The last two days have been travel days with 5-6 hour drives first from Te Anau on the west coast to Oamaru on the east coast and then today from Oamaru all the way north to Kaikoura, close to the north end of the South Island.

Before I share some pictures from the last couple days, let me offer a couple corrections and updates. I had reported in an earlier blog that Milford Sound received 90 feet of rain a year. A discerning reader from Port Townsend pointed out that was very unlikely. I did some more research and it was, in fact, incorrect. Milford Sound actually receives 268 inches of rain a year, over 22’. That is still a lot of rain.

I also reported that our boat captain on our Milford Sound cruise said that if you sailed due west from the opening of Milford Sound onto the Tasman Sea that you would eventually run aground on Argentina. That is actually true. Janet found a map to check and if you sailed due west from Milford Sound you go under Australia, under Africa, and end up on the Argentina beach. Wow, it’s hard to get my head around the fact that we are south of Australia.

Okay, on to some pictures from the last couple days. One of the New Zealand meals that we have enjoyed are the pies. These are small meat and veg pies with flaky crust and delicious fillings. You can eat them with your hands and they make a delicious lunch. We have had quite a few. My favorites are creamy chicken, and smoked chicken and mushroom. There are pie shops in every town, plus you can buy them at gas stations and grocery stores. The little town of Te Anau had a wonderful pie shop called Miles Better Pies. They were great. I decided to pose with the proprietor.

Te Anau also had a bird sanctuary where we got to see the Takahe bird. There are only 300 Takahe left in the world and we got to see three of them. There are some pictures below and you can see more and hear their song at this website.  https://youtube.com/shorts/ImWP7trgdGM?si=EUZPBlddVfNqhfkz

 

And here is a big Takahe that I could take home with me.

On on way from Te Anau to Oamaru we passed through Dunedin. Dunedin was founded by Scottish settlers and has a university. We saw lots of coeds around town and this is the striking Dunedin train station.

Our next stop was the geologic site to see the Moreaki Boulders. This is one that Janet rolled up the beach. Isn’t she strong!!

Oamaru is known for its Blue Penguin colony. They are the smallest of the penguins and as protection against predators spend most of the day in the sea and only come ashore after dark to their burrows on land. We got to see them come up the beach and scoot across the shore to their homes. They were very cute. Here is Coe and our travel companions celebrating the Blue Penguins.

Tonight we are spending the evening in Kaikoura on the east coast. There are lots of New Zealand Fur Seals up and down the coast. Here is one getting a good stretch before sacking out for the night. And here are a bunch of them on the rocks in Kaikoura. More than we could count.

Kaikoura is in a striking setting with the South Pacific in front of it and tall snow-covered mountains behind it.

And there are some very interesting rock formations on the beach.

Tomorrow we have a shorter drive of about two hours to a town called Blenheim in the Marlborough region of New Zealand. This is one of New Zealand’s famous wine-making regions and so we will do a little wine-tasting before spending the night in Blenheim. The following day we will drive out to our last New Zealand national park, Abel Tasman National Park where we have a couple more hikes planned on one of New Zealand’s Great Walks.

God bless and Kia ora!

Coe & Janet