Sunrise at 8:15 am

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Siriusly, I walked to my bus at 7:20 this morning with a full moon hanging in the mist over Lake Te Anau. I keep forgetting how far south I am!

I had wanted to check out the glow worm caves here, but it was time for me to drop my key off and head to Dunedin. It is a five hour ride through Gore, and I was excited to see a double decker bus waiting for me! I rode up front on top, even though I knew it would be misty most of the ride. The bus was mostly empty until Gore, and young boy traveling alone shared the seat next to me. Lots more sheep and cows and sloping paddocks on the way, along with this sign at the entrance to a small town:

No doctor. No hospital. One cemetary.

I also saw a manure shed/collection for 'charity.' I love New Zealand.

Pulled into Dundedin in a ton of fog around 12:30, walked the 10 minutes to my hostel- On Top Backpackers- which is literally on the roof of a Pool Hall, as in Billiards. The town centre is very compact, I am right next to shops and the Octagon where the cathedral and Robert Burns statue are. I headed straight to the i site to book some fun, and JUST missed the wildlife tour I had wanted to do. So I signed up for a later one which would take me to the Penguin Place. The woman there was very helpful, but I don't think she was expecting me to book $300/four days worth of reservations when she asked "Can I help you?"

I walked the Octagon a bit, took some tourist photos, and met my tour guide at 2:30. He had a huge city bus for me and an Italian couple. He was another external monologuist, and drove us over to Carnach Castle in the fog, which is over on the Otago Penninsula. We didn't go into the castle, just the gardens, but I took some fun artsy photos. It was sirisuly foggy, but he still took us on the high road (scary windy single lane sheer drops road). Saw more sheep.

I was dropped at the Penguin Place, since the Italian couple opted for the Albatross Breeding Centre. I saw plenty when I sailed, yay penguins.

It is a private center run by the land owner who is planting natives to help the yellow-eyed penguins, the rarest penguins at 4k total population in the world. They have 19 breeding pairs, along with a few blue fairy penguins who live - I kid you not- in grasslands and flax valleys. They are very asocial, but we got to see 5 of them. Two surfed in and waddled up to their shelters, one was in a shelter, and I think two different ones were wandering around. Our naturalist was a little crazy (aren't we all?) and led us through winding camo-netting covered dugouts as we tried to get good photos of the little guys. Hard deal since we couldn't use flashes. I focused more on staying warm, and avoiding the older American who was annoyed I said I was from California and not the US at check in. We did get super close to one penguin. The naturalist kept saying they were 'wild' and 'on holiday' but all in all seemed thrilled that it wanted to check us out on the hill.

We also saw four fur seals sleeping in the grassland while we were waiting for the penguins at dusk. One was showing off, the others rolled and slept for the cameras.

At dark the bus was waiting to whisk me back to Dunedin. The harbour was calm and beautiful, and I got to see some boat sheds which are no allowed to be built any more. A shame, they are pretty. The water was super clear, yet again.

The bus driver/guide sent me to The Reef on Georges St for the best Seafood Chowder in Dunedin. It was thicker than on the west or north coasts, with the same huge chunks, but with corn added. It was also a reddish color, I think from the crayfish (lobster). But it was amazing, with salad, and hot bun, and Speights Dark (South Island beer) for $21.50.

All the shops close down at 5 or 6 pm, so I was careful on my walk back to On Top. It was quiet being a Monday during school holidays. Even with Otago Uni right at the doorstep, I was able to be asleep by 8 pm. Love that!

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