Tuesday 31^st December 2002
Another long drive from Le Bons Bay to All Day Bay, Oamaru. Stop at a cheese factory along the way and get a couple of pieces of cheese, a bottle of wine and some postcards with an aerial view of Banks Peninsula that we had been looking for. Drive on long straight road through flat featureless landscape - very boring, difficulty staying awake in early afternoon. The national speed limit in NZ is only 100kph and on South Island there are no motorways (with one small exception). Stop in Timaru to get supplies for next two days, then again in Oamaru to have a look around. This is the base for penguin watching - both Blue and Yellow-eyed penguins. Very quiet with most shops closed. Had a look around a very small Electrical Museum and wandered through the streets looking at some of the stone buildings. Nothing terribly special to see.

Spend some time driving up and down the coast road between Oamaru and Kakanui looking for the The Hall, Coastal Backpackers hostel only to discover that the map in the BBH guide is completely wrong. After that all is Ok and hostel obvious when we see the NZ and Welsh flags flying outside (Jennie and Ieuan). Small hostel. Owners have converted original dormitory into very nice café/bar but at moment can only open to residents.

We spend the evening with a young English couple. Quite entertaining but at 1145 our hosts invite us up to the bar for a drink on the house to see in the New Year. Some other guests have eaten in the café and say the food was excellent. Get to bed about 1 o'clock.

Wednesday 1^st January 2003
Happy New Year! After breakfast call Dad, Mat, Mitch & Anton - its 9pm New Year's Eve at home. One problem with the hostel - we have to be out between 1030 and 1230 and in our rush we go out without any cameras or Pete's suncream. Pete's not sure he could live in a country where suncream is required everyday.

Don't realise cameras are missing until halfway to Moeraki Boulders but can't face returning so carry on. Arrive at boulders at 1100. Road signs direct you to Boulder Café etc where have to pay $2 each for access to beach and use of toilets. Could have gone directly to beach instead, but $2 not much. The boulders are fascinating and we walk some way along the beach. Tide is coming in and decide that will call here again tomorrow early to take some pictures when tide is out.

According to the Maori folklore, the Kai (food) hinaki (baskets) were washed ashore at Moeraki from the canoe Arai-ti-uru, which was wrecked a few miles along the coast on a voyage south in search of the precious stone of Te Wai Pounamu (Greenstone or Jade). Hence the Maori name Te Kai-hinaki. The huge boulders represent the baskets, the more globular boulders are the callabashes which held the supply of water for those in the canoe, and the strangely shaped irregular rocks further along the shore are the Kumaras (Sweet Potatoes).

More scientifically, the Moeraki Boulders which are spherical concretions, consist mainly of carbonate of lime, silica, alumina and peroxide of iron. Formed around a central core of lime crystals which appear to have the power of attracting and consolidating the above ingredients from the adjacent soil. The shape of the boulders is not due to the action of the sea. They were once plentiful but have now been "souvenired" - the few that remain were too heavy to take away. In fact new boulders are coming out of the rock behind the beach in a continuous process.

From the boulders we drive on to Moeraki and visit two Kaik's (Maori settlements). See no sign of Maori's but walk on the beach and find shells and get close to fur seals. Then on to Moeraki lighthouse, where we walk down to a hide where Yellow-eyed Penguins (megadyptes antipodes) can be watched coming ashore in the evening. We sit and watch the fur seals for a while, using our binoculars and those supplied at the hide, when suddenly Pete is startled to see a large penguin come ashore. Watch for about half an hour as it slowly makes its way from beach to top of cliff - stopping regularly to preen, dry, and cool off. A very nice experience.

From there we walk out onto the headland which is low, grassy and mostly deserted. Very restful. Good views. More seals. We decide to return to the hostel, have an early dinner and get out again to see the penguin colonies at Oamaru.

The yellow-eyed penguins come ashore about two hours before dusk, the blue penguins much later. Jim Caldwell(?) runs tours for close-up encounters with the penguins and we manage to get on the 7pm trip. Ticket allocation is a bit random and you only get on the tour by accosting Jim and asking for one (which Glyn has no problem doing!). While we wait we watch from the hide and see several penguins come ashore but they are much further away than at Moeraki. Jim is a bit of an Attenborough character and leads us along a narrow track to a penguin nest where the male parent is looking after a 90 day old chick. It's a "bad day for penguin because it is hot. He is not standing posing for photographs but holding up his flippers to cool off". The penguins are very used to these visits and don't mind 12 people sitting right by the nest for the best part of an hour. We all take loads of pictures. The parent calls to other penguins on the beach. Parent and child preen - all very cute. The chick's flippers grow much faster than the rest of him and he looks like he's wearing an oversize overcoat. Parent's take it in turns to stay with chick while the other feeds and brings back food to regurgitate for chick. Land based penguin fasts for the day.

After the wonderful time with the yellow-eyed we opt to miss the blue penguins. Viewing the blues is much more commercialised with people sitting in grandstand, but there are lots of penguins coming ashore.

Back at the hostel we get large portions of Apple Pie and Ice Cream for $4.50. The Hall is very clean and comfortable - a good stay!

Thursday 2^nd January 2003
Heading south again set off towards Catlins. Get going in time for Moeraki at low tide - this time with camera. More boulders visible than before. Next stop Dunedin to have a look round, visit supermarket and get more cash. Dunedin is a nice University town, named after Edinburgh but everywhere is closed until the 5th. How very Scottish!.

Then push on, reckoning to stop at any "must see" sites on the way. Elect to head out to Nugget Point which features in many photographs of area. 8 km of gravel road, and a bit difficult finding a parking space when arrive. Crowded on viewing platform but eases up. Very high above sea so although lots of seals and birds is difficult to see anything clearly. Wonder whether are looking at Fur Seals or NZ Sea Lions - which we understand can be seen here as well as Elephant Seals. Also, someone says they saw Hector's dolphins. Melanie (English) and Robyn (US) - two girls that we met at The Hall at New Year - arrive. We will be together again on Saturday at our next hostel. Decide to continue our Sea Lion hunt at Surat Bay.

Lots more gravel road, unfortunately (typical of Catlins - also petrol stations are few and far between and no cellphone coverage). End up going to Cannibal Bay which is across a headland (False Island) from Surat Bay and walk along beach. Rough Guide warns us not to approach too close to Sea Lions e.g. 5m or 20m for males in breeding season - apparently a male sea lion can weigh 400kg and is surprisingly fast over 25m. So are a bit stymied when crossing the neck of the peninsula are confronted with two seals/sea lions lying across the sand track in the dunes that we are following. Not sure what to do, but chat to them for a while and they seem very reasonable so we scuttle past - they don't seem bothered. Later decide, with expert advice, that these are female sea lions. They move far up into dunes - particularly with young. On the beach at Surat Bay are no sea lions and we are sceptical about Rough Guide, but Melanie & Robyn say they visited later and saw several including large aggressive male. In fact we should have driven past road to Cannibal Bay as there is a direct road to Surat Bay further up the road.

Back on the gravel road making for Papatowai and Hilltop Backpackers. Eventually get back on to sealed road and try to follow Rough Guide directions to hostel (not BBH). Mat had already told us it was difficult to find and we probably made same mistake he did. Guide is very ambiguous. So for the record: travelling south, cross two river bridges before Papatowai and turn right onto a gravel road. Hostel is on left less than 1km. There is a sign on the main road and another off the gravel road. The hostel is actually visible from the main road.

Hostel is beautiful. Rated by UK Observer (?) paper as one of top three places to stay in NZ (any type of accommodation)! We are in main house which has 4 double rooms and two bathrooms (one with bath). Kitchen is as new, complete with dishwasher - which we used. Very comfortable bed. $50 per night per room. House actually ex-schoolmaster's house transported from Te Anau (long way) on back of lorry. Rodney Macdonald spent lot of time doing up and equipping the house and creating a garden. Sounds like in the past he was more involved with guests but we were left to our own devices. He was busy with the farm, but he also has another house (also transported from away) just down the hill for backpackers and another hostel up the road. A backpacker empire builder! Fellow guests include Martin & Antonia (Swiss) and an Israeli couple whose names we never did know.

Friday 3^rd January 2003

Cathedral Caves must be visited at low tide - 0944 - and we are late so rush along gravel road (aagh!), down footpath through bush and across the beach, arriving just in time. Two very tall narrow sea caves joined at the back. Apparently are more smaller caves just around the headland but tide wasn't low enough to walk round.

Back to the hostel for lunch. Melanie & Robyn arrive. We decide to nip out to the Purakaunui Falls - another site which features in all the literature. Not a lot of water - but that is about to all change. The falls are not far from the hostel and it is only a short walk from the car park. Another walk that apparently is well worth doing is the Old Coach Track from the bridge near the hostel.

Return to the hostel again - can't stay away - but the weather deteriorates. It then rains continuously through the evening and night. We play Jenga and send Melanie to the other house in search of Trivial Pursuit but to no avail. Enjoy some good crack swapping "Travellers' Tales" .