I Can Tell By The Way You Walk

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Trip Start Dec 04, 2005 Previous
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  Christchurch, New Zealand
Friday, December 30, 2005

M: It has been a great few days since we last wrote. We spent Christmas at a very cozy backpackers in Dunedin where we had a potluck lunch (celebrating Christmas was NOT a prerequisite) with other travelers. It was a bit rainy, but we decided to go for a short hike after lunch. The short hike turned into a VERY muddy affair without views and the final destination, "organ pipes" formed from lava, wasn't as impressive as we'd hoped. But it was still fun. (J: Missy conveniently left out the part where she fell in the mud. I won't harp on it or anything, but I thought it noteworthy). We stopped at the Dunedin botanical gardens before it really started to rain. I love the number of public gardens available for free around New Zealand. They are gorgeous and celebrate both native and introduced plants. And they're just nice places to take a walk, have a picnic, etc.

The next morning, we saw a couple more Dunedin sites and the headed out to the Otago Peninsula

Boules Champ!

. On a tip from the owner of the backpacker, we went to the albatross colony. We saw a few albatross (J: Liar! We MAYBE so one albatross, but we aren't even 100% positive considering how many seagulls were around.) and some spotted shags, but agreed that birds weren't our most favorite animal and so moved on. We stopped at the one castle in New Zealand. The Lanarch Castle has wonderful gardens and amazing views, but the highlight was that we played bocci ball in the sun. Jessie won. By a lot. It was really fun (J: I agree.).

We had one more stop on the peninsula before heading off for the evening - Sandfly Bay. There was the slightest possibility for wildlife viewing, but mainly, the beach had a reputation. Getting down to the beach was a whole adventure because we had to sort of slide down sand dunes on our feet, which was pretty fun, but made us dread the climb back up. As we were finally walking to the water, Jessie gasped and grabbed my arm. By the cliff that bordered the beach, there were two penguins, flipper in flipper waddling toward us. There was no mistaking them for other birds. Jessie, who has been on a mission from day one was overjoyed. (J: She says it like it is a bad thing, but really I won't even get into Missy's serious infatuation with the sheep, especially the ones with black faces and legs, referred to lovingly as "masks and boots".) These were yellow-eyed penguins, the rarest in the world, and they were just sort of hanging out on the beach. It was pretty amazing. (J: It was seriously the highlight of wildlife viewing for me because it was the most natural of sightings, as the little penguin friends just seemed to be taking a little walk on the beach. And it was so unexpected.)

From the Otago Peninsula, we headed north to Oamaru for more penguin viewing, the little blue penguins

Finally Some Dolphins - Hector's Dolphins

. For this, we had to sit in grand stands and watch the penguins come from their day of swimming to their nests. They were SO tiny and came up to the beach in these huge clusters. Then, they preened and when they had worked up their courage, they waddled themselves right across the street (J: and by "street" we mean little dirt pathway that was more exposed and therefore apparently a bit intimidating for those really tiny little flippered friends.). It was really cute.

On the 27th, we made our way to Le Bons Bay. Our friends Nick and Amy had insisted that we go to Le Bons Backbacker as Nick's uncle is the owner. So, we wound our way through the Banks Peninsula to the absolutely cutest, most peaceful spot. Filled with flowers, vistas and the absence of electrical technology (no TV or internet), the backpacker was a haven of relaxation and joy.

J: My turn. Le Bons Bay was definitely worth the time it took to get there. Not only are the owners, Garry and Heidi, amazing individuals (with cute kids), but they have really created this space for travelers to get away yet feel at home. (Nick and Amy, I can't believe how much like Nick Garry is...Heidi totally agrees).

One of the many perks to staying at Le Bons Backpacker is that Garry offers a two hour boat ride out of Le Bons Bay to see marine life

Frickin' Organ Pipes

. It was undoubtedly two of the best hours of the trip so far. First off, it was just great to be on the water on a beautiful calm day. Secondly, as we started off, Garry pulled to boat over to one of the cliffs, hopped out of the boat and pulled a few Paua (shell fish that is one of most expensive in NZ) from along the bottom of the rocks. Then, we saw DOLPHINS (Hector Dolphins, to be exact)!!!! And lots of them. It was amazing. They were swimming right up to the boat and then right along with the boat and having so much fun (M: They were so close that Jessie almost got splashed when one of them exhaled through his blow hole). We also saw a couple of penguins (a third kind, white flipper), seals, a huge starfish, a swimming crab, and lots of birds. Apparently the water was pretty much the clearest Garry had ever seen. It was incredible!

For the rest of the day Missy and I enjoyed the beach and even went for a swim, despite the chilliness of the water (M: It was more of a lazy river, spit current kind of swim). That evening we ate the best we have eaten on this trip, if not ever in our lives. The dinners at Le Bons are one of the things that they are known for. It was unbelievable--the dishes, the amount of food, the variety. There was blue cod, paua from earlier that day, crayfish (not sure if this is different from lobster, but it tasted like lobster, but this one was by far the hugest I have ever seen), a pumpkin and feta salad, a broccoli and mushroom filo pie, lightly roasted kumara, dill carrots, potatoes in a cream sauce. Unreal! Needless to say we almost couldn't make it up to our beds that night.

We are now in Christchurch, but leaving tomorrow to catch the ferry in Picton to head back to Wellington and spend New Year's with Di. We have not really had the opportunity to see Christchurch thanks to needing to get the brakes replaced in our crappy rental car (M: But don't worry about it, Mom, we're really fine), but we have both decided that this will be one of our first stops when we return to NZ in the future. Until then...we gleckel on...

Post your own travel photos for friends and family More Pictures

Love Those Little Waddling Friends	Melissa Officinalis	Moeraki Boulders	More Dolphins - Loving Swimming With the Boat
Shopping for Dinner	Spotted Shags	The Dinner	What is Paua, You Ask?

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