P P Pick up a penguin

After checking out the city of Dunedin we spent a few days relaxing on the Otago Peninsula. A small piece of land sticking out from the mainland, it is known for its wildlife and scenic countryside. We did a couple of walks, finding sea lions slumbering on the sand, and late one evening spotting a few yellow eyed pengiuns from a hide up on a sand dune at Sandfly bay. The penguins and very rare and shy so it was pretty lucky to see one coming splashing out of the surf, waddle up the beach and proceed to hop its way up the cliffside. New Year was a quiet affair for us, some fine wine and local cheeses before crashing out, although the private party of the park owners cranked up at midnight, waking me up so I could send out some cryptic text messages. No futuristic phonecalls this year ;)

We headed a short way up the coast to Oamarama, stopping off at the Moueraki boulders. The boulders are almost perfect spheres and have been appearing out of the cliffside due to erosion for some years. No one knows how they formed. Dino dung I reckon. At Oamarama we got to see some more of the yellow eyed pengiuns, this time a bit more close up. Still in their normal habitat, but more used to the attentions of us humans and the clicking lenses of cameras and all the pushing and shoving that goes with it.

After that it was away from the coast and inland towards Mount Cook. As we approached the mountains we could see the odd snow covered peak and got a glimpse of Cook, or Aoraki as the maoris call it, from the shores of Lake Pukaki. The following morning we woke up to clouds, but over breakfast they cleared completely to give us brilliant blue skies for our walk up the hooker valley to the terminal face of the hooker glacier. The valley itself is dominated by Mt Cook and we had stunning views for the whole day.

Following Mt Hutt we moved onto Lake Tekapo and took an early morning walk up Mt John in yet more glorious sunshine. Once more the skies were blue for us and we enjoyed great views and a nice coffee on the peak at the coffee shop, surrounded by domed telescope buildings.

After that it was down onto the Canterbury plains for a walk along Rakaia Gorge with Mt Hutt in the background. The walk was more strenuous than we'd thought but that was probably to do with the baking heat of the day. After the gorge we found what we reckon was the cheapest ice cream in NZ, $1.50 for a double scoop of hokey pokey, very nice.

The last couple of days have seen us in Christchurch, checking out the city and doing some walks on the coastal headland. We have been looked after by the parents of friends of ours from Auckland, and treated to roast NZ lamb and a very nice casserole.

posted by Matt, Monday, January 08, 2007.