the East Coast of the South Island

1. hector dolphins

2. hector dolphins

3. rugby - scrum (after an off side or penalty or something)

4. rugby - field goal kick (for 3 points after getting 5 for a try or a penalty of some sort)

5. rugby - a line-up (after the ball goes out of bounds)

6. Christchurch Cathedral (Anglican- as that was who the settlers were from the UK, though some were Irish)

7. haggland- transportation in the Antarctic

8. Crusaders rally

9. old building in Christchurch

10. Captain Cook in Victoria ark

11. Moeraki Rocks (mini devil's marbles, but formed differently)

12. Little blue penguins in their nest

13. Little blue penguin in its nest

14. Ian, Kate and Jessica O'Brien family ( my Oamaru stay)

15. penguin crossing sign - notice anything weird?

16. old fire truck in the Dunedin Museum

17. Baldwin Street- steepest street in the World

18. mutton roast and all the fixings

19. NZ sea lions

20. this guy was charging toward me- scary cause they can move 20 km/hr!

21. penguins coming out of the water after swimming 50 km for food all day

22. penguins climbing the hill to nest for the night

23. look closely- the rocks are covered with NZ fur seals

24. old building Dunedin

25. YHA Dunedin - Stafford Gables

26. notice anything funny???

27. baby albatross

28. yellow-eye penguin

All right I know it has been awhile and you probably think I am stuck on Stewart Island, but I am far away and back on the North Island, enjoying the laziness of working my way back to Auckland..

So I left us leaving Stewart Island where I headed to Invercargill for one night (and watched Indiana Jones) and then off again on the bus to Dunedin, college capital of New Zealand and one the capital or largest city or something like that... there are a ton of old Victorian and Edwardian homes , but mostly it thrives as a college town. The day I arrived I went for a walking tour of the town and a tour of the Olveston House. A classic stately home with 35-rooms built between 1904 and 1906by a well traveled and prosperous importer. It was bequeathed to the city in 1966 and has been carefully maintained in its original state. Lots of neat old stuff in there. That evening, if you can believe this, I paid $10 to have a soak in a tub!! Ahh the relaxation!! Loved it!

The next day I found some scrapbooking stuff, so Natalie get ready to help me do this when I get home.. the afternoon and evening was spent on Elm Wildlife tours hunting down baby albatrosses, yellow-eyed penguins, NZ fur seals and NZ sea lions... It was a great day and we got a little to close to the sea lions than I liked, but not close enough to the penguins and fur seals. Dunedin hosts a few museums, of which I went to a couple and according the the Guinness book of world records, the World's Steepest Street... I think San Fran has a street or two that would compete.

Off I went to Oamaru and stayed with Julie (my renter) 's brother, Ian and sister-in-law,Kate, They were great host for a couple of nights. They have a lovely "lifestyle" farm and Kate took me hunting for the Little Blue penguin. She cooked a lovely mutton roast supper with Kumera (yams), potatoes, pumpkin, mint peas, and gravy with a lovely ice cream desert one night ans steak the next.. so tasty!!! Kate also took me to the Moeraki Boulders and Katiki point (dragging her daughter Jessica!) to where we saw seals and yellow eyed penguins and with her keen eye two nests with the little Blue Penguin cowering inside. I got a couple great photos!! I had a nice relaxing time at the house... ahhhh...

I caught the morning bus to Christchurch, where I seemed to spend the majority of my visit trying to arrange the details for my trip to the Islands. hank god I found a patient lady! I did a little walk around the main part of town and found myself in Cathedral Square in the huge Anglican Church attending an Evensong service. The entire half hour service was sung by the men's choir. It was rather a neat experience in an amazing setting.

I spent a morning in the Antarctic Center which is a very cool place to see if you ever think you may have an inkling to spend some time on Antarctica. There are a few different exhibits that actually let you feel what it is like to be there, including a cold room, full of snow in which a blizzard happens once every hour and you can add in added wind chill on a machine if you so desired. Part of the tour included a ride on the Hagggland truck. A large vehicle used to travel over the ice, at 45 degree angles over 1.6 meter crevasses and into water 4 feet deep!! Here they also have a blue penguins colony of saved penguins.

The afternoon I went on a walk of New Zealand's first officially organized ans designed city, which included bringing over 4 ships of settlers. Amazing old historic buildings. Stone on the outside and beautiful wood on the outside. When we got back to the square there was a rally for the big rugby game with horses and a live band and photos with the cup. How exciting!

I headed out to Akaroa for a day trip and a boat ride to view the worlds smallest and near extinct hector dolphin. Akaroa is the only French settlement in all of NZ. The french we going to settle this whole coast but the efforts were thwarted by the swift British, but in the end they were "allowed" to settle on this peninsula and decided to stay. The boat ride was great, we saw 3-4 pods of dolphins and some white flippered penguins (though from afar). This would be a nice get-away from the city town, but I on;y had about an hour and a half to walk around before and after the bus arrival and departure.

We got back to town at 6:00 and I had enough time to grab a bite and cab my way down to the stadium to the Super 14 Rugby Final/ Championship Game.. I have to tell you I knew nothing about the game going in and thanks the the gentleman on my left and a young Maori girl on the right I have it all under wraps now.. It doesn't make a lot of sense to watch after seeing football and soccer games, but when put into perspective it actually isn't too bad a game. It went pretty smoothly with two 40 minute halves and very few referee whistles and neat line-ups and lifting each other, scrums, trys, and goal kicks. The home team won (beating Australia) for their 7th title, their coach is now off to Coach the Australian National rugby team- the Wallabys (opposite to the NZ All Blacks) and two other members going off to bigger and better things.. the crowd was reminiscent of a football game drinking the beer and dressed with a dozen layers to keep warm. It was a fun night!

then off I flew to the North Island and on my way to Auckland.