Farewell New Zealand, For Now

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I'm sorry for the length of this blog, but it is time to bring my New Zealand blogs up to date. I promise that they will be shorter in the future - Enjoy!


I woke up bright and early in the morning at my hostel in Te Anau. There was a noticeable chill in the air, but the sky was clear and blue. I quickly packed everything up and made my way to the office to check out and wait for my shuttle. The chill was due to a storm that had formed the evening before as I finished my day-hike on the Kepler Track. The storm blanketed all of the mountains across the lake with a thin layer of snow, which created a winter-wonderland vista where there had been a brownish-green expanse of rolling mountains. It is amazing to me how a simple layer of snow can change an already beautiful landscape into a spectacular one - I love snow storms because it is nature’s way of creating wilderness from an already tamed landscape, even if it is only temporary. The scenic shuttle arrived and I was on my way to Dunedin via the long Southern Scenic Route. Our first stop was on the shores of Lake Manapouri where we picked up a few people who had just finished the Dusky Track. The hikers had stories of swollen, nearly un-crossable rivers, voracious swarms of sand flies and long, exhausting days of hiking, but they also said it was a wonderful experience that shouldn’t be missed - Maybe next time I will give it a try. The portion of the scenic route from Manapouri to Invercargill followed the Waiau River and passed through rolling fields of green pasture-land full of sheep, occasionally broken by small stands of tall trees. There were impressive views of the snowcapped mountains to our left and the coastal mountains of Fiordland to our right as the road wound its way south. We made a short stop in Tuatapere, the ‘sausage capital’ of New Zealand (I didn’t see a single sausage), which is also the starting point for the Hump Ridge Track, one of the newer tracks on the South Island - We were only in town a few minutes and I didn’t see much, but I did have a nice conversation with a well-spoken Cockatoo. After Tuatapere, the road joined the southern coast at Te Waewae Bay, which I was told is a popular surfing destination, and headed east toward Invercargill. Storm clouds were forming in the sky as we approached Invercargill and we passed through several small rain showers before we got there. Our driver pointed out the faint outline of Stewart Island in the distance and he told us about Codfish Island, which is just off of the coast of Stewart Island and is the last stronghold for the extremely endangered flightless parrot, the Kakapo. I said farewell to my driver in Invercargill and I boarded the bright green van of the Catlins Coaster (it was a Bottom Bus van, so I guess they are affiliated) for the second part of my trip to Dunedin - We were on our way to the Catlins! The rain stayed with us for most of our drive through the Catlins, but it was a very considerate rain - It would pour on us while we were driving and let up when we stopped to see the sights!

Everything I had read and had been told about the Catlins earned the seldom visited area a spot on my must-see list of the South Island. I had read of secluded, wind-swept beaches filled with wildlife, historic lighthouses, shear, surf-pounded cliffs and remote patches of ancient forest - I was not disappointed! I have always been drawn to the ocean and, while I love visiting the warm tropical beaches that most people think of as ideal, when I think of a perfect coastal landscape it is a vision of long empty beaches bound by shear cliffs and an untamed, tumultuous sea, the skies are filled with dark clouds and a tempestuous storm is raging overhead filling the air with cold sheets of wind-driven rain, the only sound is the howling of the wind and the crashing of the waves on the shore - Our first stop came close to that.

Our first stop was at Waipapa Point, which was the site of one of New Zealand’s worst maritime disasters when the SS Tararua ran aground on an offshore reef in 1881 and is where a wooden lighthouse, built in 1884 to prevent further disasters, still stands today. Waipapa Point is also a good place to see the New Zealand sea lion (also known as Hooker’s sea lion), which is an endangered sea lion that is found only in New Zealand. Our guide parked our van at the top of the sea-cliffs in sight of the lighthouse and we got out, put our jackets on and followed a narrow trail down to the beach. The pinkish sand beach was flat and somewhat narrow, but it was clean and empty. The sea-cliffs were not very tall and they were made of sand covered with grass. The surf was fairly calm, the kind of waves you could play in, but it was easy to see through the calm façade of that sleeping giant and imagine what the surf would be like when its rowdy buddy from the icy south blows in for a visit. We could see a few large sea lions laying on the beach a few hundred yards away, so we headed in that direction. A strong wind was blowing in our faces, which sandblasted us with fine sand and made the going a little uncomfortable. When we reached the largest of the sea lions it decided to sit up and be social. We were about fifteen feet from him and he was quite a bit larger than us, which gave me an uneasy feeling at first because I know how fast they can move. Our guide explained that the Sea Lions are rarely aggressive because they are the largest animals in the area and they only attack when they feel threatened - Apparently, puny little humans are not all that intimidating to them as long as we keep our distance. The guide added that, while the sea lions are very fast, they tend to only be fast in short bursts, due to their size, so as long as we backed away in the unlikely event that we got charged we would (should) be OK. Our guide told us that the lackadaisical attitude of the sea lions made them easy targets for early hunters and they were nearly hunted to extinction on the mainland. A light rain began falling again and our guide told us it was time to head back to the van, so we said our good-byes to the sea lions and made our way back down the beach, this time with the wind to our backs and the old lighthouse in front of us. At one point during the walk we stopped to watch a large sea lion ‘body surfing’ on the waves and apparently having a great time - I guess they enjoy playing in the waves as much as we do! We climbed back up the steep trail in the cliffs, took one last look at the lighthouse, standing alone on a dune-like hill, and got back on the road. When we reached our second stop at Curio Bay the rain stopped again, right on schedule, and the sun briefly came out.

One of the world’s best preserved examples of a fossilized Jurassic Forest is located at Curio Bay. Apparently, around 180 million years ago the area around Curio Bay was a vast coastal forest on the eastern edge of the super-continent Gondwana. Scientists believe the forest was destroyed by volcanic debris on at least four different occasions (there are four discernible layers of fossilized forest). Over the years, the deeply buried forest became fossilized, the wood being replaced with silica, and the action of the waves on the newly formed coast of New Zealand eroded the surrounding sandstone revealing the fossils that can be seen today. There was a small overlook a short distance from the parking area that gave a good view of the forest and during low tide it was possible to walk out amongst the fossilized stumps and fallen trees - Lucky for us (and as planned by the tour guide) it was low tide when we got there. We walked down the stairway and stepped into the past. My first stroll through a Jurassic forest was exciting - There were petrified remnants of giant trees everywhere, crisscrossing each other or lying alone and the ancient tree stumps protruded from the sandstone in a way that suggested the area had been clear-cut. The once fern-covered forest floor had been replaced by hard sandstone with numerous tidal pools, in fact most of the site was covered with a layer of saltwater an inch or more deep. I took a moment to try and reconstruct the forest in my mind - I was standing in a dense, steamy forest, the canopy overhead was casting a dark shadow over the giant ferns that were surrounding me on the forest floor and thin beams of sunlight penetrated the leafy barrier, haphazardly highlighting small patches of moist earth. The forest was mostly quiet with a constant, insect like hum and a sporadic, post-rain drip, drip, drip coming from the canopy above. Occasionally the quiet was broken by a large roar or a frantic scream, normally preceded by a crashing movement through the undergrowth in the distance. Suddenly, the ferns next to me exploded in a hurricane-like frenzy and I could hear a large animal thundering away at a rapid pace. Realizing that I couldn’t have startled the unknown creature like that, I slowly turned around and met the intense gaze of a giant Tyrannosaurus Rex, its tail pointing up in the air and its head, with its giant pointy teeth, inquisitively bending down to my level to see what the strange creature standing in front of him was. Being that I was close enough to feel its moist breath on my face and my guide was telling us it was time to move on to our next stop, I reluctantly left the Jurassic forest (Note: This is how my imagination reconstructed the forest it was probably completely different!). The constant wave action that freed the petrified forest from the rock will eventually destroy it, but that will be the fate of everything - Who knows, in another 180 million years someone will probably be standing in a similar spot on a similarly overcast day overlooking what their scientists believe is a primitive fossilized city from an ancient civilization that is only hinted at in their fables. We left Curio Bay and drove to an overlook on the cliffs above the petrified forest where our guide pointed into the distance, towards Slope Point (the southern most land on the South Island), and told us that the remains of the forest could be found all along the coast in that direction. He also said that when the forests were part of Gondwana most of what is now New Zealand had not yet risen from the dark depths of the ocean. It was lunch time so we made our way to a small store overlooking Porpoise Bay where I ordered a microwave meat pie and went outside to a picnic table with an excellent view of the water. We were in luck! Porpoise Bay is known for its population of Hector’s dolphins that can be observed playing in the shallows near the beach. Hector’s dolphins are the rarest of the dolphins and they can be found in various locations around New Zealand. From where we were sitting we could see several rounded dorsal fins, which are exclusive to the Hector’s dolphin, sticking up out of the water at the nearby beach. They were playing in the surf and, with the exception of a guy in a kayak, we were the closest people to them - We couldn’t have picked a better place to have lunch! We watched the dolphins for about half an hour and we took in the beautiful scenery - At the mouth of the bay towards Curio Bay there was a large, exposed reef that sent a massive plume of water into the air whenever a large wave hit it. From there the beach made a gradual arc eastward. Across the turquoise water of the bay there were rolling green hills and a few patches of forest. We finished lunch and loaded back into the van to go to our next stop at one of those islands of forest in the distance.

The clouds had parted and the sun came out revealing a deep blue sky overhead by the time we reached our next stop at Lake Wilkie. There was a short walk through a nicely preserved forest to a small boardwalk at the edge of the lake. The placid waters of the lake were surrounded by tall trees with dense undergrowth growing right to the water’s edge. The forest was filled with the melodic sounds of the tui and the bellbird and a slight breeze rustled the leaves in the tree tops - It was a magical forest oasis in the middle of a beautiful, grassy landscape. Our guide told us that the Catlins had been a continuous forest like the one we were in when the first settlers arrived. The settlers made a living from clearing the forest for lumber and for farmland. Now all that remains of the once vast forests are the small ‘islands of trees’ that dot the rolling hills of the Catlins, which for some reason were spared from the axe. The demise of the forests silenced the song of the forest birds and pushed the now rare flightless birds closer to extinction. The same story exists everywhere in the world where civilization has tried to tame the wilderness and, even in the environmentally conscious age we currently live in, it still happens today - I hope that we will ultimately figure out how to live with the forests and how to use the resources that they offer without making them disappear entirely. It wasn’t possible to let the missing forests dampen my mood, because the scenery that we were driving through was spectacular and the forests that remain seemed to be healthy. After we left the forest lake we made our way down a long, narrow dirt road to Purakaunui Falls, which our guide described as “the most photographed waterfall in New Zealand”. From the parking area it was a short walk along a creek through more forest to the falls. Along the way we crossed over a foot bridge where a few children were making small leaf & twig sailboats that they were racing down the creek and they were having a great time. When I saw the falls I realized that I had seen many pictures of them, which confirmed our guide’s statement. We watched the falls for a while and, of course, we took several pictures before heading back to the van. Our guide was not impressed with the amount of water flowing down the falls. Apparently the Catlins were experiencing a drought and the falls had been a trickle for a while. We were told that the only reason the falls were part of the tour we were on was because of the rain that had been accompanying us all day - Thank you rain!

After a long drive, we reached our last stop in the Catlins at Nugget Point and Roaring Bay. Nugget Point is a very scenic place. From the parking area a narrow trail followed the top of a steep, narrow cliff out to a lighthouse that was precariously situated on a small patch of land surrounded by shear cliffs and crashing surf on three and a half sides. There were several small, pointed islands of rock at the foot of the sea-cliffs in front of the lighthouse. The rocks were first spotted by Captain Cook and he felt like they glowed like little nuggets of gold (the sun must have been low in the sky when he saw them), so he named the place Nugget Point. The cliffs and the nuggets were covered with New Zealand fur seals, some of them climbing to amazing heights, there were several birds in the air and the weather was spectacular. We reluctantly said good-by to the lighthouse and made our way to a small penguin hide at Roaring Bay. It was still too early to expect the penguins, but we remained hopeful as we sat in the hide waiting. We never saw any penguins, but we did see several seals and one sea lion playing in the surf, which probably scared the penguins away. We knew it was a long shot, but our guide had seen penguins at that time the week before - Oh well! We said good-by to the Catlins and we made our way to Dunedin via the small town of Balclutha, arriving just before dark, ending a long, but spectacular day on the road. I checked into the Adventurer Hostel and went in search of dinner.

Dunedin is a seaside college town with a rich history, a lively downtown and a lot of things to do. The city’s close proximity to the Otago Peninsula also makes it one of the best places in New Zealand to see wildlife up close - That was the main reason for my stop in Dunedin. My first night in town I went for a walk down George St. Along the way I passed through the Octagon with its large church, beautiful visitor’s center and park-like setting. I found a string of restaurants that sold inexpensive, but delicious Asian food and I decided to eat my meals there while I was in town (it turned out to be cheaper for me to eat out than to make my own food - I love college towns!) I returned to the hostel early that evening and relaxed, read and talked to the diverse crowd that was staying there. I started the next day early by organizing a wildlife tour for the following day and then I went out to explore the town. I walked around until lunchtime, had lunch and then went to the Cadbury Chocolate Factory. I decided that I would do the tour of the plant because I love chocolate and I consumed a lot of their product when I was in Antarctica (I love their dark chocolate!) I went inside the main lobby where I was greeted with the wonderful smell of chocolate and a mountain of chocolate bars in golden wrappers. The main color scheme at Cadbury World was royal purple and the color was everywhere. I went to the counter and got my golden ticket (it was actually purple and white, but this is a ‘Chocolate Factory’ story) and I went to the free exhibits to wait for my tour. The free exhibits walked me through the history of chocolate from the Aztecs to modern day. They also walked me through the basic process of making the chocolate that we know and love, at one point there was a bucket of roasted cocoa beans that we could crack open and try - I loved the bitter flavor, so I grabbed a handful of them. Our guide walked through the exhibit and collected everyone for the next tour. We followed her into an adjoining room where we watched a video of the portions of the plant and the chocolate making procedures that we wouldn’t be able to see on the tour. Before we walked into the main plant, we were handed very stylish hair nets and a small plastic bag that we were told would fill up quickly. Walking through the factory doors was like walking through a chocolate lover’s dream - The factory itself was clean and noisy, but the thing that made the first step amazing was the strong smell of rich, creamy chocolate. The smell stayed with us as we went from one stop to the next - We saw giant chocolate ingots being poured, cooled and packaged (the ingots are shipped out to other manufacturers that use Cadbury chocolate in their products), we saw sorting and packaging of many different types of candy and all along the way our goody bag of samples grew larger and larger. At one point we stopped and watched another video about how they make their hollow eggs & bunnies and our last stop in the factory was inside one of the big storage tanks they had on site. The tank was no longer being used for storage, but inside they had built a giant chocolate waterfall - We sat there and watched as one ton of warm, thick chocolate poured from the hopper above us and thundered its way down into the darkness below! On the way to the factory store (where we received a very nice discount) we stopped and looked at some antique Cadbury delivery trucks and then the tour was over. I was disappointed that there were no Umpalumpas or teleport machines (just kidding), but the tour was a lot of fun - I don’t think I would be able to work in a chocolate factory, because I would either grow sick of chocolate, which would be horrible, or I would keep eating until I exploded (equally bad I think).

From the factory, I walked over to Olveston and took a tour. Olveston is the turn of the century home of the Theomin family that is now preserved as a museum. Olveston is on a large landscaped lot overlooking Dunedin. The home was filled with amazing artwork and furniture from around the world and was well worth the visit. One of the gentlemen on our tour worked in the house in his youth and he added an amazing insight to the already interesting tour. After the tour I asked my guide about a painting that was hanging on the wall, which looked a lot like an unidentified one my parents have, and she was able to look up the name of the artist. I spent the rest of the day walking around town and ended up back at the hostel well after dark. The next day I searched through some used book stores and actually found an early hardcover one of my favorite books in good condition, so I bought it and a few others (by that time I was hauling around six books in my backpack and another ten or so in my other bag at the Antarctic Center, which I don’t recommend!) before making my way back to the hostel to join my wildlife tour.

I had been told by several people (including my Catlins Coaster guide) that the best wildlife tour of the Otago Peninsula was done by Elm Wildlife Tours, so naturally I gave them a call. Elm picked me up outside my hostel in the afternoon and we headed towards the Otago Peninsula. We made a few more pick-ups and then drove down a long dirt road at the edge of the water, passing a lot of wildlife along the way, and ended up at the Albatross Center at Taiaroa Head. The world’s only mainland royal albatross colony is located at the Albatross Center and I was there during the breeding season so the colony was closed, but the sky was filled with albatrosses gliding around the sea cliffs and the lighthouse. In the parking lot, our guide pointed into a small drain in a rock wall where there was a little blue penguin nesting - That was our only sighting of a blue penguin. At the see cliffs we were greeted by several flying royal albatrosses and a large colony of shags. We stayed at our perch on the sea cliffs for nearly half an hour watching the numerous shags feed their chicks on the adjacent cliffs and occasionally we got a close fly-by by one of the large albatrosses. The Royal Albatross is the second largest of the albatrosses (behind the Wandering Albatross) and the size of the birds was impressive. It was fun trying to get a good picture of the albatrosses as they flew by us, but I did manage to get a few poorly composed, blurry pictures of them. We left Taiaroa Head and headed to our next destination at Elm’s private beach and penguin rookery. Our guide pointed out all the different wildlife we passed as we cruised down the increasingly remote dirt roads on the way to our destination. We passed through a gate signifying the start of the private land (Elm had an agreement with the farmer that owns the land that gave them exclusive access to the rookery) and we finally stopped at a barn surrounded by rolling, grass covered hills. We were told how we should act around the wildlife we would encounter (every species we were there to see was endangered) and we headed out across the pasture land towards the beach, occasionally sending a startled group of sheep running. We passed through another gate that helped keep the grazing animals out of the fragile penguin habitat and then we had our first sighting. There was a juvenile yellow eyed penguin standing next to a small pond beside the trail. Our guide led us slowly by the animal, which was only a few feet from us and we all took pictures as we silently passed. Of the eighteen species of penguins in the world, the yellow eyed penguin is the rarest and most endangered (there are only 5,000 - 6,000 left). They are also the largest penguin living in a temperate climate (some of the Antarctic species are larger). We moved down the trail a little more where we came to a stoat trap - The stoat is an introduced ferret-like animal that poses a major threat to the penguins and other native species, so they are actively trapped and removed on the Otago Peninsula. When we reached the beach we spotted several sea lions lounging in the sand, so we headed towards them. The beach was amazing! It was a small, but wide beach bound on three sides by steep, grassy hills and cliffs rising high above the sand. The sand was clean and, with the exception of some kelp, debris free. As we approached the fist of many sea lions on the beach our guide pointed out several small white dots climbing the green cliffs at the end of the beach - They were yellow eyed penguins! We were standing as close to the sea lion as we had been to the ones in the Catlins and it didn’t even acknowledge our presence. Our guide was busy telling us about the sea lions and their struggle to survive - Apparently female sea lions are rare on the mainland and they tend to stay away from the overabundant population of males. The males, in turn, tend to hang out with each other occasionally forming ‘Close’ relationships, normally between a larger ‘dominant’ male and a smaller one. As our guide told us this we witnessed it first hand - A gigantic male came out of the waves and ran straight for us (we were standing next to the little one), stopping every once in a wile to rest. The big male was walking on its flippers, which gave it the appearance of a big grizzly bear. The giant stopped at the little sea lion and tried to gain his acceptance, but the little one wanted nothing to do with him. The big sea lion finally gave up and ran over to another local beach dweller, a fur seal. Our guide was interested to see what would happen when the sea lion figured out the other one was a seal (which are much smaller) - The sea lion stopped dead in his tracks, almost like it was afraid, when he realized his error and then made a wide detour around the seal and headed to a large group of sea lions at the end of the beach. We left the beach and headed up a narrow, sandy path into the hills to a penguin hide near the rookery. From the hide we could see dozens of yellow eyed penguins, or Hoiho, which means “noise shouter” in Maori. We watched as several of the penguins made their way out of the sea and ran past one of their main predators, the sea lion, and started climbing the hill. The penguins worked their way slowly up the hill to their nests, occasionally stopping to cool off by stretching out their flipper-like wings - According to our guide the penguins have trouble maintaining their desired temperature when they are out of the water and they overheat quickly. The penguins’ method of climbing was entertaining - When they came to an obstacle that they couldn’t walk over they would jump over it. At any given time looking across the steep green hill we could see several penguins comically bouncing their way up the hill of green grass. There was a TV monitor set up inside the hide that showed camera feeds from three or four different nests in the rookery. We were able to watch, at close range and in real time, the interactions between the parents and the chicks without interfering with them. The guide pointed out the nests that we were watching and they were well hidden in the tangle of coastal vegetation that the penguins like, but we could barely see into one of them. We stayed at the hide for a while and then headed back to the beach. When we got down to the beach, we could see that the large sea lion from earlier was terrorizing a group of sea lions at the far end of the beach, but a large male in that group didn’t like the intrusion and a small, short lived fight broke out. We got lucky when we reached the end of the beach that we had started on, because a large sea lion had pulled its self up onto the beach and two penguins were standing in the surf trying to decide if they should make a run for it. Our guide pulled us off to the side and told us to be still and quiet. It paid off! The two penguins tentatively walked onto the beach, paying close attention to the sea lion, and then ran by him thinking “I don’t have to outrun the sea lion, I have to outrun the other penguin”. The sea lion didn’t move and they decided that they were far enough away, so they slowed down and walked right past us making their way up into the hills. We passed three more Hoiho as we made our way back to the sheep pasture, one at close range. Our guide told us that the limited interactions that their tours had with the penguins was a good thing, because the shy penguins become accustomed to humans being around, which makes them easier to study and, ultimately, will allow them to live more comfortably amongst the encroaching human population. Our next destination on the tour was a fur seal colony, which was a long walk through the hills and pastures on the well placed farm we were on. During the walk we talked about the management problems between the penguins and the sea lions. Our guide told us that if a male sea lion is preying heavily on the penguins then they will remove it from the area. He told us of a tougher problem they were having - There was a female sea lion, which are extremely rare themselves, that was actively preying on the penguins at a colony down the coast. He told us that they were watching her closely trying to determine what action to take - He said that she would most likely be removed from the area, because the sea lions are not suffering from a loss of habitat (they can pull up on any beach) like the penguins are and to drive the penguins away from one of the few remaining areas of their natural habitat would be, ultimately, more damaging. After a wonderful walk, we reached a small dirt trail descending to the edge of the green cliff and continuing off the edge into the unknown. At the end of the trail there was a small overlook precariously hanging to the edge of the cliff about fifteen feet above a large flat rock that served as the home to a large colony of New Zealand fur seals. As we stood above the seals enjoying the salty ocean breeze and the spectacular seascapes, the drama of everyday life for the seal unfolded below us. There was a pup swimming in circles in a small tidal pool, there was a young male, who was trying to talk to the ladies, who was continuously being violently driven off by the larger males, there was a mother morning a dead pup that was being eaten by a large gull right in front of her, there was a pup and mother laying on a small ledge just below us and there was a most entertaining domestic dispute between a large male and one of his ladies - Apparently, the lady wanted to go up on the ledge and visit with the mother and baby that were below us, but the male kept blocking her way. He would open his mouth, displaying his teeth, and he would let out a bellowing roar. She would respond by biting him and running away. The dispute went on for the entire time we were there and she almost made it once when the male had to drive off the younger male that kept trying to move in. It didn’t appear that the male ever hurt her (our guide thought she was pregnant), but the male got bitten a lot. The sun was starting to set, so we began our walk back to the van. I made it to the top of the tallest hill and turned around to take in the amazing scenery that surrounded us one last time - The steep, rolling green hills leading down to cliffs at the edge of the sea, occasional piles of light grey rocks and the unbroken horizon of the vast South Pacific. The sky was a bright pinkish-orange when we loaded into the van and made our way back to Dunedin. The tour was amazing and will go down in my mind as one of the highlights of my journey through New Zealand.

The rest of my time in Dunedin went by quickly - I visited the Otago Museum and learned about the area and I walked around town more. I found myself back in Christchurch on the afternoon of November 20th bringing my loop of the South Island to an end. The following day I went to the Antarctic Center where I took one last stroll down memory lane - I saw pictures of the igloo I helped build and several pictures of my friends (one was a victory picture from April Fools Day when several of the Kiwis climbed one of the structures at the LDB project and captured the American Flag and replaced it with a New Zealand flag, I went into the storm room wearing a t-shirt and played in the snow during a simulated Antarctic storm (I got a lot of strange looks from the shivering people in there, but it was not as bad as a typical day on the Ice) and I took one last ride in a Hagglunds where I got to see its amphibious features first hand. I then went to the CDC where I picked up my stored bag and I went back to the hostel. The following morning I caught a ride to the airport at 4:00am with two Americans I had shared a dorm room with the night before and started my long journey home. My last view of New Zealand was of the giant snow-capped mountains of the Southern Alps as I headed to Sydney for lunch.

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Photos

The Young Hoiho
This is the first of many yellow eyed penguins I saw on the Elm Wildlife Tour on the Otago Peninsula.

I'm Sleepy!
The New Zealand, or Hooker's Sea Lion. This guy woke up and posed for us at Waipapa Point in the Catlins.

Waipapa Point Lighthouse
Waipapa Point was home to one of New Zealand's worst maritime disasters. This lighthouse was built in 1884 to prevent more disaster.

The Jurasic Forest
These are the fossilized remains of the Jurassic forest at Curio Bay.

Wood of Stone
This is a close-up of one of the fossilized trees that are all over the place at Curio Bay.

A Stone Stump
These fossilized tree stumps are all over the place at Curio Bay. The forest was 'Cut Down' by quick moving volcanic debris on four different occasions.

Pick-up Sticks
In places the fossilized trees are lying in criss-crossing piles resembling a childhood game of pick-up sticks.

Porpoise Bay
Porpoise Bay is well known for its population of Hector's dolphins. The rounded dorsal fins in the water are the dolphins.

Big Waves
The waves constantly rolling into Porpoise Bay would hit this rock outcropping in a grand way.

Lake Wilkie
Lake Wilkie is a small, stagnant pond surrounded by beautiful forest filled with the songs of the birds.

The Shoreline Lake Wilkie
The vegetation surrounding Lake Wilkie grows right down to the shoreline.

Purakaunui Falls
I did my part to uphold this waterfall's reputation as 'the most photographed' waterfall in New Zealand.

Nugget Point Lighthouse
This lighthouse is set in one of the most spectacular places on the coast - The view from its base is amazing!

The Nuggets
Captain Cook first saw these little islands of rock and thought they glowed like nuggets of gold, thus the name Nugget Point.

Climbing Seals!
This is a poor picture of a seal that climbed nearly to the top of the biggest nugget - Impressive! I took the picture through a pair of binoculars.

The Sea Cliffs
Most of the cliffs surrounding Nugget Point look like this. Around the corner is Roaring Bay.

The Adventurer Hostel
The Adventurer Hostel is located in an old building near the Octagon in Dunedin. It had a great common room.

St. Paul's Church
The Octagon is the center of Dunedin and is a great park-like area surrounded by interesting architecture including this church.

Cadbury World
My tour of the chocolate factory ended with these old Cadbury delivery vehicles.

Olveston
This is the opulent house of the Theomin Family. Now it is a museum filled with grand artwork and antiques from the turn of the century.

George St.
George St. is one of the main roads off of the Octagon. The old buildings are great and there are lots of interesting shops and restaurants.

The Shag Colony
The shag colony was on the sea cliffs near the Albatross Center. We were close enough to the shags to watch them feed the youngsters.

A Garden in the Waves
I just liked this picture! This is the water at the bottom of the sea cliffs.

Taiaroa Head Lighthouse
The lighthouse was inaccessible due to its proximity to the albatross colony. The large birds in the air around the lighthouse are royal albatrosses.

Black Swans
These are introduced from Australia, but they are still pretty. We saw a lot of interesting wildlife on our tour of the Otago Peninsula.

The Gargantuan Sea Lion
This is the approach of the big sea lion to its first intended companion.

Introductions
The little sea lion wanted nothing to do with this large male.

Walking on All Fours
The sea lions walk across the sand on its flippers making it look like a grizzly.

Yellow Eyed Penguins
The view from the hide allowed us to see the penguins climb the hill to their nests.

Bouncing Up the Hill
The penguins had to jump up the hill, which was a very comical thing to watch.

Run From the Lazy Sea Lion!
These are the penguins that went by us and the sea lion.

Cooling Off
The penguins overheat easily while they climb, so they have to stop and rest frequently - I wonder if someone should tell them about the air-conditioned Antarctic!

I've Got an Itch!
More penguin pictures.

The Last Penguin
This penguin was waiting by the gate to see us off. The pile of logs next to him is an artificial hide to give them a place to put a nest while the natural vegetation grows back (the area used to be grazing area).

The Seal Colony
The small seal is the one that was fighting with the large male.

A Grand Place
This is the view from the top of the hill in the sheep pasture on the Otago Peninsula. The farmer picked a nice place to be.

The Antarctic Center
My last day in New Zealand was spent taking a walk down memory lane at the International Antarctic Center.

The Amphibious Hagglunds
More proof that the Hagglunds is the coolest vehicle ever made! The Hagglunds ride at the Antarctic Center goes through several obstacles including floating across a small pond.

The Storm Room
One of the main attractions at the Antarctic Center is the Storm Room where an Antarctic storm is re-created. I got some strange looks as I played in the snow during the storm in a t-shirt.

Farewell New Zealand!
This was my last view of the scenic beauty of New Zealand from my flight. Farewell until I return again!