Arrived abut 12pm where we checked into out budget hotel... there was only dorm room accomodation left in all the hostels, and B refused to go in a dorm room, so after casing the AA books along the way we found one close to the hostel so we didn't have to walk to far with our luggage.
grabbed a quick lunch at a local cafe before heading back to the hostel to be picked up for our wildlife tour...
earlier in the day we'd been given the options of going to cadbury world, wandering about town ourselves, or going on elms wildlife tour.
i left the decision up to B and she chose the tour.
were picked up around 4pm, and informed the tour was going to take a good 6 hours... ick
but set off to explore the Otago Peninsular. First stop was at this little beach where we were all handed binoculars (indication number one that it wasn't the tour we thought it'd be!)
and the guide proceeded to point out birds of interest...
i'm not into the whole bird watching at all...
but i found the whole thing rather amusing... i think the fact that i was always looking in the opposite direction to what the guide was trying to get us to look at was annoying him... (was it my fault it was always on the otherside of the bus, and that there was no way my binoculars had xray vision to see through other peoples heads!
plus the sheep on my side were easier to spot, than the black dots in the distance! :O)
headed up to the Albatross nesting area, where those that had paid extra were led up to see where they nest, the rest of us got the pleasure of just hanging around with the hope of spotting one of these rare birds..
I managed to get some of him!
Though the seals playing in the water below us were way more interesting than trying to tell the difference between huge seagulls, and albatross's, we'd get excited that we saw an albatross, and the guide would kill the excitment by saying in a snotty voice, it's a seagull.
Headed down to a secluded area known for having the yellow-eyed penguins, and walked down the steep cliff to get to the beach area...
This cute little fellow just walked straight on by without a care in the world...
Then out of the sea comes this monster of a sealion...
who happily rolled in the sand before running towards us, with most of us making us a hasty retreat to safer ground!
Penguin Footprints
On the way back up the hill we had to make a few detours because thes guys kept getting in our way... so cute... yet the hill was the ultimate killer of a hill, that just went up and up and up...
once at the top, our chirpy guide who still didn't like us took us down the other side of the cliff to where the sealions were nesting with their babies... so cute, yet they smelt so bad!
Arrived back at the hotel about 1030pm and collapsed into bed, exhausted!
Up bright and early and made the climb up the hill with our bags to the hostel...
first stop of the morning was at Baldwin street, the worlds steepest street...
made the climb to the very top, while B sat at the bottom and watched!
i remember a few years ago watching getaway and seeing them here, crazy to think that i'm here now!
looking down from the top
Next stop was at a little beach to see the Moeraki Boulders. i loved how round and huge they all were...
next we stopped for icecream at this little town of Kudow, a town complete with it's very own painted family!
seconds later i lost the icecream but with a great save caught it just cms from the ground! and coating myself in icecream in the process! bargin price of $1.50!
Onwards to this amazing view of Aoraki Mt. Cook
Before heading up to the tranquil Lake Tekapo
The Church of the Good Shepherd (wouldn't you love to go to church with that view)
and taking the token picture of the sheepdog statue
the turquoise coloured water was spectacular, and the whole little town was so picturesque surrounded with snow capped mountains, it was just gorgeous..
I even ran into my mums friend that she grew up with... i seem to have that knack!
our view from our cabins balcony...
This was one place, one night was not enough... i could have stayed here for ages.
1 comment:
Oh man, I want to go everywhere you've mentioned so bad :D. I need to plan a trip then read over your notes again.
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