Christchurch to Dunedin

As promised, the day began with a nice 4-mile run through the botanical gardens.  Even I had to admit that this was running heaven.

After a nice breakfast at The Classic Villa, we began our drive south to Dunedin.  Here is a photo of our mighty Suzuki rental car and The Classic Villa:

Along the way to Dunedin, we stopped at Oamaru for some lunch and to check out this town known for its Victorian heritage.  Little did we know that it is also known for its affinity for anything steampunk.  If you don't know what steampunk is all about, I encourage you to google it and prepare to be fascinated.  My niece, Kara, incorporated a bit of steampunk culture into her wedding.  Apparently it exists in some circles in the Seattle area too.

The weather today was actually quite dreadful.  Chilly, cloudy, windy and rainy.  Good thing we had a long drive to do so we could avoid much of it.  However, we managed to get hammered by winds and driving rain as we hunted for a restaurant that might be showing the Super Bowl on a TV.  To be honest, I didn't really care that much about the game.  Truth be told, it seemed more important to Laurie.

Before lunch we checked out some of the impressive Victorian architecture and visited the robust art scene.  One particular gallery that we went into may haunt me for the rest of my life.  It was like a brightly lit set of a horror film.  You walked into the gallery and there was eerie music playing quite unlike anything you may have heard before.  Then you looked around the gallery and there were dozens, maybe hundreds of faces staring at you in various artistic forms.  I walked out of that place in a somewhat deranged state of mind.  See what you think:

Next we continued our journey south stopping to see the well-known Moeraki boulders.  Rain and all, I decided it was worth a look.  Laurie decided to stay in the warm car.  A few hundred meters down the beach I came upon these magical little boulders, actually more like large marbles and cracked dinosaur eggs.  Luckily I timed it at low tide so all of the boulders were nicely exposed.

I really like these birds - oystercatchers.  Fun to watch.

After the boulder visit, I somehow managed to convince Laurie that we should try our luck at spotting the endangered yellow-eyed penguin, one of the rarest penguins in the world.  Apparently the estimated population of this species is a mere 4,000!  At the Katiki Point Lighthouse, there is a hide to watch the penguins come ashore usually in the late afternoon to return to their nests.  Since I had read that 5-6pm was the perfect time to look for this rare penguin, and it was 4:45 as we were driving by, I really wanted to give it a try.  I guess Laurie could see that eagerness in my eyes and succumbed to my wishes.

A short but steep stroll down the hillside to the shoreline led us to the hide.  There were four other people in there already and all of them were from some other country.  I honestly didn't even recognize the language they were speaking but I believe they were from eastern europe.  Anyway, after watching fur seals and rabbits (yes, rabbits!) and myriad birds for over an hour, we finally decided it was time to leave.  Miraculously, Laurie was holding the door open and I was just about to turn to leave too when I somehow spotted a waddling little guy sliding out of the surf and onto the beach about 50 feet away!!  I quickly snapped a couple of terrible photos and a short video of him lumbering past us up the beach.

Here is the short video of this rare, endangered penguin:

Two of the people in the blind had been there for three hours and seen 4 penguins.  Suddenly, I didn't feel so bad about waiting an hour to see one.  Some day Laurie will forgive me for what was to happen next.  For most of the time we were in the hide, it was merely sprinkling outside.  However, five minutes before we left it began to rain sideways.  I've seen it snow sideways but rain sideways?!  This was ridiculous!  We scrambled back up the steep slope with a gale wind in our face and pounding rain soaking our bodies.  So much fun.

Some day she might see the big picture and realize what an amazing wildlife sighting that really was.  But for today and for the near future, I live in shame for having subjected her to such insanity.

We checked into our hotel in Dunedin later in the day and then headed out to a nice restaurant called Salt (amazingly this is also the name of one of our favorite restaurants in Boulder).  Salt is located right next to the ocean, just outside of Dunedin, in a place called St. Clair.  Here is a fun little sign to see next to the ocean: