Dunedin - Oamaru

I arrived in Dunedin in the afternoon on Sunday. It was a long morning. I was so tired that it took me almost twice as long to walk to the hostel than it normally should have. I decided to stay at Penny's Backpackers because it had free internet and was just outside the city centre. It's cold in the hostel, but that's no different that most. There's a heater in the room to turn on and I had an extra blanket. So it's comfortable at night. The people working there for exchange were great. My first day was pretty quiet. Just relaxed and checked out the town. I walked to the otherside of it to see Baldwin street. That's the steepest street in the world according to the Guinness World Records. And steep it was, glad it was short. Wasn't to bad to climb up.
I ended up going to the Otago Peninsula the next afternoon with a man named Matthew who works on the computers at the hostel. We drove to a beach called Sandfly Bay. We had to climb down a sand dune and once on the beach, we saw lots of sea lions sleeping on the beach. All except for 2 young ones that were play fighting with eachother. It was so fun to watch them chase one another. At the end of the beach was a nesting area for the penguins with a little hiding hut. I went inside hoping to spot one since they're currently nesting and one should be sitting on the egg while the others at sea. But I didn't see any :(

We continued up the peninsula to the tip where the Albatross hang out. But the wind was really strong, and most of the birds were in for the night sheltered amongst the cliffs. So again, didn't see them. Ah well, another time.
The following morning, I went on a tour through Cadbury World. It was great! Learned about how they made it and got to go inside the factory to watch. It smelled wonderful! We also got free samples to try, including 3 full chocolate bars, liquid chocolate and 2 small treats. We went into a silo where they release a ton of liquid chocolate that falls like a waterfall. You just want to dive right in! Yummy! I think I want to work in a chocolate factory now. I just loved it!
Then I popped into the Otago museum. It was free admission and nice to roam around. Much smaller than the one in Wellington though. They were similar.
The next 2 days were pretty low key. Just catching up on my emails and blogs and chatting with people. I can't believe I spent a couple hours on the computer with 2 other guys checking out this website called "damn lol" It was pretty funny. Haven't laughed that much in a while.
Since I head to Australia soon, I'm keeping things pretty relaxed.

I took the bus to Oamaru the next morning to see some penguins. There were 2 species there, the Yellow-eyed penguin and the Blue penguin. The latter being the smallest penguin in the world. The hostel I stayed in was called Swagger's Backpacker and it was run by an interesting lady, Agra. I was the only one the first night and she wanted to make sure I wasn't bored, so she drove me around the town so I'd now where to go to see penguins for free.

There was on old part of town that centred mostly on crafts and trades from the older days and even people in cafes were dressed in Victorian clothes. Pretty neat. There were limestone carvers, wool spinners, sculpture makers, bone carvers and all other kind of artists.

I roamed the old town and walked along the wharf for the afternoon. After dinner, I got dropped off at a beach where the Yellow-eyed penguins nest. It was neat seeing them ride the waves onto the beach and waddle up to the trees to find their nests. They didn't come till sundown so I was there only a short time before it was too dark to see them.

I headed back into the old part of town from there, which took about 45 mins, and right there on the street along the shore were Blue penguins! They actually live in some of the missing brick spaces in the buildings along the shore. Quite interesting. Cute little guys. Seemed not to mind people too much as well, providing you give them space.

The next day was rainy, so Agra took me out to a local restaurant called Riverstone. It was amazing food!!! And prices were reasonable too. It's run by a farming family that over the years have been building the eatery as well as a couple stores of neat stuff they've made. I enjoyed that alot!

At dinner, there was an exhibition by a company called Steampunk. They make art that resembles the steam engine but mixed with futuristic Sci-fi. It was "way out there." Very strange, even the townspeople dressed up for it. Kind of felt like Halloween :) After that, I just had dinner and lounged around the hostel watching a movie before bed.

I caught the bus in the morning for the 4 hour ride to Christchuch. I checked into Kiwi Basecamp hostel. It was in the process of a few repairs, but it was nice. Just not enough toilets :(

Since the earthquake, the city centre was still closed down. It was all fenced off and buildings were crumbled to the ground, windows shattered, roads cracked and foundations unleveled. Sad to see. But the neighbouring areas were mostly up and running. I roamed the Botanical gardens and the Northlands mall for the rest of the day. At night, I watched the rugby game (New Zealand vs Australia) in the TV lounge, It was an intense game!

The next day, I thought, "I still haven't seen a kiwi bird" so I went out to the Willowbank Wildlife Reserve. They had 4 kiwis, but only 2 were active and about. Such neat birds. Much bigger than I thought they'd be. About the size of a chicken. I couldn't get a picture of them since they are nocturnal and don't like the light, so sorry, no photos.

There were many birds, farm animals, monkeys, lizards, wallabies, and other native animals like the fresh water eels. Those were neat! Used to being fed by visitors so they come up to you and open there mouths for a spoonful of meat. Funny. After that, I went back to town and walked around Hagley park and Riccarton rd to see some shops.

Today, I catch my flight to Cairns Australia. A day at the airport. Oh, what fun (*sigh*). It's a 6 hour flight. Good thing I have a book :)