Trip to the southern portion of the south island

So this will be our last New Zealand road trip and I really think it was the best. We started by staying the night at Oamaru and going to see the NZ blue penguin colony. Before we went to the penguin center, we took a walk to see if the yellow-eyed penguins were coming in to land at a nearby beach. Unfortunately, no penguins, just seals. We went to the evening viewing. It was windy and cold and we were bundled up in hats and heavy jackets. Some folks even had gloves and were wrapped in blankets. Remember this is in February, the heart of NZ summer. We arrived at 9 pm and took a seat in the viewing stands. The stands overlooked a rocky point about 5 meters above the water level. The penguins have been out to sea feeding and when they come in at night, they arrive in groups called rafts. We spied the raft out in the water and watched it work it's way to the rocks. The tide was coming in and the wave just raised the raft and literally smashed onto the rocks. When the water receded, the penguins were on the rocks and climbing up. They stopped halfway up the climb to dry off before they made their way to the top of the rocks, crossed the walkway and went to their nests. The penguin center has put fences around the nesting area and are very protective of the penguins. When the penguins are coming in for the night, they only leave on a few yellow lights so we could see them and they insisted on absolute quiet from the viewing crowd. The noise could scare the penguins and cause them to go back out to the sea until they thought it was safe again. We saw at least 75 penguins come in and work their way to the nesting area. We left around 10:30 and returned to our motel. It was amazing!

While we were waiting for the penguins to come in, we saw the most fantastic sunset. See for yourself!

We went on to Dunedin and the Otago Penninsula and arrived at Lanarch Castle in the early afternoon. Building started on the castle in 1871. While we couldn't sleep in the castle because it was a relatively small castle, we stayed in the lodge and ate breakfast in the stables. We stayed two evenings and ate at the castle both nights. The first night, we ate in the music room and the second evening we were in the dining room. The food was super and the ambiance was fantastic.

While on the Otago Penninsula, we went to the Royal Albatross Center and were able to watch a pair of albatross flying about. These birds have a wing span of 3 meters. They were amazing to watch as they rode the winds. We also visited the Cadbury Chocolate Factory in Dunedin and saw the chocolate waterfall. One of the coolest things about staying at the castle was that the weather turned and fog settled in all about the castle. It gave us a really ghostly feeling walking about in the fog. All we needed was to see a ghost. Unfortunately, that didn't happen, although it is rumored that the music room is haunted.

Lanarch Castle on a dreary day!

Lanarch from the front

This was our room in the lodge.

This was the stable across from the lodge. Photo taken from our room on the second floor

This is one of the trees on the grounds. They grow they largest trees in NZ!

Lanarch at night! Isn't it grand?

This is Baldwin Street in Dunedin. The Guiness Book of Records has declared it the steepest street in the world. Obviously the photo doesn't truly depict the steepness of this street.

More giant trees in a park in Invercargill.

We took the ferry to Stewart Island, the southernmost part of New Zealand and spent 2 days there. Since we arrived on Waitangi Treat Day, which is a national holiday, everyone was off = all 325 folks that live on Stewart Island. We spent the afternoon watching a pick-up rugby game at the park. It was between the Maoris and the pakeha (European descendants living in NZ - white folk). The Maoris played barefooted and they were amazing to watch. We met some folks from Idaho who spend the winter on Stewart Island. Also a fellow from Canada who winters there - Tom Hennessey. In fact, Tom designed and sells hammock tents. They are great. He actually sells them on line and through REI. I tried one and will definitely get one once we get the camper.

We took a water taxi to Ulva Island the next day. The entire island is a bird sanctuary. It was great. We walked around for 4 hours and were able to find a lot of the birds that live there. I've decided that bird watching is not quite my cup of tea. I love being able to see them but lack the patience to just sit there and watch for them. What a great day - good walk, nice lunch on the island, beautiful beaches tho the water was way to cold to even think about swimming, sat at the beach in front of our hotel and finished a super bottle of wine while watching the sun set and finished with a really good dinner.

Back on the ferry the next morning and then drove to Manapouri to take a cruise on Doubtful Sound the next day. It started to rain that night and we had rain all the next day on the cruise. One would think this would be a downer but actually the rain was exactly what we needed because it brought tons of waterfalls in the sound. When it doesn't rain, there are no waterfalls so we were really lucky.

 Just a really picturesque fishing boat near the dock for the cruise.

Red deer in the paddock next to a hiking trail

Seal colony at the edge of Doubtful Sound - where the sound entered the Tasman Sea

One of the many waterfalls we saw that day

Another stunning sunset at Manapouri

This was the sunset we watched as we had the bottle of wine in front of our hotel.

From Manapouri, we drove to Queenstown and spent 2 days checking out the wineries in the Otago region. We started with the Gibbston Valley Wine Cave on Friday and wound up at the wineries in Bannockburn on Saturday. What was so surprising is that there was gold mining in the areas around Bannockburn and the result from all the mining activities is a land geography that so reminds me of the Palo Duro area of Texas. See for yourself.

This is the Bannockburn area that reminds me of west Texas

For those of you that don't know it, Ernie is really afraid of heights. Good for him not only crossing this gorge bridge but stopping on it for a Kodak moment.




















The following photos are of the B&B that we stayed at. What a beautiful home and garden. The view from the back balcony of the lake and the Remarkable Mountains was breathtaking.

That brings us to our second last day on the road and a start to returning to Blenheim. We stopped at the absolutely delightful town of Ophir and got to experience the O'Connell Bridge leaving Ophir. The O'Connell Bridge was built in 1880 and was a total surprise to us. After Ophir, we drove to St. Bathans. We were in St. Bathans for the first time eight years ago and fell in love with it then and had to return to it once more. What is so unique about St. Bathans is the lake and resulting geography from the gold mining days. All the 'hills' are the gold mine tailings. It looks like a lunar landscape.

 This was our first viewing of the O'Connell bridge. The road leading to t is a one lane road cut through boulders. One just has to hope the folks on the other side of the bridge saw you coming since they have to yield right of way.

This is the one lane road through the boulders. Oh yeah, just to add to the level of difficulty, there is a curve and a dip in the road leading to the actual bridge

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This is the view from the other side of the bridge. After seeing this side, I'm not certain how much visibility these folks have and yet they have to yield right of way.

Yes the bridge is wood on wood.

The following photos are of St. Bathans. Absolutely amazing!

Well I'm all caught up ----- for now. We'll be going to the Tua Marina rodeo on Sunday and I'm sure there will be more photos and stories to share. Until then, remember that

Today is National Margarita Day! Enjoy one for me!!!!

Life's not about waiting for the storm to pass... It's about learning to dance in the rain. And what makes life really good is to be able to share that daily dance with your soul-mate.