Dunedin

On the way to Dunedin we visited the Moeraki Boulders and had our first yellow-eyed penguin experience. I can't remember exactly how they were formed, something about liquid hot magma (muahahahaaa) flowing into the cold ocean water.

After that, we had lunch at Fleur's -alongside where these really cool flowers. It came recommended by our friends at Treehugger Organics and the Lonely Planet book. They do mostly organic vegetables, with their main specialty being the seafood they fish for and cook you the same day.

Following lunch, we were pretty keen to put some kilometers under our (tightened) belts. We'd just been spending too much time in one area, so we headed straight down to Dunedin and spent the rest of the day shopping. It was good to feel like we're actually doing the travel part of traveling.

Alyssa had an excellent treat when we found a vendor selling gluten free crepes. I told her to spurge. Most of the time I'm fine with peanut butter and jelly for lunch. We drove out to the Otago Peninsula, to see if we could catch sight of some of the only land-dwelling albatross in the world, but that didn't happen. (oh well)

The best part of Dunedin so far for me has been Sandfly beach. It was a tricky hike down steep dunes, sometimes it felt like skiing hand-in-hand in slow motion. I think it will be one of those simple pleasures I'll remember for years to come. A few Hooker Sealions were basking on the beach, they are the rarest species in the world, but what we went to find were the yellow-eyed penguins returning to their nests after a full day of feeding out on the continental shelf. Now usually Alyssa is the gasper, especially when we're driving in the mountains on New Zealand's many one lane roads, but I definitely gasped when I spotted the little guy hopping around on the rocks. It must have taken him a full 40 minutes to climb the little hill to his nest. Once again, the binoculars have proven to be just about the best thing we remembered to pack this trip.

Today is our last day in Dunedin. We actually got to scope out our next host since he was hawking his wares at the farmer's market this morning. He seems pretty cool. Alyssa was a little embarassed when I started jumping up and down saying “The crepe people! the crepe people!”

Well at four o'clock local time is the Chinese New Year's Parade. Yeah, exactly, those things you see pictures of on every single tourbook everywhere, with the long dragon going down the street. This will be our first time ever seeing one, I'm totally psyched.

Tomorrow we're heading off to our next host, Wairuna Organics (in Clinton- between Dunedin and Invercargill) for 10 days, but they do have internet, so we'll hopefully be able to share a bit about the parade.