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Published: June 25th 2008
Moeraki Boulders
Rich trying out for worlds strongest manAfter leaving Oamuru we headed south toward Dunedin. On the way we stopped at a place called Moeraki to go and view the famous boulders on the beach. The boulders were formed a long time ago, there are loads of them along the beach and they are almost perfectly spherical. They look quite strange! We also had a look around Moeraki, which was a little eery, we appeared to be the only people there.
Later that day we arrived in Dunedin. Dunedin is celtic for Edinburgh and has strong links to Scotland. Its a nice enough city with lots of shops, bars and cafes. We had a quick look around and then headed to its main feature, the worlds steepest street! It's official in the Guiness Book of Records. The street was indeed very steep, and sadly our van could not make it up to the top, so we had to walk instead. Once every year they hold a competition where lots of people have to run up and back down the street in the quickest time possible. I tried running down and that was hard enough.
After a few days in Dunedin we headed out to the Otago
peninsula to try to catch a glimpse of some sea lions, seals, and penguins. It was really fun driving with lots of winding hilly roads. We stopped first at Larnach castle, which had magnificent views over the whole peninisula.
We carried on toward the albatros sanctury at the very end of the peninsula, it was here that we managed to sea our first seal which was very exciting, it was fun to watch as it scrambled across the rocks. Sadly no albatrosses though.
Next stop was Victory beach, a spot where sea lions are often seen. As we reached the turn off for Victory beach we realised it was an un-sealed road, and we're not really sure whether we can take the campervan down un-sealed tracks, but we did anyway. After half an hour of skidding and bouncing over dirt tracks we arrived at the start of the walking track to the beach and set off climbing over the sand dunes to get down to the main beach. There were lots of warning signs that sea lions sleep in the dunes and may chase you if you distrub them, so we walked warily, making sure to check the
track ahead.
We reached the beach and were a bit disappointed not to have spotted a sea lion, as we were walking along the beach Rich was scrambling up and down the dunes trying to see if he could see any. Suddenly there was a loud roaaaar and some flapping flippers on the beach and a sea lion popped up right in front of us, it had been hidden by the sea weed. We both ran off in the other direction.
After a day at the peninsula we headed further south on the southern scenic route destined for the Catlins national park, and a route that would take us right around the south coast of New Zealand.
Next day we headed first for Nugget Point in the Catlins, again more driving over unsealed roads. Nugget point had fantastic views from the headland, and more seals lying around on the rocks below. We spent the rest of the day driving around various beaches and waterfalls meandering our way around. The scenery is amazing we didn't really seem to get very far as we kept stopping to look at things. As it was getting dark we headed for Porpoise
Otago Peninsula
view from larnach castle bay and Curio bay to stay for the night. We were literally camped right on the cliff edge overlooking the beach, no porpoises though.
The following morning we headed to Slope Point, the southernmost point of mainland New Zealand, and also to Waipapa beach to see the lighthouse and go for a walk. As we were walking down onto the beach we spotted an enormous sea lion which was pretty scary, much bigger than the one from the day before. Luckily it was fast asleep so didn't notice me and rich making a quick exit.
After this we headed up to the town of Te Anau in the Fiordlands, arriving in time to go to the pub to watch the All Blacks hammer England....again.
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