Queenstown to Dunedin to Oamaru to Timaru to Banks Peninsula to Christchurch

En route to see Albatrosses.

Nesting Albatross.

Stewart Island shags. They come in 2 varieties - all black and black and white. The black and white ones are often mistaken for penguins.


The boulders on the beach at Moeraki - they are spherical and formed by the same process as pearls.
If you look really closely you will see our Yellow-Eyed Penguin.

Strange rocks at the side of the road where we were to see Maori drawings. Unfortunately we couldn't get up close enough as there had been a recent rock fall.




Views en route to Mount Cook.

The Church of the Good Shepherd on Lake Tekapo - it was hard to get a view without the swarms of cliucking ((interesting spelling there - thought I would leave it!) Japanese.

The view past the altar.

En route to Akaroa on the Banks Peninsula.

A Pohutukawa tree in full bloom in Akaroa Harbour - this tree blossoms for Christmas in both New Zealand and Australia so they call it the Christmas tree.

Seagull posing at Akaroa.


Views of the Banks Peninsula.

The last few days have involved a lot of travel as we try to see as much as possible in our last days in New Zealand. After a brief stop in Dunedin we toured the Otago Peninsula going as far as Taiaroa Head to the Royal Albatross Centre where, unfortunately, we did not see any flying albatrosses but we did see 4 of 27 who are nesting. It seems, once there is an egg, one parent incubates the egg and the other goes to sea to feed for 4 or 5 days. Then they change roles and the other albatross can go to sea. One nesting albatross was very unfortunate as her mate left her for 14 days only returning on the 15th. This posed quite a dilemma for the rangers who did not want the nesting albatross to die of hunger but were reluctant to interfere with nature. However, all is well.

On to Oamaru where we decided to spend a few hours in the evening watching Blue (Little/Fairy) Penguins returning home after their day at sea. Before that we went to Cape Wanbrow in the hope of seeing a Yellow-Eyed Penguin, the 3rd largest penguin in the world and the most unsociable. Yellow eyed Penguins return to their homes a few hours before dusk so it is possible to see them in daylight as long as they don't see you. We watched one for quite a while but it was a good distance away and it was not possible to capture the yellow eyes on camera. The Blue Penguins were very entertaining and very noisy but we were not allowed to take photos - sorry Mairead! They come in on a wave and clamber up the rocks, many falling in the attempt. After fluffing their feathers, shaking their heads and holding their arms out from their bodies, all the time seemingly gossiping about their day, they come up as far as the track, appear to observe the safe cross code by looking right and left, and scuttle hurriedly to their nests. We saw about 100 of them. We were warned that some of them wander and are attracted to the spaces under parked cars, so we were to make as much noise as possible getting into the car - you should have seen Jim flapping his arms and shaking his head and ruffling the last few wisps of hair that are still clinging bravely to his scalp!

The next day we travelled from Oamaru to Mount Cook, via Oamarama and Twizel, on to Lake Tekapo and then to Timaru - very scenic even when there were clouds. Today we made our way to Christchurch via the Banks Peninsula. We lunched at Akaroa Bay in temperatures of around 26! Tomorrow we are going into Christchurch to see the effects of the earthquake and whatever else is to be seen. Then it's Singapore for 2 days before we make our way home to arrive in Dublin on the 18th.