Duncan the Penguin, finally.

Hey hey,

As i write this i am tucked away comfortably in my Dunedin apartment which is where we are staying for a week. It's pretty sweet, especially when you consider that it is free. Well, sort of. Before we left Blighty Kate won the Christmas raffle at her old job and won a £300 holiday voucher which had to be used by October. After much deliberation we decided to use it for a hotel in Queenstown so we had somewhere smart to stay in when we first arrived there and could use it as a base to look for jobs and accommodation. However, we got to Qtown 4 weeks sooner than we had planned because we were worried about missing out on jobs and somewhere to live. So we moved the booking to a hotel in Dunedin which had serviced apartments. It's very similar to the set up that we had in Auckland way back in February. Our own little kitchen so we can continue to eat cheap noodles and tins of budget spaghetti. Ah, life on the road. We have been in Biff for what seems like ages now since we left Qtown but in reality it is only really a week or so. We are still in the deep south of the south island but have managed to escape the wilderness that is the Catlins coast. Man, i have never had to recharge my phone so often. It was constantly searching for a signal which drains the battery really quick.

The scenery was stunning though. It was like driving through some sort of Welsh/Scottish hybrid country with elements of the southwest of England thrown in for good measure. It was also typically Kiwi too with rain forests, mountains and white sandy beaches all within ear shot of each other. Part of the attraction of the Catlins, apart from the scenery, is the wildlife. Rare birds seem to be all over the place. Well, they would be if they weren't so bloody rare! We found a few beaches that are home to native (or Hooker) sea lions too. They are very different to the cute Californian sea lions you see at sea world performing tricks. Nah, these are frickin huge big fuckers that weigh up to 500kg! Yeah, that's half a ton! You'll be just strolling along the beach and there are loads of them just lounging all over the beach like huge big slugs. You're not supposed to get too close to them because they can move pretty quick and their bites contain loads of nasty things like salmonella. You're also not supposed to get between them and the sea, but when they are all over the place it's difficult not to.

The first beach we drove to only had a couple of them and we were a little disappointed but when we got to the Otago peninsula outside of Dunedin we went to an isolated beach at Sandfly bay and there were loads of the fuckers! The walk to the beach was pretty eventful as it was down a big sandy cliff and then down a huge big sand dune. The sea lions were impressive but the real reason we went to that beach in particular was because it is also home to Yellow eyed penguins. Our previous penguin hunt had ended in disaster as not only did we not see any but the long unsealed clifftop road to nugget point had caused Biff to empty the contents of his radiator all over the floor. At first i thought we were screwed as not only were we in the middle of no where, we had no mobile reception. Luckily he had only over heated a bit, so i filled his radiator again and we made it out of there alive. In comparison the 6km round trip to the penguin observation hide was a lot less stressful. Well, except for having to dodge tons and tons of sea lion blubber. We got to the penguin hide at the end of the beach and settled in. It wasn't long before i got very bored and my mind began to wander. I watched the beach less and less and was distracted by a seagull shadow as it ascended a cliff out to our right when suddenly i noticed what i thought was a little penguin statue. It wasn't though, it was in fact a real live penguin! I got over excited and pointed it out to Kate who also freaked out! (she quite likes penguins remember?) We watched as Duncan, as i christened him (we were in Dunedin after all - lots of Scottish here), clumsily made his way down the cliff and to the waters edge. He stopped for a while before what seemed like noticing us and disappearing off into the surf and the numerous floating slugs that were sea lions. We decided to stay a bit longer as we were sure more of his mates would follow but it was so windy and getting dark we decided to head back. More sea lions inhabited the beach on the way back and one juvenile male decided we were on his turf and chased us along the beach! Running in deep sand is torture. You make lots of effort but don't really move anywhere. Lucky for us the sea lion got bored and stopped. When we got to the foot of the cliff we were already knackered. It took us ages to get up the sand dune and the sandy cliff. When we got to the top i asked Kate if that one little penguin was worth it? She said that it wasn't, whilst trying to force back urges to vomit. We were fucked! Like triathlon fucked. We are so unfit. Shit the only exercise i have done these last few months is lifting beers to my lips without spilling a drop.

The weather here is pretty harsh too. The sun has been out but the wind here is so strong. We left Bluff in gale force winds and they have pretty much followed us all the way along the coast. Driving a high top campervan in gale force winds is very very distant from what I'd class as fun.

So we are here in Dunedin for a while. It feels so nice to be back in an apartment again. I can sleep in the nude again and don't have to put my shoes on to go for a wee. I don't know how pikeys do it. Anyway i had better go as Kate is keen to go to the Cadburys factory across the street. I am worried that they will think she is an oompa-loompa and not let her out. When i told her that she got upset. I told her she can't be an oompa-loompa, she can't sing or dance.

Peace

D

XXXX