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Published: April 14th 2006
Before getting to Dunedin, we drove along the Southern Scenic Route via the Catlins which is another huge national park. Stopping off along the way, we visited a forest that was 180 million years old, which had fossilised and was now set into the rocks on the beach.
At the bay down the road we caught sight of a yellow-eyed penguin, but as we tried to get closer to get a photo it ran off. We later found out that you shouldn't move when you see one, because they're very rare, and really scared of humans and will run off if they see you. Oops!
We then headed further along the track to Nugget Point, another penguin lookout. Unfortunately, the sun had started to set so we decided to stay in the area and wake up at
6am on a SUNDAY morning to go back to the lookout. We were rewarded, as we saw 2 blue penguins waddling into the sea (yes we know that much that we even distinguish between them now!). After hanging around for another half an hour or so in the cold, we decided there weren't anymore and headed to the lighthouse up the road.
From the view there we couldn't see much for a while, until on further inspection with the binoculars, we realised there were
loads of sea lions and seals on the rocks! This was the only place in the whole of New Zealand where they lived peacefully together, and seeing them was amazing.
Next stop was Dunedin, where we headed to the World's Steepest Street. We didn't even attempt to get the campervan up it, but we did walk up. Much to our surprise it wasn't bad at all, compared to the hills we climbed on the Inca Trail!
The Otago Peninsula was supposed to be our next lookout point for more penguins. Unfortunately, almost at the very top of the hill, our petrol light came on! Uh-oh! We kept going as we were near the top, and were directed to the nearest petrol station down another road further into the peninsula. We made it down the hill (coasting a lot), only to find it was Sunday and so closed! We ended up doubling back on ourselves but did eventually make it to the petrol station in town. Once there, we couldn't be bothered to drive back out onto
the peninsula to go penguin-hunting as it was the wrong time of day. But we did get loads of photos!
The next day and a half was spent driving to Franz Josef for glacier walking!
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Lil Dave
non-member comment
Boom Boom!
I see Eric is recreating his favourite bit of the Smooth Criminal video. He loves that song! Happy Easter! I guess New Zealand must have been the first country in the world to have Easter, as it is near Easter Island.