Kaikoura, New Zealand

I changed my plans about five minutes after my last blog entry and decided not to hang about in Queenstown on my last day but to take a day-trip to Milford Sound. I'd included it on my New Zealand 'wish list' but it was going to be pretty expensive with Magic, and I suspected the sea-kayaking I'd wanted to do there would probably be cancelled due to the weather. However there was a good winter deal with Mitre Peak cruises, to be driven over there for a boat cruise and back in a day, which a friend decided to do, and I joined her. It was a very long day, with a 6.30am pick-up in Queenstown and arriving at Milford by lunchtime. The bus journey was really scenic as we drove high up into the mountains. On the mountain roads our young driver decided to describe the sort of damage the avalanches that happened there regularly could do - basically if the falling boulders didn't crush your vehicle then the force of the descending snow could still blow all the windows out and knock it over. Lovely. The possibility of black ice was also elaborated upon, but we got there safely... The boat cruise was wonderful and we were really lucky with the weather (again!); it was very cold but sunny and clear. We didn't see anyone kayaking - probably too chilly! We saw fur seals basking on the rocks, and beautiful big waterfalls cascading down into the fjord, like cream dripping off a spoon. The journey back went well until we were an hour from Queenstown, and the bus stopped suddenly and the driver hopped off to investigate, and then report that the clutch was broken and he jokingly blamed our collective weight. Luckily they had snacks and DVDs to keep us distracted from being stuck in the snow and dark, as the replacement bus took well over an hour to arrive, with the result that it was almost 10pm before we got to Queenstown. So a very long day but am glad I saw Milford Sound after all!

Next morning I got the bus to Dunedin.On the way there we drove through the little town of Clyde, which is built in a valley beyond a huge dam, and on a fault line, so likely to be hit by earthquakes. Asking for trouble... In Dunedin I stayed in what felt more like a fridge than a hostel. It was pretty new and looked quite nice but heating wasn't on the agenda obviously! So I caught a cold, but I think I've thrown it off again. I explored Dunedin, which has some architectural gems and lovely cafes, and checked out the art gallery and cinema. I didn't tour the Cadbury factory because the bus driver advised us that there weren't any Oompa Loompahs left there after 'they staged a revolution and were shot' and that 'Oompa Loompah flavoured ice cream was good for a while but they've run out'. Instead I took an Elm wildlife tour out to the Otago Peninsula, which was another really lovely area I wouldn't have seen otherwise. We were a group of about twenty, with two guides, and drove in a minivan to the Royal Albatross sanctuary (which I hear my grandparents went to as well!), where we spotted one Royal albatross (it's not their season). On the drive over private farmland to see penguin, sea lion and fur seal colonies we were informed it was our 'patriotic duty' to run over possums if we saw any (never mind that we're not Kiwis), or if we were too squeamish we should throw apple cores or other pieces of fruit into the middle of the road and then let someone else do the dirty work! Classic Kiwi advice. Our guide also gave us some info about the very rare Yellow-Eyed Penguin, which is in fact a forest-dwelling bird (!) - hence New Zealand's deforestation along the coastline has contributed to their rarity, but Elm are replanting bushy plants such as harakeke ('grass on steriods') near the beach to get the shy penguins to hide in. Apparently they are even shy of their own species and 'will only visit their neighbours to beat them up if they are watching them make babies'. The penguins were standing in a fairly large group when we saw them though, and some of them were trundling in twos or threes from the sea to nest for the night. The way they toddled up the beach and then hopped up the rocks to stand on the hill was really funny! Also really funny (as described by the guide; unfortunately we didn't witness this) is when they're trying to attract a partner, which they do by sticking out their flippers straight ahead as if to hug their prospective partner, storming straight past them, then coming to an abrupt halt and staring up at the sky to let their prospective partner admire them. They will do this over and over again to each other, and then sometimes discover that they've been performing this little mating dance for the same sex - in which case they will smack each other in disgust. They will also smack the sheep if they come too close, which makes me feel very sorry for the sheep, as a penguin is pretty strong and I remember having a large purple penguin-flipper-inflicted bruise on my thigh for a long time in Capetown. However the sheep are quite capable of head-butting the penguin and pushing them over, which apparently also happens a lot and is very comical to watch! We also saw sea lions in that area, which I'm now enlightened enough to know are a type of seal. They were lying about in the dunes and some were pretty massive so we kept our distance. As we were walking away from one of them he (male, of course!) decided he would shuffle off too. As he got up he let off the most disgusting rotting-fish fart I have ever had the misfortune to smell. The females have a separate beach where they hide from the males and now I think I know why! Yuk.
After that we headed over to the fur seal colony, where there were lots of babies, camouflaged by the rocks (the males are grey, and the females slightly more sandy-coloured, and the babies are rock-coloured). As we were all armed with binoculars and sitting in a hide we got a very good look at them (though my photos look like pictures of rocks). Some of the young ones were darting about in one of the rock pools which was brilliant to watch, as they really come alive in the water and look rather clumsy on land. Another really good tour.

Dunedin doesn't really look like Edinburgh by the way, apart from the odd Gothic church, but it's quite hilly and has the steepest street in the world, where the Magic bus stopped for us to walk up (hard work first thing in the morning!) on the way to Lake Tekapo. On the way we stopped at the Moeraki Boulders, which are perfectly round lumps of rock on Moeraki beach. Very photogenic! I don't believe the dinosaur-egg theory or the Maori story of them being stale bits of bread (how big was that loaf!?). The Tekapo area was very beautiful but bitterly cold so I spent the afternoon curled up in front of the fire reading my book ... Off again early the next morning to Christchurch, where I spent the afternoon at the Arts Centre (the Fudge Kitchen in particular drew me in! thanks for the recommendation, Lyndsey) and the art gallery. Like Bangkok, I liked Christchurch better the second time round, but it was another flying stopover and I left this morning and got to Kaikoura at lunchtime. It's a lovely little coastal town, where whale watching and dolphin swimming are the main tourist attractions, but I'm just going to enjoy the free pursuit of walking about! Once again the weather is playing along so I'm going to make the most of it now. From here I'll be going to Picton, on Sunday or Monday, to stay a night and then get the ferry across to Wellington and check out the North Island.