feel like I had gone back in time.
On a totally different note I also had a go at shearing a sheep further along the coast just outside Tuatapere. I definitely fancy becoming a farmer in NZ.

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Photos

actually it was pretty steep
a 1:2.8 incline apparently, and steeper than any of those pretenders in San Francisco, according to the Guinness Book of Records

Nugget point lighthouse
46 degree latitude south - I can almost smell the Antarctic

It's exhausting being a Hooker Sea Lion
The males (here) have to swim 400 km to check out the girls, who are living on the Auckland Islands (I think). They then come back here for grub and a rest, not a bad life.

Yellow-Eyed Pengiun
Believe it or not, it is the black and white dot in the middle of the pic

This one had my name on it
Little did it know it's fate

Prostrate sheep
I hadn't killed it

Fleecing it
Can you see the look of sheer terror...? And the sheep looked a little scared too.

Comments

[Back in Levemir Land]

Loved the log
I can almost smell dinosaurs in that Lower Jurassic exposure, Liz. Watch out for them - especially when you get to South America. They're rife there, you know!