The Catlins and Dunedin
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Dunedin,
New Zealand
Thursday, October 11, 2007
The crossing back to the mainland was by no means smooth as it had ben yesterday, though I would hate to experience a truly rough crossing as the crew on the ferry cheerfully referred to the huge swells as "a little choppy." It was enough to give me a headache, though thankfully not enough to make me sick. Still, I was very glad to get off the boat when we arrived in Bluff.
Our day today consisted of a myriad of short walks and stops in the Catlins region as we traveled over toDunedin, and as the weather was rubbish we were all quite glad that there were no extended stops on our route today. First stop was at an old abandoned lighthouse that was neither pretty, nor maintained in any way whatsoever, and it was disappointing, especially as there were no seals on the rocks as there usually is. We next visited a petrified forest on the coastal shelf, but this was not particularly endearing either, despite being more than 160m years old. For the most part we appeared to be looking at nothing but rocks. It could have been the weather and my still-vibrating seat that was making meless than amenable to our excursions today, but our first stops left much to be desired and the weather was so bad that we could not even get views of the scenery while we were in transit. After a few aborted stops (for one reason or another we found that we could not do certain walks when we arrived at the location) we made it to, what was in my opinion, the first worthwhile stop of the day; a forty minute return walk to a secluded waterfall. The walk was very pleasant, sheltered from the rain by the trees and very easy to manage at an amble, and the falls were worth the effort of walking to them, as they looked good even in the drizzle. We climbed up them and had a few group photos done before heading back to the bus, me with a spectacular briuse due to my inherant clumsiness deciding to surface as I climbed up the rocks.
The next stop was at what is often considered to be New Zealand's most beautiful waterfall, though in comparing it to the other one, I definately think that the first is the better of the two, and many people on the coach agreed.
It was about ten minutes after this that we had the crash.
The road was slick, and when Karlyn turned the wheel, the bus just kept on going in a straight line - into a crash barrier. It demolished the front bumper and smashed a headlight, but no one seemed to be hurt, so we carried on. Ironically, Karlyn had been warned only minutes before that the roads were slippery when wet (but not by Bon Jovi) and the warning it seemed, had been rather apt.
Our last stop was at one of the southern capes to see if we could catch sight of Yellow-eyed penguins as they came ashore for the night, which would have been quite special as they are extremely endangered. We stood in the hide for about half an hour waiting for them to make an appearance, but they did not, so most of us headed back to the bus. Two people stayed behind for another ten or so minutes and did see one penguin, but they did not see the ones on Stewart Island yesterday. I cannot say that I was overly disappointed to have missed them.
After that, we expressed through to Dunedin, and checked into our accomodation, which happened to be next to the local medium security prison, and which is apparently haunted. I can't say that I felt a presence, but I never really do feel such things. I have spoken to other people since then who said that they were spooked while staying in the hotel, so make up your own minds.
We were kicked out of the hotel bar at 10.30, as the barman wanted to close, but he dropped us off at the local 'scarfy' student bar (most nights people wear scarves in it) where drinks were two for one. I did not stay long as the music was loud and I had gone to socialise, which is impossible with music blaring (and I now sound like an old woman), rather than to party, as the latter is not what this trip is about for me.
