The Scenic Route. Literally.

Monday 20th April

Today I left Dunedin, at last! I spent far too long in Dunedin, but it was for the best, I was able to get over the worst of my flu and I also managed to catch up with some people from my West Coast bus! I met up with Mairead, Mike, an Irish guy called Shane, who I originally met in the Bay of Islands and a couple from England, Tiggs and Gemma. We all left Dunedin for Invercargill together, which was really nice. The drive from Dunedin to Invercargill is lovely! Our first stop was a place called the Point Cafe or the Point Bar, or something like that, the motto was “We’re Glad You Got to the Point”, which I think was very smart. We had toasties here, which were $6.50, a total rip off, and they weren’t Baylands Coffee Co toasties, they weren’t even toasties that you make at home. They were average. Meh. After that stop we drove round to the actual point, where we got out and walked to a lighthouse. Kiwi Experience are fond of their random walks, which is actually really good, you get to see places in New Zealand that most people miss, but when you’re sick, walking is the last thing you want to do. And when you’re me, walking really is the last thing you want to do. Well, maybe it’s second to running or Barr History. Actually, there are a lot of things worse than walking, but walking is still really crappy.

After our walk to the lighthouse we drove to a different beach – Surat Bay Scenic Reserve where we saw Sea Lions! It was actually really amazing – as soon as we got onto the beach we saw a lady sea lion, I say lady because she was classy. She was hanging out on the beach, having a sleep and when she saw us she just started rolling around and looking cute! She even sat up for a few pictures! After seeing her we walked the rest of the beach, looking for some Mr Sea Lions, but we ended up walking the length of the beach before we saw any – we saw a young male and he was also really cute, he was darker than the female and he was a bit fatter, he had like, neck fat! I loved it! Then we came across a male and a female and they were really cute too! The beach was fairly flat, but it had big sand dunes and there at least 6 feet high – well we saw a MASSIVE and I mean, a fully grown male Sea Lion and they are BIG! He had climbed up this massive sand dune and he was just hanging out, having a sleep! Sea Lions are so big and it was really cool to be able to see them in the wild. There were these two really annoying boys, they kept on annoying the Sea Lions, like a Sea Lion would be asleep and then they would like run up to it and like wake it up and they were trying to poke them and they were getting far too close, which actually really annoyed me. I get really funny about this sort of stuff. There was absolutely no need to be acting the way they were – it was so disruptive and mean and it really annoyed me – and everyone else actually. Everyone was so fed up with them being stupid! I really wanted them to get bit by a Sea Lion, but it didn’t happen, sadly. There were a few close calls though, which I loved, because for a second you could see them getting really worried as they ran away from the Sea Lions!

After the Sea Lion beach we went to a waterfall – I have seen so many waterfalls on this trip, but this one was so beautiful! If you have ever played any of the Tomb Raider games, probably the first one (because that’s probably the only one I’ve ever seen – there were Tigers in this game) then that’s what the waterfall reminded me of! It was so beautiful, it just looked so ancient and it was huge! I would have loved to have gone swimming there, but there wasn’t any time! Most of our time was spent trying to get a good picture, the annoying boys that were being mean to the Sea Lions just stood at the top of the waterfall for a good 20 minutes – right in the way of everyone’s pictures! We actually had to ask them to move because they were in everyone’s way! Idiots!

After the waterfall we went to another beach place – it was called Curio Bay and it was so lovely! There were these amazing cliffs and the waves were huge! It was just so nice to see the cliffs and the sea and it was so green – it was just B-E-A-UTIFUL! We also saw a Sea Lion and she was so cute and so happy when we walked past (I’m presuming she was happy – I’m also presuming that she was a Sea Lion, she could have been a Fur Seal, but I’m pretty sure she was a Sea Lion) but then those horrible boys came along and one of them like slapped her, or poked her or did something disruptive and then she got really mad and she would let anyone walk past her and she chased anyone that did. Me and Mrs Seal were tight, I got some really good pictures of here, my favourite one was here reading the “No Dogs Allowed” sign! Genius – she was probably smarter than those boys. Actually I’m sure she was, because she chased one of them and he thought he was obviously so cool, but when she came at him he panicked and he was like stumbling/running backwards and then he fell into the massive mud pit! It was so funny! If Instant Karma exists then he was the perfect example! It was just beautiful! He fell into this big muddy pit and wrecked his white trainers and his trackies haha! It was also nice to see him looking worried as he tried to get out of the mud pit as this Sea Lion came charging at him!

We left the pretty beach and went a few seconds down the road to a spot where you can see the little hoiho Penguins – there the rarest Penguins in the world and there here in New Zealand! The beach where they live was full of tourists, so they wouldn’t leave the water so we didn’t get to see any, which was really crappy, because I’m all about cute little penguins! After that we just went straight to our Hostel in Invercargill – we checked in and then we all went out for dinner. We had spent the entire day eating food so I wasn’t too hungry so I just got some sweet potato chips and then we had some desert – chocolate fudge cake! Oh my gosh, it was sooo yummy, but it was HUGE! They gave you two slices and I could only eat one!
Well, I could have pushed myself to eat two, but that would have been painful, so I just enjoyed one slice! After that we all went back to our room – I repacked my huge bag and then packed a little bag to take to Stewart Island – tomorrows destination
and then I slept!

Xx