Sunday's journey, from Milford Sound to Invercargill had been quite long and tedious, due to continuous heavy rain and a rather uninteresting landscape. We didn't have to check out of our campsite near Invercargill till 11am, so Tony took the chance to go for a 14 mile run (training for the London Marathon!) and I caught up with some laundry and read my book. Bliss. Tony got back and went off for a shower. When I opened the door of the camper van to go and get the washing out of the dryer, I found a very rotund black labrador and a small brown terrier sitting expectantly outside the door, next to Tony's running shoes! - I don't know where they came from, but they must have been attracted by the 'aroma'!
In the hope of a more interesting drive than the previous day, we set off for Dunedin via the 'Scenic Coastal Route'. Unfortunately, a lot of the time this was neither scenic, nor coastal, as the terrain meant that it was along a ridge of tree-lined hills, just inland from the coast. We headed for a small peninsula called Nugget Point, which promised rare yellow-eyed penguins, seals, and elephant seals. We drove 8 km along an unmade road full of ruts and potholes, until we found ourselves alongside a beautiful deserted beach, with golden sand and turquoise water, at which point the road turned inland again and began a sharp ascent of a steep gravelly hill, with corkscrew bends. We got to the top, to find a small cliff top car park, with amazing views of the beach we had just seen when we were right next to it! I was quite surprised to find quite a few other vehicles there, as it seemed such a remote place. I was also a bit worried that the camper van would blow over, as it was pretty windy, but it stayed put while we had lunch. We walked down a cliff path to a viewing hide, stopping along the way to read the information notices about all the wildlife we were about to see. So we watched, and waited, zoom lens at the ready, craned our necks and strained our eyes, and what did we see?....... NOTHING! Not a hint of a penguin, yellow eyed or otherwise, no seals, just an occasional seagull! So we bumped our way back along the pothole road, just in time really, as the tide was now in, and very close to the edge of the road.
We arrived in Dunedin to find the campsite we wanted was full, the second one we tried had no Internet, and Tony needed it urgently as he had to contact work, the third one was way over on the other side of town, so as we were just near the highway we decided to head on up the coast instead. I think we're finding it difficult to cope with towns that have a population of more than 100, so I don't know how we'll get on in Sydney when we get there!
As it was getting late, and dark, we didn't stop to look at the Moeraki boulders shown in the photo, but we did drive past where they were, so hope that counts! Reached Oamaru eventually and had a hasty supper. As we settled for the night, I thought I could hear and feel an earthquake starting, but it turned out to be just a freight train rumbling past - well it was a really long one, and very loud...........