The day started with the realisation Elizabeth was in the bed next to me rather than David. It was followed by Alex bursting in and asking for David, when he was not to be found both babies wandered off and I went back to sleep. I roused a little later and went downstairs to find two small fed girls and a large shattered David. I sent David back to bed for more of a snooze but that was disturbed by Alex. We got going eventually and went for an explore. I had a notion of going up to the Fernery so we walked up a very steep hill and almost gave up hope before we found it. When we finally reached it we discovered it did not open until 12 and this was around 11. We had a nice chat with a couple who had come over on a later ferry than us yesterday and had an even worse time of it. Their crossing was on the verge of being cancelled. After the chat we walked onto Observation rock up an even steeper hill. This gave us an amazing view over Half Moon Bay and the surrounding area.
We then walked down the steep hill to the shoreline. Here we made a slight turn off to visit the local museum which again was small and interesting and the museum volunteer friendly. This took us until lunch time and to Just Café for toasted sandwiches and coffee. The lady in there was very friendly and nice and surroundings cosy. We then went and checked in for the Paterson Inlet cruise. It was very relaxed and not at all busy with 10 of us on a 65 seater boat. The cruise showed us several points of interest around the inlet such as old sawmills and whaling repair station. What is most surprising is how little is left of these massive operations, between the sea and the vegetation they have destroyed most of the evidence of these places.
As for the seabirds we were very fortunate to see a few varieties on our cruise. We saw Bullmer Mollymawk, another Mollymawk, Cormorants, Terns and Penguins ! We saw blue penguins and yellow eyed penguins, they see the yellow eyed maybe 3 or 4 times a year. We landed in Ulva for a 45 minute guided walk and thankfully one of the guides took us on a separate walk so we could take the pushchair and we would not disturb the others bird watching. We still saw a number of Stewart Island Robins and a Weka. He also told us a lot about the local plant life. We walked from Post Office Bay around to another bay.
We headed back to the boat and then straight back to Oban. Elizabeth fell asleep on me. We spoke to a couple who we saw in Doubtful Sound and saw us when we were leaving Clifden Suspension bridge, they also go to Dunedin tomorrow. They commented on how well they thought the girls were doing.
Walked home from the wharf and the girls had some TV. Elizabeth awoke in a naughty mood and tried to bite me when I asked her to move away from the TV. We are in the terrible twos, she is Jekyl and Hyde.




Things of note

Half moon bay was originally horse shoe bay and vice versa. When the first chart was done the names were swapped and they have stayed that way ever since.

Local radio has adverts for lost and found pets. It also had a big news item about a stolen car, note car not cars.

The Lighthouse Pizza place has bar opening hours of 4pm until you b***** off.