deadly dunners!

13 mar/10

pre-amble: this post is a big one! - mostly for our sake. read if you have time =).

just spent an epic week with shane and raph at their place in dunedin. they have a sweet little house in neighbourhood called maori hill. cats foussa (tongue always out) and souzie (breaths really loudly) rock. also have 4 hens for eggs.

fri:

time in dunners started out rough. e still queasy when we arrived from alex on thurs. i was sickest i've ever been when i woke on fri morn. 7 hrs of hell. we must've caught a nasty stomach virus. felt ok enough on fri after eating plain rice to head out around otago peninsula to taiaroa head to look for albatrosses and penguins. feelin like shit disappeared instantly upon arrival - 2 ROYAL ALBATROSSES!! 2nd largest seabird in the world with wingspan of 3 metres. awesome. then waited an hour or so til dusk when BLUE PENGUINS (!!) came in from fishing to nest just off the beach. so sweet. smallest penguin in the world. wicked views of 2 wicked species on the same wicked beach. ahh, nz.

sat:

laundry day!! first time since we left canada 3 weeks ago. yay washing machine! started the day with a walk up baldwin st - steepest street in the world! get some calves on you there. spent the day touring around otago penin again. strolled along long beach; cool seacaves there. then headed to newly-opened orokonui ecosanctuary for lunch. a 300 ha protected area near city. is enclosed by multi-millon dollar predator-proof fence (no native mammals in nz except 2 species of bats. all 14 mammals are introduced and numerous birds and plants are threatened by them). wanted to bird there, but fog and drizzle won out. then headed to mapoutahi pa - a maori burial ground on the peninsula; watched life guard training races and dudes riding around on sand dune buggies attached to wind surfing kites. erin too sick to leave the car =(. raph made delicious encrusted elephant fish (a small native shark) and salad for dinner. early to bed.

sun:

gorgeous morning! drove up to mount cargill for awesome views of city. then to st clair beach in city to watch surfers and have hotpie (v popular here. little pies stuffed with mince meat/steak/or lamb and cheese) and hummus for lunch. back out to penin to tunnel beach - captain cargill had a tunnel dug thru rock to a private beach where he could chill w/o being harassed by locals. wicked cool spot with huge sandstone cliffs and headlands. then to papanui inlet which had thousands of cool crabs and pretty pied stilts and variable oystercatchers. then onto 'the pyramids' - 2 old volcanic vents (dunners is surrounded by old volcanoes). very neat. last stop was a walk above the gorgeous hooper inlet and allan's beach toward lover's leap, a nutso spot where shane and raph go rockclimbing over the ocean. i made too-hot veggie curry for dinner. raph made nz dessert called pavlova - fluffed egg and whipped cream cake with boysenberries.

mon:

e and i strolled downtown to see railway station - most photographed building in nz. hung out dt and grabbed ride home with s and r after work. e made delish veggie lasagna for dinner (r and s being v tolerant of our veggie ways =) ). after din head to sandfly bay (named b/c it's always so windy there that the sand flies around. but not this eve! v calm). sandfly bay is possibly my favourite place in nz so far. huge huge sandy beach with crazy high sand dunes and world-class wildlife viewing experience. stood a blind and watched YELLOW-EYED PENGUINS (one of rarest penguins in world) come in from fishing, hop up over rocks to base of steep, high hill that they climb to top of to nest for the night. crazy. i am in love with sandfly bay.

tues:

with forecast for super fine day, s and r took day off work to drive northwest into central otago. by 11.00 fog still hadn't lifted. meant an unhappy shane. but by time we got to st bathan's, sun was out in full force. hot! st b's is old gold-mining town. popn 50 or so. shane went swimming in beautiful Blue Lake (used to be Vinegar Hill, but quartz was dug out in search of gold; filled in to create lake). then explored around old bldgs and ruins. had lunch and beers from the haunted vulcan hotel (ghost of whore who used to rob gold miners until she got her come-uppins haunts room #1). then headed into dry dry country to poolburn dam, in weird landscape of dry fields and schist outcroppings (thx, greene =) ). site of The Plains of Rohan in lord of the rings - the two towers. enchanting place. 3 hr drive home; back to dunners at 20.00.

wed:

hung around house; strolled dt to meet r, s, and friend tim for lunch - falafel on lawn of first church. then e and i read and napped on church lawn til 3.00. rough life. home for wheat beer, tofu stirfry, bavarian apple torte for dinner. r's cousin suzel arrived after din. in nz for 4 weeks; just traveled asia and aus.

thurs:

rain most of day. headed dt to have coffee with jolene, gf from nfld that i did my MSc with. e and s played intense and possibly record-breaking game of jenga! raph made yummy curried squash and chickpea salad; eggs on toast for din. 5 of us walked uptown to old dam to check out cool glow worms (excrement glows bluegreen in the dark).

fri:

s and r dropped us at bus on way to work. i'm sad to leave. all had such a good time this week. s and r are so generous, kind, funny, fun, and saucy. our type of people. great friends for sure. hope to see them in thailand! =)

en route to north island. bring on the warm weather. freezing here! we`re wearing all our warm clothes now, incl scarves and toques. brrr.

t