So Jennifer left you having been out drinking Saturday night, her blog entry made a lot more sense the her conversation when she got back to her room , thankfully. Sunday was out last full day in christchurch so we met up with Googs and had the now traditional sunday lunch from vendors at the arts centre. sweet and sour pork balls for me. then we went back to the hostel and started packing and checking that Bobbique (or the Ferrari as our car was dubbed by the hostel) was ready for travel. Sunday night we didn't do much and Monday we were off after bidding a fond fairwell to Eugene , Beth Coti and the gang.

we headed down to Oarmaru where legend would have us believe Penguins abound. However storms struck en route and the roads flooded, the ferrari became Roger Moores Bond car and got us through damp but unbowed. Our hostel was a quaint old fashioed big old housey thing and was nice and warm in the lounge room thanks to a log burning stove and someone put the film Memento on. Someone in my room (boys and girls dorms seperate don't you know) was obviously part snake as having arrived and put the room heater on i returned to find the window full open and heater off. brrrrrrrr + grrrrrr.

anyway it was all well and good and we went in search of penguins. having waited at the "free" beach for the yellowed eyed stumblers to show we were treated to the site of one solitary Ponguin waddling ashore. We blamed some hoodie types who had loitered on the beach too long thus probably scaring the fish guzzlers away. we hot fotted it round to the other bay to see the little blue ponguins arrive but the storm that had nearly done for bobbique had made viewing untenable. Penguin count = 1

the next day we managed to sell two old books we had read for 5 dollars and felt rich as you like as we headed down to see what dunedin had to offer. a nice enough hostel as it turned out but one that was a bit odd. having been spoilt in christchurch with accommodation we are now rather scatheing of poor places . this one struck out when i was loading the car with my bag and some Aussie guy who was manning reception ran out into the street to accost me over whether i had fully dried the pan i used that morning. Given that a bus load of cold-ridden chavs had just left a mountain of crockery to be washed and the fact that jennifer was in the kitchen making sandwiches and washing up as he accosted me it was rather stupid of the fool. i said "listen stupid fool, i'll let you off cos i'm nice but next time i'll dry my pan with your face, now be off with you"

anyway dunedin was quite nice, had a lovely old railway station that is the most photographed building in NZ. we added to that statistic. It also has the worlds steepest road as confirmed by guinness world records no less (who knew they were still going!) we also ate out at a Cambodian restaurant for old times sakes and had really really lovely food for dirt cheap. We probably did other stuff Jennifer will tell you about as well). (Jen - we mostly looked in shops and round the university campus - more nice old buildings, and the Otago museum where we bypassed the historial bit in favour of an exhibit by  a local very expensive doll maker)

then we went on a tour to see some penguins. we had to pay for this one but it was kind of a refuge for ponguins and a nature reserve and stuff so we didn't mind and we got to see them quite close up because so many hides and tunnels had been built , we saw four on one hill and two more wandering home accross the beach and one standing on abridge, maybe lost , who knows. Penguin Tally thus far 8! (Jen: Yellow eyed penguins are the most rare penguins int he world and they are not very socialble so they come home from the sea one at a time, then spend hours waddling back to the their homes in the cool bush which can be a long way from the beach)

Dunedin was fine but we weren't overwhelmed so we set off for the Catlins further south.

we headed for a place called Owaka, and found our hostel was lovely. so checked in and were advised of a local bay where , you guessed it , some penguins lived. this time we were in luck and in 45 minutes we saw 7 arrive on shore and hop stumble and skip up the hill to there bunks. Tally 15! horrah. (Jen: we also got to borrow some grown ups' binoculars to view said penguins cooling down by standing with their flippers/wings in the air, shouting at each other, and hopping up steps with great effort. Now I know what the fuss is about and we spent today windowshopping for binoculars which we clearly cannot afford. Truly my father's daughter)

then back to the warmth of our hostel for Coronation st. , someone will have to tell us how come some boy in it calls mike baldwin dad and ken barlow grandad. and what happens with bradley walsh and the 2 wills! that's where it's up to in NZwhich i would imagine is a bit behind the uk. (Jen: and does the platt child - the one who in real life got really cross when my Breakthrough friend Leigh got loads of attention from the male corro cast the tv quick awards one year... anyway, does she marry "our Jase"? or does Gail put a stop to it? Coronation St is the best quality tv here, but tonight is Friday night which means " what about Brian" and " new adventures of old christine"  - both rubbish but brilliant quality US rubbish compared to the rest of NZ tv output)

today we were heading to te anui but stopped off here for free internet and to break the journey up a bit. taddar! all done,. ( when evan says here he means  " Dustez Bak Paka's" - no not another example of bad spelling but actually a hugely witty hostel name - the hostel is called dusty. Although it could be just bad spelling as there is a sign in the bathroom which says "use water sparingly , we relay on rain water." there is a worrying amount of bad spelling on hostel signs, both our mothers would be scandalized)

Our next blog entry will be from Queenstown to say that we've both broken our wrists snowboarding. Let us pray that is not true....