After 4 days of relativeisolation on the Otrago Central Rail Trail, we decided to head for the bright city lights for a change and drove the 2 hrs to Oamaru on the east coast. We checked in to the hideously overpriced and cramped campsite in town, had a quick shower then headed out for a night "on the town".

So the plan is we're looking for a nice meal - local caught fish perhaps ? ? Then on to live music at the famous "Penguin Club" down by the harbour.

The centre of Oamaru is quite pleasant - some very imposing buildings made out of the locally quarried limestone & there's a Victorian quarter with old warehouses & buildings made out of the same white stone.

We'd heard the town was full due to a big Festival the next day & certainly the campsite was crammed full - but no-one seemed to be in town at 8-00pm on a Saturday night. ABSOLUTELY NO-ONE.

So what about the nice restaurant ? There was one - offering a "carvery" - carveries are not our favourite meal. But in the end it didn't matter - Kiwi eating habits struck again. You had to be sitting down from 5-00pm & absolute latest 06-45pm to be served. It was 08-15. Most people had eaten & the restaurant was starting to close down. There were a couple of pubs who might have served us a pub meal - but what about fish ? Only possibility there was fish & chips (the only way the Kiwis seem to eat fish) - but that closed at 04-30pm.

So we're left with a "you could be anywhere in the world" pizzeria. We went in at 08-30 as the last kiwi customers were paying & leaving - so it was just us two and 4 Spanish people who've probably never eaten so early in their lives whilst the staff closed off entire sections of the restaurant around us. Had we not turned up, they'd have had the "closed" sign on the door & been on their way home by 9-00pm ! !

And the Penguin Club live music ? We found the club no problems but the door was slammed firmly shut with a notice outside - "Closed except to members or their invitees"

So there you are - a wild Saturday night in Oamaru

Next day we headed south after Stewart had spent half an hour having the longest shower he's ever had in his life at the campsite (to get his money's worth for the exorbitant amount we'd been charged) and a pleasant stroll through the botanical gardens.

Next stop the Moeraki boulders - huge round boulders on the beach formed not by erosion of rock but apparently by a sort of similar process to the way pearls are formed - just on a huge scale & with no oysters involved.

Just south of Moeraki is a very quaint fishing village (very unusual to see actual fishing boats in a harbour in NZ) & a world famous Rick Stein recommended restaurant "Fleurs Place" which actually serves what the fishermen have caught & is NOT a fish & chip shop - hallelujah ! !. It looked fantastic but when we tried to book a table for that evening, we once again fell foul of the Kiwi definition of "evening" meal. The only option was sit down & be served there and then at 5-00pm and be out by 07-00pmso that they could have a second sitting after us. Don't care who recommends it, no way Stewart will

Eat at 5-00pm - especially after we'd had a late lunch barely 3 hours earlier

Accept double booked tables

So it was aurevoir Fleur and we ate in the van at a sensible time i.e. 3 hours later.

Next day we rolled in to Dunedin - a real city - 100 000 people. The "Edinburgh of the South" - Dunedin is Edinburgh in Gaelic & the city was founded by scottish immigrants.

Parked the van on the outskirts & cycled into the centre. Spent a very nice day visiting the compact city centre including a trip around the Cadbury's chocolate factory - along with the swimming with dolphins this was definitely a holiday highlight for Vod ! ! Found out that the Dunedin Railway Station is the second most photographed building in the southern hemisphere - the interior is especially worth seeing with custom made Royal Doulton tiling on the walls & ceilings.

Unfortunately the weather turned nasty so we got soaked cycling back to the van. Left Dunedin still heading south & camped by the beach with a roaring gale rocking us to sleep all night.

We now picked up the well sign posted "Southern Scenic Route" which would take us all the way around the southern tip of South Island and then up to the BIG scenery in Fiordland. This included the "Catlins" - rolling hills & rugged beaches in the very south eastern tip of the country. The scenery was very interesting as it's one of the few remaining remnants of "podocarp" forest - the original NZ vegetation which is a sort of lush tropical looking flora & fauna but which is adapted to life in what can be a very cold & inhospitable climate. Probably 80% of the country was cleared of podocarp forests by the settlers 120 years ago, chopped down for wood or burnt to make pasture land for sheep & then they replanted European trees to make them feel at home - thus creating a landscape that looks and feels like the English Lake district with higher mountains or maybe Scotland without the bogs.

The next day was "waterfall day" in the Catlins - lots of them, all very spectacular & we finished the day at Slope Point - a 15 min walk across a field on a cliff to reach the most southerly point of NZ South Island.Nothing between us and Antarctica. The weather turned absolutely gorgeous for our photos and we parked the van right on the headland - normally the semi permanent south westerly gale would have blown us over but miraculously we had a very calm night.

Next day return to normal service - SW gale. This is the place where the trees grow at 45° and you can understand why. We finished our coastal visit in Bluff where most people think it is the most southern point - but of course it isn't. What a grim place - abandonned shops, grotty old shipyards and the constant howling gale. Mind you, it has the best public toilet in New Zealand - a fully automatic stainless steel palace with a robotic american gentleman who talks you through every step of the process & then puts on some nice piano music whilst you're "using the facilities." 25km across the swamp from Bluff is Invercargill, Southland's biggest city. It has a Scottish name, all the people seem to be called "McSomthing" and they even have a regional accent whereby they roll their R's - the Scottish heritage. And of course a wind-lashed wet climate worthy of northern Scotland. When they first arrived here the original settlers must have felt totally at home !

Final thought - we are now at the same latitude as the Falkland Islands. It feels like it - even though here is quite temperate in comparison. You can actually grow vegetables here. Nothing will grow in the Falklands except tundra.