Lake Take-a-poo

Howdy from the Amazingly picturesque town of Akaroa which is about 70 km south of Christchurch. Since my last entry we have travelled pretty far. We left the relative comfort of our apartment in Dunedin with our bags re packed and our pockets stuffed full of stolen coffee! When I quizzed Kate on why we now had tons of coffee she just stated “Have you seen the price of coffee over here?!” All well and good I suppose when we are trying to live to a budget but I don’t actually remember the last time Kate drank coffee. We also pillaged the apartment of all it’s shampoo and conditioner but that’s just standard hotel theft really. So from Dunedin we headed north along the coast to the town of Oamaru famous for it’s penguin colonies. So as you can imagine Kate was busting a nut as we approached the town and saw penguin shops galore! We settled into our campsite and on the advice from the lady in the office waited until the evening before making our way to the penguin colonies. There are several dotted along the coast but the best ones are bushy beach (which has it’s own blog at NFOBB.co.nz if you are interested) which has a large colony of yellow eye penguins and the Oamaru blue penguin centre just outside town. We got to bushy beach and anticipated another cliff to climb like the one we had to scale when we went to sandfly point on the Otago peninsula and saw Duncan the lonely penguin. Bushy Beach was far more considerate for the unfit though and had a nice cliff top walk to the penguin hide. The Beach was actually off limits after 3pm so we wandered along the cliff tops stopping at various points were other people had gathered. At one stop we leaned over the barrier and saw a huge yellow eyed penguin no more than 10 feet away from us! He/she was just standing there watching us. We had been told that they are extremely timid animals but here one was as bold as brass just watching us watching it. Kate was ecstatic and I managed to squeeze off a few decent pics before we headed further along the walkway to the hide. Once there we saw a few more penguins further down the beach waddling along. It was so cool but I couldn’t help but get distracted by a large crowd that had amassed on the walkway back along the cliff. I left Kate to investigate and when I arrived there were 2 penguins about 20 feet away doing their greeting dances. Penguins have a greeting ritual when they meet back with their partners after a hard days fishing. It was so cool! I beckoned Kate over and she squealed and cooed when she saw them. We watched them for around 30 minutes before deciding to head over to the blue penguin colony in town. We arrived super early as it didn’t open until 30 minutes before sunset. Blue penguins are extremely shy and only come on land when it is dark. We had to pay for the privilege as the penguin colony has a massive grandstand you have to watch them from and they also do tons of penguin rehab and research there too. By the time we got our seats on the grandstand there was around 50 people all eager to see the little blue penguins. We waited for the tell tale signs of there imminent arrival. Blue penguins all collect about 500 metres off shore in these groups called rafts then they all arrive on the beach at once in a massive frenzy. We saw a few little rafts out to sea in the fading light and before we knew it there were little penguins all over the place! The beach was covered in them, all clambering up the rocks to their nesting ground. When they got to the top of the rocks they had to cross a path. They all waited then tentatively crossed the path before running off in loads of directions to get to their little burrows on the other side of a fence. It was amazing as there just so many of them. One even trotted across the bottom of the grandstand right in front of us. They were totally oblivious to us as the special lights the centre uses ensures the penguins still think it’s pitch black, we could see them but they couldn’t see us. We counted around 150 penguins! They were super cute too and I was in stitches watching them walk. When we left we had to check under Biff to make sure there weren’t any penguins hiding out under him. On the drive out there were penguins all over the place! Running out of bushes, hiding by lamposts and just hanging out on street corners, maybe they were penguin prostitutes? Such a shame there were no cameras allowed. Er, not for the penguin hookers though.

It was easily the best $20 I had spent and it is something I strongly recommend anyone doing if they are in the vicinity. Most penguin beaches have no guarantee that you will see anything but the colony at Oamaru has over 300 penguins that all come ashore at nightfall every night. They are super cute too. It certainly satisfied Kates penguin fetish, for how long though will need to be seen.

From Oamaru we headed back inland. The terrain in NZ is so varied and our trip to Lake Tekapo from Oamaru was a prime example of just how diverse it is in such a short distance. We had been used to large green hills covered in flowering yellow gorse for the previous weeks but now the scenery turned to flat brown plains for as far as the eye could see all covered in buttercups. As we headed further inland we hit the southern Alps again so were again surrounded by snow capped mountains. Mt Cook, which is NZs highest peak loomed off in the distance but the low cloud made it hard to make out. We had already seen it from the west coast anyway so weren’t that bothered. We stopped at Lake Pukaki for lunch and I was in shock at just how absurdly turquoise the lake was. Apparently the glaciers in the area crush rocks together and form something called glacial flour. It’s like a white powder that you can see coating rocks but it suspends itself just under the surface of the lakes and reflects the sky really well. It was awe inspiring and no picture I took does it any justice. I had seen a similar thing at Lake Louise in Canada but the sheer size of Lakes Pukaki and Tekapo completely dwarf it. We also noticed that everywhere was covered in flowering lupins now. They were stunning and really added colour to the earthy scenery. When we got to Lake Tekapo we settled into our lakeside campsite and went for a stroll along the lake front. We also headed over to the hot pools and had a nice long soak. Lake Tekapo is famous for it’s lake obviously but is also one of the best places to star gaze. They are trying to get the sky above Tekapo made into a world heritage sight! This was clearly evident on my frequent treks to the toilets over night. At one point both Kate and me just stood in the middle of the campsite gazing upward. I have seen some awesome skies since I have been here away from the usual light pollution we get at home but the skies that night will stay with me forever. It was so clear. Not only could I see Orions belt, I could see the bulge in his shorts too!!

We left Lake Tekapo the following day and headed north. The terrain again changed as we left the snow capped mountains behind us. Instead the vast rolling brown plains became hills again. In the distance the large rolling brown hills looked like a sleeping sharpei. You know like those really wrinkly dogs. Here in NZ the andrex puppy isn’t a labrador it’s a brown sharpei puppy. It still runs away with the bog roll but it is way cuter and considerably more wrinkled! We continued north passing Mt Hutt which if you remember is one of the sister resorts to Coronet Peak. It still had a fair bit of snow on it too and I could see why it has the longest ski season in NZ. We stopped in Ashburton for a milkshake as the weather here is getting noticeably warmer, before continuing back to the coast and to the town of Akaroa. It is out on this big peninsula with lots of huge hills which Biff didn’t like one bit! Akaroa is famous for a few things. It is a French settlement so we thought it might be a good spot to stop for some good deli meats, some cheese and a nice baguette. Amazingly, just like France they charge you extortionate prices for it all too! Needless to say our French style picnic has been put on hold. Another thing that it’s famous for is the rare Hectors dolphin. They swim freely in the huge harbour and for a couple of hundred bucks you can swim with them. Again, a little too pricey for us. Kaikoura, up the coast is famous for it’s whale watching and dolphin encounters so we will probably do something when we are there. They also have the largest white flippered penguin colony in NZ here too. A fact Kate swears she wasn’t aware of before deciding to stay here. Yeah right. Bloody penguins! Akaroa is stunning though. We are back in the rolling green hills over looking a huge natural harbour with crystal clear sea. It is so gorgeous we have decided to rest here an extra day before heading off to Christchurch.

So I am also struggling with the feeling of being a tourist again. I know I have always been one but when we settled in Qtown, had jobs and our own place it felt more like home. I hate being spoken to like a tourist too. I have great pleasure in telling people that we have already been here 9 months! Being back in Biff is OK, I guess. Yes I feel a lot like some sort of Hermit crab, dragging my house around on my back, but it is allowing us to see some pretty amazing places and we have a freedom that I will probably never feel again. Yes, financially we are pretty fucked but we decide where we want to go and we go there. We still have no plans. If we see somewhere that looks cool we stay there a little bit longer. It is a freedom that is like the freedom you have as a kid on school holidays. You woke up, met with friends and then the world was your oyster. Here it is different of course, we can drive! We can go anywhere, as long as it isn’t too steep for Biff. Without him we would have missed out on so many out of the way places far off the beaten track. I will forever miss this freedom when I come home and I imagine it will be something I will pine for for years to come. I grumble about Biff I know. I mean, I hit my head in him about 5 times a day, he smells of petrol sometimes, his dashboard rattles when you get to 50 kph and he is more difficult to park than a cruise liner but he is so much more than our home/mode of transport. No, he is part of the family. He looks after us and we look after him. He keeps us dry and warm and we in return fill him with petrol and take him on adventures. With that in mind I suppose I have nothing to complain about eh? Hmmm, I think I am setting myself up here as I have noticed a strange knocking in the steering column and his tracking has become a problem. I just hope he holds it together for a few more months. Then it is someone else’s problem. I will miss him though when we do come to sell him. WE LOVE YOU BIFF!!

Anyway guys I’ll let you know how I get on in Christchurch. It is apparently NZs most English city.

Peace

D

XXXX