Showing posts with label travel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label travel. Show all posts
Home! I'm home!

Thank you to everyone who followed along, reading and commenting on the posts. A big thank you to Wendy and Mike for dropping me off at the airport, and to Jess for picking me up. How can you mind coming home when it's to this excited face?


I'm sorry the trip is over, but I'm not too sad to be back home and sleeping in my own bed. And, luxury of luxuries, I had an untimed shower and got dressed standing up! Oh, the delights of home are real!

And so we have officially come to the end of the daily travel blog - we'll just have to plan a new holiday to look forward to so we can all come together again. Throw out your suggestions at any time.
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Went on a nature cruise in Akoroa Harbour today, pretty impressive boat, yes?



Just kidding, it looked like this. There's no way I was rowing one of those things out into the ocean.



The cruise lasted for 2 hours and it was wonderful just to sit back and watch the landscape go by. The skipper pointed out lots of landmarks and gave us a running commentary on the various bird species flying by.


The Elephant








The goal of the cruise was to encounter the Hector's Dolphin, the world's smallest and rarest of dolphins. It is an endangered species and found only around the south island of New Zealand. The Hector (and it's subspecies Maui) are also the only dolphins with the rounded dorsal fin, which is pretty cool.

We did come pretty close to some dolphins, with them swimming right up and around the boat. We were also treated to a mother and calf who spent quite a bit of time swimming by us. We were told that this is a very rare, as most often the mother will bring the calf up close, show them how to interact with humans and boats, and then whisk them right away. These two stayed with us for a good fifteen minutes or so.








The boat also got a great show of some fur seals, which I am not over yet and am still totally loving. There were a few seal pups skittering around also and they were just so cute. One of the pups climbed over the rocks and stood here with the seal preening in the sun. Maybe it's just me, but I can see the little guy imitating the adult. So cute.





These two guys, however, were having some kind of beef.




The animal that stole the show, however, was Albie, the onboard dog. Padding around in an adorable little life jacket, I thought he was just the skipper's dog. But he also had a job to do. With his keen sense of hearing, he was able to hear the high pitched calling of the dolphins and direct us to them. I thought this was a bit of a stretch, and he was really there just to collect scratches - but then all of a sudden he's up and running and we change directions and hey presto! dolphins. Very impressive.


The three of us were sitting here and Albie just jumped up and slid between us. I was very happy to be one of his scratchers while he snoozed in the sun. What a life!

It was a great way to spend the second last day of the trip. Tomorrow it's off to Christchurch to drop off the van and fly home.



Animal Sightings:

  • Albie the Dolphin Detector
  • New Zealand Fur Seals
  • Hector's Dolphins
  • various birds whose name I can't remember)

Today's Playlist
  • Do Go On #36: H.H. Holmes
  • Do Go On #37: The Dyatlov Pass Incident
  • Do Go On #38: The Video Game Crash of 1983
  • Do Go On #39: Sir David Attenborough
  • Jackson Baly Spooks America #1: Patterson-Gimlin Footage
  • Jackson Baly Spooks America #2: Oak Island Money Pit
  • Jackson Baly Spooks America #3: Beast of Bray Road
  • Jackson Baly Spooks America #4: Dyatlov Pass Incident
  • Jackson Baly Spooks America #5: The Hinterkaifeck Murders
  • Jackson Baly Spooks America #6: DB Cooper
  • Lost in the Smithsonian: Muhammad Ali's Robes
  • Lost in the Smithsonian: Carrie Bradshaw's Laptop
  • Lost in the Smithsonian: Archie Bunker's Chair
  • Science Rules #24: Underwater Clues About Aliens
  • Unprompted and Unwanted #17: How Would You Curse a Small Village



Daily Stats:
Kilometres Travelled: 171km (4567 in total)
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I left you all last night to head off to the Oamaru Blue Penguin Colony. It was only a 10 minute walk from my campground, which made for a nice little walk there. On the way I saw one of the piers completely covered in birds - more birds than I had ever seen in one place! I think they were common murres, but Google and I could be wrong. Also, it's worth noting that this photo was taken at 8:30. There is no end of daylight here.



I wasn't able to take any photos at the colony but there's a video on the website if you're interested. The blue penguins were adorable and waddly as only penguins can be - but the creatures that stole my heart were the fur seals lounging right in their way. I think this trip has given me an unhealthy love of seals. They're so graceful in the water, but on land are just these big furry jelly beans, warming their belly and sleeping for hours. I want to be a seal in my next life. I managed to get within arms reach of one and it was glorious. And then it sneezed right on my face, so I may soon turn into some kind of seal hybrid superhero*.

This morning I got up and had breakfast at the cafe just down the road. It was, of course, steampunk-themed and I love this town's level of commitment to the schtick.

The main goal for the day was to reach Lake Pukaki to get a good view of Mt Cook. I was originally going to go to Mt Cook itself but was told that the view from the Lake was better, so that's where I went. First I stopped in at a nearby lavender farm. New Zealand Alpine Lavender is the largest farm of organic lavender in the southern hemisphere. I had seen photos online and thought it very pretty, but I really just wanted to know how it smelt to stand in the middle of so much lavender.

It smelled like lavender, funnily enough.

It really was lovely though, and I really did want to curl up and just take a nap.






For a while I sat and watched what I have called some 'Instagram girls'. You know the ones you see in pretty locations and they have big floppy hats and an 'outfit' and they're standing in the middle of a field like they're surprised you happened to come upon them in the middle of a big ol' whack of lavender in foothills of a massive snowcapped mountain. I sound mean-spirited, but that's not really my intent. I find the whole process fascinating and exhausting and I wish them (and the boyfriend inevitably stalking them with the camera) luck on their endeavours. As for me, I preferred to spend some time stalking bees instead.








Not my best bee shots, but I'm fairly happy with them.

I also had to try the lavender flavoured ice cream, which was delicious and I do recommend it.




After enjoying my floral dessert, I drove around the corner to Lake Pukaki. It doesn't matter how many times I see the blue of New Zealand's waters, I will never be over it. It was so bright and sparkling.



At Lake Pukaki they also had a shopfront for Mt Cook Alpine Salmon, the farm for which was just a few kilometres down the road. I bought some sashimi for lunch (because what goes better with lavender ice cream that raw alpine fish?) and it was the freshest, softest salmon I have ever eaten. Delicious. I enjoyed my lunch while starring off at Mt Cook which was putting on quite a show.



I've edited these photos to try to get a better look at Mt Cook, but truthfully, this bright blue one is the most accurate when it comes to the colour of the water. 




From here I drove onwards to the neighbouring lake, Lake Tekapo, and it was here that I had my only real disappointment of the entire trip. Lake Tekapo was one the reasons I had wanted to come to New Zealand initially. The beautiful blue lake surrounded by all those gorgeous coloured lupins... but it seems I had come just that bit too late because nearly every one of the lupins was gone and all that was left were rocks and dried grass.


It's not that Lake Tekapo isn't beautiful, and I was even going to go for a swim but couldn't find a bathroom to change, but it wasn't what I had my heart set on. A little down the road I did find an entire field of lupins, though even they were patchy in places, so I'm not sure what the problem was. Still, if that's the only thing to miss out on a trip, I can't very well complain.






On the final leg of the day, driving towards Mt Somers, I found myself in the middle of a calf parade, which was very entertaining, if extremely slow to extricate myself from.



And now, since I am in bed (oh I am so close to sleeping in an actual bed again) with access to unlimited wifi, I think I shall curl up and look at National Parks on Disney+. Goodnight all!


Animal sightings:

  • cows
  • sheep
  • horses
  • deer
  • falcons
  • stoats (I know they're a nuisance, but they're so so cute)
  • rabbits
  • goats


Today's Playlist:
  • Do Go On #33: The Titanic!
  • Do Go On #34: The Rumble in the Jungle
  • Do Go On #35: The Green Children of Woolpit
  • Lost at the Smithsonian: Fonzie's Jacket
  • Lost at the Smithsonian: Dorothy's Ruby Slippers
  • Reply All #21: Hack the Police
  • Reply All #22 (Bonus): The Man Who Refused to Email
  • Science Rules #23: The End of the World
  • Unprompted and Unwanted #16


Daily Stats:
Kilometres travelled: 344km (4397km in total)
Number of lollies eaten while driving: 6 (never you mind how many in total)
Number of times I wished I had another doughnut from Queenstown: 2





*currently accepting superhero names submissions.
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