march 1

Day 3 began with an amazing sunrise over the ocean. We pulled up camp after a leisurely breakfast and headed back out on our beautiful Coastal Road for a nice morning drive watching the countryside light up.

Our first drive, not too far down the coast was to the Moeraki Boulders. As soon as we got out of the car, Genevieve and I saw a dolphin pop up over the surf. We were laughing at the peculiarity of seeing them! The boulders on the beach here were strange and tortoise life. They were massive round stones all over the sand. We played around them in our bare feet and visited the gift shop.

We boarded the caboose again and made a bit of headway down the West Coast until we saw a sign for the Evansdale Cheese Factory. We caught the owner just before he closed for the day and he stuffed us full of about 4-5 different cheeses. My favorite was a Dutch flavor, Komene Kaas, made with cumin seed. I bought a small wedge. We have quite a large amount of cheese in our vehicle with no chilly bin (the Kiwi lingo for cooler) to put it in.

A traveling goal for the group this day was Dunedin. We rolled down the hills into the heart of the city where we stopped, nibbled on some lunch and then I split from the group. They went on the Speights Brewery Tour while I took a walk to the train station (one of the most well photographed buildings in this part of the world). The architecture was magnificent, and if I remember correctly, this building was completed in 1906. My stroll was brief through the courtyard before my eye caught the Cadbury Factory.

I toured the chocolate factory and received the lovely chocolate samples from Wama, my friendly tour guide. The chocolate at this factory goes to the South Pacific, Canada, the Middle East, Australia (and, Antarctica). They have one whole silo devoted to tourists where they release one ton of liquid chocolate through the silo in front of our eyes! The inside of the silo is covered in chocolate splashes and we were able to walk down the chocolate coated stairs with chocolate coated railings. If nothing else in the tour made a person smiles, all that flowing chocolate certainly would! I exited the factory smelling of cocoa (from Malaysia), whole milk (from Otago area cows in NZ), and sugarcane (from Australia)!

In Dunedin, I also took a picture of what has been named the steepest street in the world; although, I may have looked at the wrong one. I'm also not completely convinced that this claim is true. It seems to me that there is probably some mud and dirt road in Siberia that could legitimately claim the same thing!

I made my way back to the car and we exchanged tour information. I passed out some chocolates (a well-received gesture).

On the road again, we took a peninsular scenic road that cuts off from Dunedin for a 28km trek to see seals, penguins, and albatross. Unfortunately, we didn't see the penguins, but we did get real close to the fur seals and watched a few albatross float above u! It was pretty amazing to see such diverse wildlife in one place!

The scenic drive was a close cut road between many hills and bluffs and the clear shallow bay below. J fantasized our green machine into the drink and offered ways of escaping with our backpacks. Genevieve just hoped to see the yellow-eyed penguin. I just sat back and enjoyed the beautiful ocean, islands, bluffs, grasses, flowers, and trees on Otago peninsula!

After Dunedin, we looked for a place to camp. Our tastes are somewhat particular as a group. Eventually, we decided to find a beach to camp on and so the search commences for an appropriate place to put down our camping gear. On our search, we came across a short trail to the Papakaunui Falls. The hike was only about 10 minutes each way and I ran the trail back ot the car, but, we found later, these falls are what postcards are made of around this area.

Soon after, driving around the town of Papatowai, and even inquiring about a backpackers cottage with no vacancy, we set out to make camp at a pullout on the road. This bluff was on an amazing spot overlooking cattle and sheep fields with the surf and coastline far below. We set up camp in the dark and made our way to bed quite quickly. I still have a cold and want to get optimal sleep.

*favorite photos: the Papakaunui Falls and orange flowers on the southwest New Zealand coast.