On Wednesday morning we drove from Mount Cook back to the East Coast to Oamaru and the Yellow Eyed Penguin Colony (the rarest penguins in the world) once again we were not disappointed and saw numerous ridiculously cute birds waddling in from the sea and up the cliffs to their beds. We were lucky to see four at very close quarters - but unfortunately the light was far too dim to take any good pictures.
On Thursday morning Niall was determined to get up early and head back to the penguins to try and get some good photos. Luckily the sun is rising quite late at the moment so we didn't have to be too early (8am). As we arrived the penguins were just waking up from their nights rest. We saw them waddling to and fro at incredibly close quarters. The highlight was watching a penguin couple building a nest (quite early as they don't lay eggs until August).
Once all the penguins were off for their days fishing we went back to the hostel for some breakfast before once again hitting the road for Dunedin.
Dunedin has Scottish heritage and Dunedin is actually the Gaelic for Edinburgh. As we arrived it was pretty Scottish in feel - pouring with rain and dull and gray! We set out anyway to explore the city which was pleasant enough. Niall went off to the Otago Museum where they have a simulated tropical forest with butterflies that he wanted to photograph (yes photographs again!) Laura meanwhile felt that a visit to Cadburys World was far more worthwhile - particularly due to the promise of plenty of free samples. A good time was had by all and we finished the day in very British style with beer and a Chinese takeaway.
We awoke to yet more rain on Friday morning as we planned to drive through the Catlins on the very south of the South Island. Many interesting stop offs are promised in the guide books the first of which was Nugget Point. An incredibly rugged, um, point! With a nineteenth century lighthouse, interesting rocks and big waves!
Next stop off was Cannibal Bay and the chance to see Sea-Lions. As we walked out the beach looked disappointingly empty but at the end was a solitary female sea-lion! Very exciting. She was pretty chilled out and undeterred by Niall edging closer and closer for a photo. A short walk to the next beach promised more sea-lion possibilities. This time we were really lucky! As we walked through the dunes we came across a big, fat, male sea-lion (we did not want to get too close and had to sprint past!) And also a very cute youngster having a good scratch against the rough grass. Down on the beach there were three sea-lions and they put on an exciting show as two males had a little scrap over a female (the larger of the two was the clear victor!) Niall then got a little too close and had to run for it when he reared up, growled and lunged! - See photo!
We had hoped to look around Cathedral Caves further along the coast but rough seas meant they were closed and we went, instead to McLean Falls. This was a really spectacular waterfall set in ancient forest. A really lovely place. We then moved on to Curio Bay (our home for the night) we stopped off at the very unimpressive Niagara Falls (a Kiwi joke) before arriving at our cottage. We couldn't believe our luck to be the sole occupiers of the cottage, positioned just off the beach with spectacular views and with Blue Penguin nests underneath!!! (We didn't see any though :-( ) so a cosy night was had as the wind roared, the rain poured and the waves crashed.
A pleasant but windy walk along the beach was had this morning. Some impressive waves were seen and impressive rainbows before heading off to Invercargill via a petrified forest (we couldn't see much due to high tide). Now in Invercargill the weather is still dreary and there is not too much to do, but tomorrow we head to Te Anau and the delights of Milford Sound.Laura, Niall and Ruff!
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