Highlights of the last 10 days

In Dunedin, we went on a fantastic nature trip with Chris from Back to Nature Tours. Bill and Jackie recommended him, and we really enjoyed this trip. He drove us around the peninsula, where we saw many many water birds, and up to the Albatross Center, where we got a good look at a large white albatross. No photo, though: we were looking into the sun, so they didn't work out.
Then we climbed down a huge sand dune to a beach where yellow eyed penguins nest. Here we are part way down, where there was still a path!

These crazy birds nest at the top of the dunes, and, as you know, cannot fly, so they hop all the way up. And believe me, it is a lot of work, because I had to do it too. So here is a photo of part of the dune (I didn't get the top!) with the penguin on his way up, and a blown-up version, so you can actually see the bird. In the first photo he is pretty much in the center: that white spot.




And here is Marcia struggling back up slippery dune.


Christmas and Milford Sound:

We arrived in Manapouri at the Captains Lookout, overlooking Lake Manapouri. Spectacular!

On Christmas morning we set off for Milford Sound, a 2-hour drive over a high pass. Rain and fog greeted us, but the cruise on the sound was still very nice.

And lots of bottlenose dolphins in front of the bow on the way back:

Back at the B&B Marcia prepared our favorite summer dish for Christmas dinner: red-white and green (tomato-basil-camembert pasta)


On "Boxing Day" it rained all day, so we stayed put at our very comfy Captains Lookout, I was reading from a selection of Dutch books - Harry Mulisch: a surprising treat left by some visitors from the Netherlands.

Queenstown:

We drove to Queenstown on December 27. On the way, the weather turned sunny and warm again. In the afternoon we ascended Bobs Peak by gondola, spent a wonderful sunny afternoon admiring the view, gawking at the tourists, watching the luge riders, briefly hiking, and watching the para-gliders take off with their "payloads." Who knows how much those rides cost - but it was fascinating enough to watch from the solid ground!



The next day we also had sun, and spent a wonderful time on a Central Otago wine tour. We are learning a lot about NZ wines which we had never heard of - lots delicious!

Apologies to those of you who are on our list. We finally figured out how to upload smaller photos, so are editing the earlier posts to make more room on the blog - hope you are tolerant of repeated notices!