Sunday, Dec. 19
As we travel down the South Island, I find myself comparing the naked sheep to the naked hills. When the sheep are shorn, I can see their ribs, their muscles, and how those thin legs really hold up a very thin animal. Then I look at the lush hills that have grown back to how it must have been before colonization and the Europeans sheared the land of trees to make pastureland for the cattle and sheep they raised. Especially in the north of the South Island, most of the hills are naked, like the sheep. It is still a beautiful country, but how much more beautiful it must have been before colonization. And I still prefer sheep with their coats on!
Dunedin is a tourist’s paradise. Unfortunately, to do everything that seems interesting to do would put us back $1000, and I want to see Ayers Rock, so we choose. What could we not do elsewhere? The Royal Albatross Centre at the point of the Otago Peninsula and the Cadbury factory tour.
The very short, but time-consuming, drive around the edge of the peninsula and the climb to the cliff are the usual white-knuckle drive. Did you know: that the albatross parent who sits on the nest does so for five or six days at a time while the partner is at sea feeding? that the parents spend most of a year from the time the egg is laid until the chick is left to fend for itself? that the parents then part, go to sea, spend a year recovering from the effort, then return to have another baby? that the chick is fed so much that by six months it weighs twice as much as the parents? (it is then but on a diet by them only being fed a couple of times a week.) that the fledgling is taught nothing by the parents and must learn to fly on its own? that the chick once it takes off in flight does not touch ground again for up to seven years when it returns to its birth place to start playing the teenager? (it only lands on the water) and that once he has found a mate, they court for a year before they begin a new albatross family? Oh yes, and their wings are too long to allow them to walk so they have a wrist and an elbow joint which folds the wing tightly against its body while it is on land. We are able to see nesting parents from the viewing station and the guide mentions that today is a good day for the “teenagers” or parents at sea to return because it is cloudy and windy and they need the wind to land. Yes, he spots one and we are one of the lucky groups of the day to actually see one in flight! Some good comes form the nasty weather. This colony of Northern Royal Albatross began with one egg hatching around 1920. It has been a sanctuary for 70 years.
We head back to town and decide to look up the Ice Stadium to see if they have summer ice. Yes, and so does the attached curling rink. There is figure skating and hockey, although the attendant admits that the local team is not very good. She says that summer is their busiest time because the children are out of school. We walk around the downtown and wander into the train station. There are only a few trains a week that go from it, but it houses the local art gallery and the Sports Hall of Fame. They are just closing so we plan to come back tomorrow. To end the day we drive to Baldwin Street which is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the steepest street in the world. We are driving a clunker (well, not the peppy thing we had on the North Island), so we just look. If we don’t make it up, the backing down would be nerve-racking.
Monday, Dec. 20. *A week to the “big” day!
Today is laundry day, but we decide to get me some good Scottish food first. We go to a pub called the Craic, and split their full-breakfast. Peter eats the eggs, bacon, half the sausage, hash browns and toast, and I enjoy the haggis, black pudding, half the sausage, mushrooms, and tomato. We make a good team! Now I’m ready to scrub - well, turn on the washer and hang the clothes.
Peter suggests that we aught to do the Cadbury factory. It is fabulous. As with most tours, Peter and I could have stopped longer at each station of the production, but I think our attention span is a little (lot) longer than most. Anyway, it was way interesting with lots of bits of chocolate given as we proceeded. Peter won an extra bar for remembering one of the streets beside the building. I got my picture taken with Santa. Now we have to slowly divvy-out the spoils over the next few weeks.
Okay, so there is still much daylight and we have been told that it is best to go to Sandfly beach on the Otago peninsula in the late afternoon, so off we go on the “ridge” road. We start a steep decent towards the coast but long before the shore we come to a parking lot. From here, it looks impossibly steep to the beach where we hope to see seal lions (called seal here), and/or yellow-eyed penguins in the wild. We start down to the viewing platform from where the people on the beach appear very small! One girl assures us she saw a seal on the rocks but no penguins. Well, you all know me - so poor peter bucks up the strength to follow me down. Actually, he is in front, but he would have been back in the parking lot if he had not been more worried about me going it alone! The path down is the most incredibly soft sand, and going down is like walking in powdered snow. I keep my feet parallel to the “wall”, because it is like walking down a sloped wall. Once we hit the beach, it is a good twenty-minute walk to the rocks. Just as we reach the far end, Peter spots a huge seal sunning himself on the beach. He actually gets fairly close. Then someone spots the penguins on the rocks. (there are five or six people in all on this long beach!) There are two of them and they hop around the rocks. They are quite far away, but it is still exciting. We decide to start back because we want to make sure there are people behind s when we climb the dunes and cliff going up. As we go along, a young couple point out a lone penguin in the grass. I get a picture and as I try to get on from the other side, the penguin begins to move towards the water. It is no more than 100 feet from us (you must keep your distance so as not to stress the animals), so we stay to watch it waddle across the beach. I think is may have been waiting for a mate. We go on our way, as we still have a mountain to climb!
We did lots of climbing in Peru, but this is just as hard. We take it slowly and have a few stops along the way. Peter thinks we (I) are crazy to be doing these kinds of things at our age, but, hell, what is life for if not to push the edges? You only live once. I think that is what he is worried about.
A wonderful day.
*The “big” day: Peter turns 70.
Traveling the Otago Peninsula.
An Royal Albatross in flight and one on its nest.
The "little" hill we climbed in Dunedin.
The steepest hill in the world: Baldwin St.
Guess what I found?
And they even supply the brooms!
The silo at Cadbury's where one ton of chocolate cascades down in front of you.
Peter's new golf hat.
My new best friend.
Peter ready to deliver chocolate for my new best friend.
Sandfly Beach, Otago Peninsula.
The sand dunes.
Whoops, same picture.
Yellow-eyed penguins on the rocks.
Peter's new best friend. (that's a seal - sea lion)
Sandfly Beach.
Penguin in the dunes where they spend the night.
He's on the move.
He (she?) can't decide which way to go.
She decides to go back.
Peter slowly making his way up the cliff.
Stirling Falls.
Bowen Falls.
Stirling Falls.
Bowen Falls.
