DAY 12: Penguins

From NZ - DAY 12

OAMARU -- Most of my day was dedicated to my favorite animal the penguin.

Here there are two colonies of two different penguins.

The first was the yellow-eyed penguin and the second, the blue penguin. Conveniently the yellow-eyed penguins return to their homes two hours before sunset, while the blues return when it is dark.

Therefore I could watch both colonies come ashore.

I spent about 3 hours waiting and watching the yellow come in. I only saw about 20 of a supposed 800 come in. Some of them got really close. They amazingly climbed about 100 yards up a hillside to their homes where I was watching them.

From NZ - DAY 12

The blues were harder to get close to. In fact I had to pay 20 dollars to watch them come into a habitat that was designed for them. They did not allow pictures to be taken because it could scare them.

Penguins are skittish.

It was a cool penguin-watching day.

And just so you know that sign above is actually true. There is penguin crossing, its not just a cute sign.

Burger WisconSIN: Home of the World's Best Burgers

CHRISTCHURCH -- Imagine the surprise when I noticed the sign that said Burger Wisconsin right next door to my hostel this evening when I went out to by a coke.

I was dumbfounded really.

UPDATE: I doubt they use Wisconsin Cheese unfortunately Amber. They do seem to have a lot of cows. Apparently this is a chain restaurant because I grabbed a flier and they have multiple locations.

DAY 11: A Big Church and Flowers

From NZ - DAY 11

CHRISTCHURCH -- I arrived in a new city today. Not much to it really. It has a nice civic centre and a trolley car, as well as a really big old church.

I spent the afternoon walking about in the downtown and in a botanical gardens, which is generally just a large park. There was an impressive rose garden, which is where I took the picture above.

I also went to two museums. The art museum and a natural history type museum. They were both pretty nice and free.

The art museum had some nice works. Now that I have been to a couple of galleries I am starting to like a few New Zealand artists including Gordon Walters.

Tomorrow I am planning on checking out some penquin colonies in a community to the south of Christchurch. I am looking forward to it.

My Morning View

From NZ - DAY 11

CHRISTCHURCH -- This is what I woke up to this morning.

DAY 10: Impressing the Lady Dolphins

From NZ - DAY 10

KAIKOURA -- I had a pretty cool day.

I woke up early in the morning to catch the Inter-Island Ferry to the South Island and then headed to its West Coast -- specifically the Kaikoura Coast.

It is a nice little community on a bay looking into the ocean. I didn't realize it until the fog lifted but there are mountains overlooking the community as well. They are quite amazing and all snowy.

When I got to Kaikoura I booked a whale watching tour. Although I saw two sperm whales, it was the Dusky Dolphin that stole the show.

These acrobatic dolphins were leaping out of the water trying to impress the female dolphins to find a mate.

They were quite beautiful.

I have lined up a bed in a hostel on the ocean front. I am literally about 25 yards from the water which I can see out my window.

I am in a room with three drunken Australian girls -- its only 7:30 p.m. here.

DAY 9: Zoo and Museum

From NZ - DAY 9

WELLINGTON -- I spent the morning at the Wellington Zoo. There were not a lot of people there, which was nice. The zoo was shabby and not that great. It had a fairly good stock of animals.

That said they did not have a lot of the interesting larger animals that you see at most zoos. They had almost no aquatic animals (i.e. penguins or seals).

For the only activity I have had to pay for while in Wellington it was probably the least value.

It was only $13 dollars with my YHA membership card.

I did have a decent time after initially being a little worried because the first three exhibits had no animals.

After the zoo I headed back to the city centre and returned to Te Papa. Yesterday I saw half of the museum before it closed. The second half was probably the best part. I learned a lot about the Maori and their relationship with the white settlers.

I am taking a little break by enjoying some popcorn and a coca cola (in a glass bottle) while doing my laundry.

After I get that done I plan on going out tonight for some drinks. I will probably check out this bar that is having a comedy night. It is called the Blue Note Bar.

Tomorrow I make the trip to the South Island. Should be fun.

DAY 8: Walkabout Wellington

From NZ - DAY 8

WELLINGTON -- Today I spent most of my time walking. I rode on some old time cable cars and wandered around the Wellington Botanical Gardens.

The gardens is a lot like NYC's Central Park, because of its many little nuggets of awesome. The gardens are not as big but pretty fun for several hours of walking.

After that I went to the New Zealand government buildings and got a tour. It was nice. The buildings are not very impressive at all -- especially comparing them to the U.S. Capitol and even the Wisconsin State Capitol. Anyhow. The nice thing about Wellington is that everything is free.

I went to a museum about the Cable Cars, which was free. The tour of Parliament was free and the country's largest museum, Te Papa is also free.

My legs are tired. I may go to a movie at a cinema close by. Cheers.

DAY 7: The Long Way to Wellington

From NZ - DAY 7

WELLINGTON – After leaving Castlepoint I headed south for Wellington. I had to choose between the quick route and the scenic route. I chose the scenic route even though my Rough Guide basically said there is not much to see.

I wanted to make sure to see Cape Palliser for some reason. My guide said it was a “bleak and windswept coast.” I ignored that and went anyways for the hell of it. I am so glad I did.

At the end of a very isolated route, unpaved, I found myself in front of another lighthouse.

But the real story of the day was not the lighthouse. At one point, with the lighthouse in view I stopped at this large rocky area along the coast where I could take a picture of the lighthouse.

I snapped away and was about to get back in my car when I heard a screeching moan. It was an animal of some kind. I could not see it because these boulders and rocky area was in between me and the noise. At first I thought it was a dolphin from the way it sounded.

I decided that I had to investigate. I climbed through the rocks, turning corners and jumping from stone to stone.

All of a sudden I could smell something foul. I thought it was bird droppings or something. I was not quite sure. I moved on thinking I was getting close. I turned the corner around another rock and I was startled to come withing a meter of a seal staring right at me. He barked and I freaked out almost running for my car.

After realizing that the thing was not charging me. I stopped and grabbed my camera. I took a few steps closer and then around another rock I could see a baby seal. I freaked out a little again. I figured that this could be bad.

While it might not be a problem to tempt fate with an average seal. It probably would not be as good an idea to sneak up on a mother and her baby. Nonetheless the seal was tame and seemed to have very little interest in me. It wanted to sleep more than anything.

It was amazing to be that close with a wild seal. It was even more cool that it was just out there in the middle of nowhere with nobody around but me.

Later I found a ton more in other places. I could smell each one of them before I saw them. They were that smelly.

What an adventure that was.

After that I made the trip back out of the countryside toward Wellington, where I stayed the night.

DAY 6: Gannets and a Lighthouse

From NZ - DAY 6

CASTLEPOINT – The glory that was my view in the morning from my cabin almost matched that of my hangover.

Early in the morning I headed to the gannet tour place. It was a nice tour. The bus that took the about 8 others on the trek to the colony weaved through the hillside of a large sheep and beef farm full of stories about the land and the people on it.

The tour guide was an older farm women of Asian descent that sounded like the British woman on my GPS device. She was very good.

The gannet colony was quite impressive. We got very close to the birds. I could have kicked one if I had wanted. I got some pretty decent photographs as a result.

The tour was about three hours, most of it was spent in travel. It took an hour to get to the colony and an hour to get back after spending a hour with the birds.

After the tour I headed out toward another coastal point – Castlepoint. My Rough Guide told me very little about Castlepoint so it was kind of a whim that I went there. I am glad I did. It was quite cool. There was a lighthouse and a wonderful cove that was at the end of a hiking trail.

I enjoyed it. There were not many people around so it was quite peaceful.

I ended up staying the night at this hotel a few miles off the coast. It was a hotel/bar. I had a drink and hired a cabin behind the bar. The cabin was not in great shape but it was cheap and had a shower.

DAY 5: Drinking Buddies

From NZ - DAY 5

CAPE KIDNAPPERS – Early in the morning I got found my way to the National Aquarium not far from my hostel.

It was decent but for a “national” aquarium I was a wee bit disappointed. After spending about an hour and a half looking at the fishies I wandered along the Marine Parade, a long road along the coastline which has tons of shops, gardens, bars and park area.

I had some Italian ice cream and wandered about. At midday I hoped aboard a Duck tour (like they have in the Dells). It was to get on the water, but there wasn't much to the tour except the last part – a wine and brewery tour.

The first stop was a winery called Church Road. I taste tested four different wines. Two were good and the others were okay. I am not a wine guy, anyways.

The next stop was at the Filter Room, a brewer of cider and ales. I bought a tray of six different brews and proceeded to taste. They were great. The ciders were actually better than the ales. It was a nice afternoon drink.

A couple of hours later I was on the road south out of Napier. I was headed to Cape Kidnappers where I had booked a tour of a Gannet colony.

If you want to know why Cape Kidnappers (locals pronounce it Cape Ka-nippers) is called such click here for an explanation.

I planned on finding a place to stay when I got in the area. I eventually found a motor/holiday park that had cabins. I hired one for $40NZ.

It was glorious. The cabin, which was suitable with a kitchen, overlooked Cape Kidnappers.

While settling in I ran into the camp manager, who told me to have a beer with him. I obliged and was introduced to three other drinking buddies. They were Perry, a local kiwi, and Tommy and Katie, travellers from Finland.

We stayed up most of the night drinking Double Brown Beer. It is a kiwi beer that is on par with Blatz.

Perry couldn't walk straight by 10:30 p.m, or maybe I just couldn't see straight.

Travelling is Exhausting

WELLINGTON -- So I managed a good update for Day 4 (see below), but have yet to give you the scoop on the last few days.

It is hard to find the time in between planning for tomorrow, sleeping, eating and having the time of my life to update this bloggeroo.

I promise I will get to it in good time.

Nonetheless I included links to my albums from pictures of the last few days for you to enjoy.

NZ - DAY 5

NZ - DAY 6

NZ - DAY 7

I Found the Internet Again

WELLINGTON -- Kia ora mates,

I came out of the bush and found the tubes of the vast world wide web again.

The last few places I stayed, out in the edges of nowhere, did not have Internet. Therefore no updates.

That should change. I have planted my flag in Wellington for a few days before I take the ferry across the straight to the South Island.

I am staying at a really nice YHA Hostel. It is pretty nice for a hostel. My Rough Guide told me that it is the best urban hostel in the country. It very well could be as it is quite nice. Not luxuriously, but nice. I decided to spring for a private room for my stay.

It was a relatively taxing drive into Wellington during rush hour. There is basically nowhere to park. After much avail I found a public parking ramp and locked it down.

So there you have it. Hope everyone is well.

Now that I have Internet I will shortly update you on my last few days.

Cheers.