Our 6th week in New Zealand started with a trip to see the South Island's tallest peak, Mount Cook. We set off from our campsite early hoping to miss the glut of tourists who would inevitably be heading the same way and got our first glimpses of the snow-topped mountain over the waters of Lake Pukaki.
We made our way along the lakeside to the village bearing the mountain's name and after a nosy around the visitor's centre we made the short walk to Kea point which culminated in a platform overlooking the glacial moraine and more views of Mount Cook in the distance.
We were soon glad of our early start as the sun beat down and the day turned into a real scorcher. We hopped back into Delilah and made for the town of Twizel before heading coastwards once more and on to our next destination of Oamaru. Not much to report from Oamaru, apart from a wander through their immaculate public gardens and a beer in the Criterion hotel, a Victorian watering hole.
The next day we were heading southwards along the coast once more and passed the Moeraki boulders, which as you can see are unusually large and spherical boulders strewn across Koekohe beach.
As we marvelled at their roundness we spotted two dolphins swimming just of the beach, a mother and her calf; very tempting to dive in with them, but being the responsible tourists we are we resisted due to it being mother and calf and nothing to do with the chilliness of the water of course!
Back on the road again it wasn't long until we reached Dunedin, the principal city of the Otago region and a very pleasant place to spend a few hours and scoff a Velvet burger; 'the best burger I've ever had' to quote a very satisfied David Temple. Not ones to hang around we left the city behind and spent the night out on the Otago peninsula. We visited the Royal Albatross centre on the tip of the headland and watched these beautiful birds gliding and soaring on the breeze and attempted to capture their graceful flights on camera; without much success.
The next day dawned cloudy and got progressively more miserable as we drove towards the Caitlins, a rugged and remote part of the country. By the time we hit the scenic road the rain was bucketing down and we just managed a quick dash to see Jack's blowhole, a 55metre deep cavity, 200 metres from the sea formed by the collapse of a large subterranean cavern. At high tide when the waves surge through the tunnel, water explodes from Jack's hole with surprising ferocity, we weren't in luck though and scuttled back to the van to shelter from the increasingly cold and wet elements. We also stopped at Purukaunui falls for a short walk and a gander at the said falls, before heading on to Curio bay where we set up camp for a cold and windy night. We did manage a walk on the beach to see the resident sealions and then clambered over the rocks to appreciate the full force of the southern ocean.
We spent the evening spotting yellow eyed penguins on a beach just a few metres away from the campsite. We were lucky enough to spot several of the nesting pairs arriving at back at the beach after a hard days fishing and making their way to their chicks back at the nest.
The next morning we took an early morning walk on the beach and watched a pod of Hector's dolphins playing just off shore, who needs expensive dolphin spotting trips eh?? With the weather still dodgy we decided to head north and into Fjordland. We arrived on the shore of Lake Manapouri and decided that we would explore Doubtful Sound instead of the more touristed Milford Sound. We boarded our impressive looking boat the next morning and headed across the lake and towards New Zealand's largest hydro electric power station. After a swift tour it was on to the main attraction and another boat to cruise around the astounding scenery of Doubtful sound. The mist clung to the hills which added to the mysteriously wild atmosphere, but didn't stop us from spying the rare Fiordland crested penguins, fur seals and bottle nose dolphins.
We made our way along the lakeside to the village bearing the mountain's name and after a nosy around the visitor's centre we made the short walk to Kea point which culminated in a platform overlooking the glacial moraine and more views of Mount Cook in the distance.
We were soon glad of our early start as the sun beat down and the day turned into a real scorcher. We hopped back into Delilah and made for the town of Twizel before heading coastwards once more and on to our next destination of Oamaru. Not much to report from Oamaru, apart from a wander through their immaculate public gardens and a beer in the Criterion hotel, a Victorian watering hole.The next day we were heading southwards along the coast once more and passed the Moeraki boulders, which as you can see are unusually large and spherical boulders strewn across Koekohe beach.
As we marvelled at their roundness we spotted two dolphins swimming just of the beach, a mother and her calf; very tempting to dive in with them, but being the responsible tourists we are we resisted due to it being mother and calf and nothing to do with the chilliness of the water of course!
Back on the road again it wasn't long until we reached Dunedin, the principal city of the Otago region and a very pleasant place to spend a few hours and scoff a Velvet burger; 'the best burger I've ever had' to quote a very satisfied David Temple. Not ones to hang around we left the city behind and spent the night out on the Otago peninsula. We visited the Royal Albatross centre on the tip of the headland and watched these beautiful birds gliding and soaring on the breeze and attempted to capture their graceful flights on camera; without much success.The next day dawned cloudy and got progressively more miserable as we drove towards the Caitlins, a rugged and remote part of the country. By the time we hit the scenic road the rain was bucketing down and we just managed a quick dash to see Jack's blowhole, a 55metre deep cavity, 200 metres from the sea formed by the collapse of a large subterranean cavern. At high tide when the waves surge through the tunnel, water explodes from Jack's hole with surprising ferocity, we weren't in luck though and scuttled back to the van to shelter from the increasingly cold and wet elements. We also stopped at Purukaunui falls for a short walk and a gander at the said falls, before heading on to Curio bay where we set up camp for a cold and windy night. We did manage a walk on the beach to see the resident sealions and then clambered over the rocks to appreciate the full force of the southern ocean.
We spent the evening spotting yellow eyed penguins on a beach just a few metres away from the campsite. We were lucky enough to spot several of the nesting pairs arriving at back at the beach after a hard days fishing and making their way to their chicks back at the nest. The next morning we took an early morning walk on the beach and watched a pod of Hector's dolphins playing just off shore, who needs expensive dolphin spotting trips eh?? With the weather still dodgy we decided to head north and into Fjordland. We arrived on the shore of Lake Manapouri and decided that we would explore Doubtful Sound instead of the more touristed Milford Sound. We boarded our impressive looking boat the next morning and headed across the lake and towards New Zealand's largest hydro electric power station. After a swift tour it was on to the main attraction and another boat to cruise around the astounding scenery of Doubtful sound. The mist clung to the hills which added to the mysteriously wild atmosphere, but didn't stop us from spying the rare Fiordland crested penguins, fur seals and bottle nose dolphins.
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