Exploring the Otago Peninsula & the Moeraki Boulders!
This past weekend Bevin and Jenny came to visit me from the North Island. I have a feeling they'll be the only two who make it down my way, which is a shame because people realy don't know what they're missing out on!
On Saturday we woke up early and went to the Farmer's Market where we bought some nice fresh locally produced food (who am I kidding? Everything is local here), and I also managed to find an AWESOME hat for a really decent price. It was quite exciting.
After the Farmer's Market, we explored the Dunedin Train station.
Then we were off to explore the Otago peninsula (with me behind the wheel!)
We saw Lover's Leap & The Chasm, and Jenny chased some sheep because she thought they'd escaped (quite hilarious to watch)
We saw an albatross fly by us when we went to the Aviary on the tip of the peninsula, and after that we headed out of the city to Moeraki to see some giant spherical boulders.
We climbed all over the boulders and had a grand old time.
After the sun had set (we caught the boulders at the PERFECT time), we headed back towards Dunedin, stopping in at Palmerston on the way for a bite to eat and to catch the beginning of the All Blacks vs. South Africa rugby game. We stayed to watch the HAKA (maori intimidation), which was really interesting and definitely cultural to New Zealad, but we didn't watch the entire game. The game was actually being held IN Dunedin, so we were glad we didn't have to deal with the pub crowds in the city. We watched a bit of the game and then finished our trip back to Dunedin, where people were STILL going crazy over the game (Unfortunately the All Blacks lost at the last minute, I hear people were QUITE upset about it).
On Sunday, I drove Bevin and Jenny to their bus stop eaaaaaaaaaarly in the morning. I then proceeded to go straight back to bed to catch some more Z's before I had to take the car back (could that time have been spent exploring more? sure...but I was tired)
When I finally woke up, I decided to explore the peninsula AGAIN but this time with a wild life tour. The tour was CRAZY AWESOME! We went out to the tip of the peninsula (for me the second time in as many days) to look for Albatross's at the Aviary. We saw some flying low on the water out on the ocean, but none of them came NEARLY as close as the one we saw the day before (the wind conditions just weren't right). We were provided with binoculars, which definitely came in handy while trying to spot little flying specks on the horizon.
After the Aviary, we went to the other side of the peninsula (eastern side?) where we climbed down some GIANT hills to encounter Fur Seals (they're adorable). We then hiked back UP the giant hills to go down a different set of GIANT hills to reach a beach where we saw Sea Lions and Yellow-Eyed Penguins (native to New Zealand!).
It was hiking up the second set of steep hills that I started to feel not so stellar. It was then that I really started to feel the sickness that I knew had been coming on for a couple of days. Needless to say, I've definitely gotten sick from all the hiking outdoors in the cold I've done :(...I don't think it'll stop me, but...I'm learning to like tea in an effort to soothe my poor throat and get better!
On Saturday we woke up early and went to the Farmer's Market where we bought some nice fresh locally produced food (who am I kidding? Everything is local here), and I also managed to find an AWESOME hat for a really decent price. It was quite exciting.
After the Farmer's Market, we explored the Dunedin Train station.
Then we were off to explore the Otago peninsula (with me behind the wheel!)
We saw Lover's Leap & The Chasm, and Jenny chased some sheep because she thought they'd escaped (quite hilarious to watch)
We saw an albatross fly by us when we went to the Aviary on the tip of the peninsula, and after that we headed out of the city to Moeraki to see some giant spherical boulders.
We climbed all over the boulders and had a grand old time.
After the sun had set (we caught the boulders at the PERFECT time), we headed back towards Dunedin, stopping in at Palmerston on the way for a bite to eat and to catch the beginning of the All Blacks vs. South Africa rugby game. We stayed to watch the HAKA (maori intimidation), which was really interesting and definitely cultural to New Zealad, but we didn't watch the entire game. The game was actually being held IN Dunedin, so we were glad we didn't have to deal with the pub crowds in the city. We watched a bit of the game and then finished our trip back to Dunedin, where people were STILL going crazy over the game (Unfortunately the All Blacks lost at the last minute, I hear people were QUITE upset about it).
On Sunday, I drove Bevin and Jenny to their bus stop eaaaaaaaaaarly in the morning. I then proceeded to go straight back to bed to catch some more Z's before I had to take the car back (could that time have been spent exploring more? sure...but I was tired)
When I finally woke up, I decided to explore the peninsula AGAIN but this time with a wild life tour. The tour was CRAZY AWESOME! We went out to the tip of the peninsula (for me the second time in as many days) to look for Albatross's at the Aviary. We saw some flying low on the water out on the ocean, but none of them came NEARLY as close as the one we saw the day before (the wind conditions just weren't right). We were provided with binoculars, which definitely came in handy while trying to spot little flying specks on the horizon.
After the Aviary, we went to the other side of the peninsula (eastern side?) where we climbed down some GIANT hills to encounter Fur Seals (they're adorable). We then hiked back UP the giant hills to go down a different set of GIANT hills to reach a beach where we saw Sea Lions and Yellow-Eyed Penguins (native to New Zealand!).
It was hiking up the second set of steep hills that I started to feel not so stellar. It was then that I really started to feel the sickness that I knew had been coming on for a couple of days. Needless to say, I've definitely gotten sick from all the hiking outdoors in the cold I've done :(...I don't think it'll stop me, but...I'm learning to like tea in an effort to soothe my poor throat and get better!