January 26th

Today we headed in to Dunedin so Ed could pick up his glasses - while they did that me and Matt did a bit of shopping. We needed a new camping chair as i managed to break ours, twice, after only having it a week. First time i fell off it and snapped the arm then the second time the back bit snapped and i ended up horizontal and believe it or not alcohol was not involved either time. We washed the cars as they were filthy before heading back down south towards Kaka Point. This is where we camped for the night it was a lovely place and had a stunning beach. On the way after conferring with the Map i thought we should go to a Cheese Factory, after driving on unsealed roads for a good 15k and not finding anything we gave up - the boys weren't impressed after they had cleaned the cars and now they were filthy again. In the evening we headed to Nugett point only 8k away. First stop was Roaring Bay so we could check out the Penguins. We timed it quite well for once as it was 2 hours before dusk and this is the best time to see them. As soon as we got there we saw one amongst the grass and after watching for a while we saw another one waddle up the beach. It was pretty awesome especially as New Zealand is the only place you can see the yellow-eyed penguins. We then headed to the tip of Nugget Point and walked out to the Lighthouse. On the way we saw loads of sea lions, fur seals and lots of pups. They were all splashing about and playing it was so cute as some of them were tiny. At the Lighthouse from a quite a distance we saw an Elephant seal it was a bit of a whopper even from a long way a way. The views were also really good so make sure you check out the pics.

January 27th

We had a jam packed day today - i had been on a mission reading Sara's lonely planet so had mapped out a bit of a route. We carried on south, first stop was Jack's Bay, we parked up and did the 40 minute walk to Jack's Blowhole - it sounded pretty cool in the Lonely Planet as it says its a Blowhole 200m from the sea with water being fed through via undergroug caverns. When we got there we were a bit disappointed as there was no water being sprayed into the air and it was basically a giant hole with the sea below. Still pretty cool when you think about it as it was just in the middle of the sheep paddock. The walk was still very enjoyable despite the weather being very cold and wet so far on the south coast. After this we drove to Putakanui Falls this was another nice walk through some forest before reaching the very small but lovely falls. We met some locals who told us to visit McClean falls as they are supposed to be alot more impressive so that was where we decided to head. On the way we stopped at the 'Lost Gypsy Gallery' it was a caravan at the side of the road kind of like a museum of weird and wonderful things. It was really interesting and we had fun playing with all the home made gadgets and gismos. There was also a walk through garden bit with loads of fun and retro games. It is a bit hard to explain the pictures might help a bit. Next stop McClean falls this was another 40 minute walk through more beautiful forest, that;s the problem with Newe Zealand is that all the scenery is stunning no matter where you look there is always the coast, mountains, forest or lakes in some direction so you kind of just get used to it after a while and you don't really take it in. These falls were awesome there were 3 tiers to it, the bottom 2 were really pretty and then the top one had a really big drop. Me, Sara and Matt decided to do a bit of rock climbing and climbed up to the rock pool at the bottom of the big one - it really was stunning up there and would have been nice for a dip if the weather was hotter.We were going to stay nearby but as the campsite was so bloody expensive we drove down to Porpoise Bay then camped at Corio Bay the one just further along. The campsite was a bit basic considering we were paying $20 a night per couple but the Bay itself was absolutely beautiful. It was freezing by this point especially as it had been 30 degrees the previous day and it was now about 5. So we all huddled in our van and planned what we had left to see on the South Island and started to have a look at the North Island. Everyone so far though says the South is alot better so i doubt we will spend as long on the north as there is more we want to see down here.After looking at the map for so long and seeing where all of the Lord Of the Rings sets were scene (basically all over) we thought we would watch it to see if we recognised any bits and for future. It was the first time Matt had seen it aswell, we ended up being knackered halfway throught the first one so called it a night.

January 28th

In the morning we headed down to the Bay to have a look for the Hector Dolphins who are local residents (according to the board there are only 4,000 left in the world and they all reside around the south coast of New Zealand) We were lucky enough to see a pod of about 6-8 about 2 metres from the sure. They are very little dolphins and entertained us by doing flips and jumping. If it had of been a bit warmer day we would have gone in for a swim with the snorkel but it was another freezing day and as some of you might already know the sea in New Zealand especially on the South Coast is freezing. We then realised there was a sea lion on the beach having a kip so we decided to get close and get some pictures. Obviously we made sure we didn't frighten it or make it feel threatened. We then drove to Slope Point - which is the most southernly point of the South Island. We then did a 20 minute waklk to the signpost on the end it said Antarctica so make km on way and the equator the other way was pretty cool but we thought it might have had london and other majore cities like they usually do. We then headed to Invercargill via Fortrose we stopped at Shipwreck Ino which you can see at low tide. We couldn't really see much of it so either it wasn't low tide or it was the smallest shipwreck ever. We got to Invercargill and stocked up on fuel - it isn't a very nice city and had lots of dodgy looking characters.We didn't stop long so headed up to Te Anau, on the way we popped into a butchers in Tuataperre 'sausage capital of New Zealand' so we grabbed some sausages and carrried on. The drive up was really pretty and we came to a 'Cliffden Ssupension Bridge' we had to have a look to compare it to our 'Clifton' one it was very small in comparison and you didn't have to pay 20p to go over it. Our main reason for heading to Te Anau was to book a cruise for Milford Sound as this is the only way you can see it. We would have liked to have done Doubtful Sound as it is supposed to be alot prettier but it was rather expensive the cheapest cruise they did was $250 for 3 hours. So we have now booked our cruise for Friday. Only a 2 hour one but also stopping at the underwater observatory.This is supposed to be really good as there is a 5m layer of freshwater on top of the saltwater in Milford Sound. This apparrently replicates deep-ocean conditions this means there are lots of deep water species not far below the surface. So we are really looking forward to that. Tomorrow the plan is to start the 120km drive up to Milford Sound stopping off at all the pretty things to see and then camping free somewhere nearby.
P.S tha sausages were pretty awesome so Tuataperre really does live up to its name of Sausage Capital.

Milford Sound should be the next one so check it out - we will try to upload pictures as soon as we can just the internet is so slow.

Lots of Love x x x