Saturday morning, 10th August, Phillip and I decided to check out the famers market before we headed down south to the Catlins. It was a fairly small market but it sold a variety of foods from different vegetables (2 of which Phil bought for dinner but hadn't a clue what they were or how to cook them), cheeses, meats, bakery, wines, jams, chutneys, pancakes, porridge....the whole lot! After a good browse and several free tastings (or not as the case may be - I may have picked up and stuffed a whole falafel ball in my mouth without realising that the taster bites were on the plate next to the large ones! OPS. And I only realised because Phil then said "you could have taken the taster portion Kel!" After quickly paying & feeling slightly embarrassed, we had a chat with some of the famers at the market and then started our drive along the East coast to the Catlins. We stopped off at various beaches and drove down random roads to see where they would go, went on a few short walks, had lunch by the sea and ended the day with a nice walk in the hills by the sea. It turned out that we weren't on any designated track and we were actually walking on a farmers land instead, but when we arrived at the beach we spotted a yellow-eyed penguin up on the hill squawking away. It was so random to see it just waddle out of the bush and stand there alone. Nice to see it in the wild, undisturbed. As we started to walk on we saw more penguins swim up to shore, and waddle their way into the bushes. We watched more and more groups of penguins come up and take their place on the land. It was an incredible sight and they are really cute but very curious animals.

After finally making our way back to the car (we got a little lost), we headed back to the car and carried on travelling south to Surat Bay where we decided to stay. The hostel we initially planned to stay in was 'closed for winter' (a sign that I has been appearing way too much for my liking on this trip!), but luckily we checked out a Holiday Park that was close by and fortunately it was open. They were kind and let us pay $25 each for the night. I thought it was quite overpriced for just a cabin, but that was until I saw the well insulated cabin, with a TV, table and chairs, kettle, toaster...and the kitchen was only 10 metres away anyway! Get in!

Phillip rustelled up the dinner which was an interesting experience...we tried some green cabbage/boc choy style vegetable with some potato/apple style vegetable (don't ask, we have no idea what it was but either way it was quite enjoyable!) We had this with some sausages which were also rather interesting but quite tasty. We had a fairly early night watching an old James Bond back in the cabin.

Our Sunday morning was very chilled. We had some pancakes for breakfast and then took a walk along Surat Bay which was literally right next to the holiday park. It was a beautiful sunny day, I was even hot in my t-shirt! Day 2 in the Catlins and this time we stumble across some huge Sea Lions beached up on the sand, chilling in the sun. We got right up close to them so some of the photos I took are class J They are powerful beast though, I recon they could do quite some damage! A lady was telling us that she would see tourists being chased out of the water by these sea lions - a funny sight to say the least. We took a jog along the beach and went climbing along the rocks/mountain to get to the other bay. As the tide was coming in and time was pressing we decided to head back to carry on down south. We had a picnic by the sea before setting off to Purakaunui Falls (water fall), Jacks Blowhole and Curio Bay. Unfortuantely it wasn't the season to see dolphins :(

As we were driving back down the road, we decided to take a look at one of the backpackers accommodation that had a great view of the beach. The cottage seemed to be empty but it was completely unlocked. There was a chalk board outside the house that said "Welcome, please write your name down and come in, make yourself at home. Our hosts are Lilly and Moby, the cats! Come and pay us tomorrow at house number 512a". We really couldn't believe this, so we decided to go and see where the owners. The man seemed confused to see us and was so chilled - he just said yea go on in, come and pay tomorrow sometime. So we did! It was so exciting, it was a cute little cottage on a hill looking out at the sea and we were the only people there. We were jumping around the place like it was Christmas! All this for the same price as a backpackers hostel! MENTAL! So we relaxed by the log fire, enjoyed some real coffee (yes they provided coffee beans and a grinder), cooked dinner and chatted whist listening to some music. This place was really well kitted out! And what was best was the company....the two cats! I used to dislike cats, but now I love them. They were so cute, loved attention and loved being stroked whilst sitting on your lap. If you have seen the film "The Holiday", it was just like that! (but unfortunately without the hot man L Just needed my Jude Law and I would have been in heaven! Haha)

So, maybe we loved this place too much to leave the next day! We ended up chilling, checking out a village nearby, walking along the beach and then cooking a great roast dinner and baking some yummy chocolate brownies. So the roast was delicious, even though we boiled the lamb as suggested by the ladies in the shop. Yes, a little odd, but it tasted very similar to corn beef and I quite liked it J We were told to add Golden Syrup to the water to add flavour too. Phillip wasn't keen at all and just wanted to roast it, but I persuaded him to try the true native cooking style from the Catlins. It was a good little experiment and made tasty sandwiches for the next day anyhow! We spent the evening playing chess and sorting out photos.

Tuesday we had a leisurely breakfast (yes I really could get used to this life!) and then set off for Invercargill. It was another sunny day so we stopped for a quick walk at Sutton Point, which they claim to be the most southern point of the South Island and we eventually arrived in Invercargill. We did a cheap food shop in Pac n Save (the cheapest supermarket in NZ) and then went to a cafe with wifi to see how I could get back to Dunedin. I soon figured that the easiest, cheapest and quickest way to get back was to hitch-hike...so Phillip took me to the edge of the town with a sign saying "Dunedin". We placed bets - Phillip thought it would take 5 minutes before someone picked me up, I thought it would take at least 1 hour. Turns out it took 35 seconds J hehe. And the dude that stopped was a class guy with lots of stories and a very interesting life! It was great being able to have a really good conversation with a local and understand a bit more about their culture. He dropped me off right outside OnTop Backpackers and I returned with a warm welcome from my hostel friends. We had a good old catch up that evening!

Wednesday is today! I was up skyping the parents at 8am - lovely chatting J And then spent half an hour in the library figuring out what to do. I realised that my time here in NZ is pressing and I need to make sure I see the places I still want to see. So managed to book back onto the Stray bus to Christchurch. Only problem was that it was picking me up tomorrow morning from Queenstown - that's the other side of the country! Ops. So as I was checking out of the hostel I met this Canadian girl who was just leaving to hitch her way to Queenstown. We decided to be hitch-hiking buddies for the day...We started at 11.30am - it took 25 minutes for a lady to pick us up and take us to Dunedin airport where more people would be driving by to Milton. We then waited 10 minutes for 2 ladies and their son to stop and take us to Milton. 2 minutes from being dropped off there, we find ourselves in a students car (he was studying accounting) heading to his home town in Alexandra. We had a 5 minute wait there before some kiwi guy picked us up and drove us to Queenstown! Yey, We made it in 4 and a half hours (the bus took 4 hours and cost $39). Good team work I say. Now it's just one night here before I jump on the Stray bus again - that will be strange. It feels like ages since I was travelling with Stray. I'm looking forward to Mount Cook J

little more news...

somehow I lost my sunglasses :( rather upsetting especially as the sun has been out in full force over the past few days (I actually LOVE NZ in winter, the weather has been incredible. It has been chilly at times, but I really don't mind if it's dry and the sun has been out most days too, we really have been so lucky)!