More fun on the South Isle!

Once again it's time for......drum roll please....
Kara and Rachel's South Island Journey: Part 4!

After frolicking in Queenstown and Wanaka we made our way down to the very south of the south. We figured since we went to the most northern point of the north island (see post #6 "It's Reinga Time") we should probably see the most southern point of the south island, just to be fair, and to say that we have been there. So we took a day trip down to Invacargil and Bluff to see the southern tip. (warning: lots of pictures!)

We were really REALLY disappointed that this sign did not have an arrow
pointing to Washington or Montana. The nerve.

This picture requires reader participation! Please select the answer
that would best describe what we are doing in this photo:

A. Corinna and I practicing our disco moves as Kara, the maestro directs us.
B. Corinna, Kara and I trying to make a clever picture and point in
some random direction to mimic the arrows.
C. All the above
D. None of the above
E. Other:___________________________

Another view from the southern point.
If you look hard enough, you just might see Antarctica.

After spending a couple of hours in Bluff and Invacargil, we started making our way up the east coast of the south island. Our first stop was in Dunedin. Dunedin was founded by Scottish settlers. It has many Scottish-influenced cathedrals and Victorian architectural buildings. The city is also know for having many steep hills, which is great if you are driving around in a stick shift and happen to get stopped at the top of each hill. Dunedin was a neat city, but 2 days there was plenty for us!

One of the old cathedrals.

The Cadbury Chocolate Factory resides in Dunedin. Yum!

Kara in front of the old and famous Railway Station.

We saw these three cute little Maori skater boys in front of us and

were highly entertained by their interactions and skateboarding techniques.

Kara's artistic photography of a street in Dunedin and
me carrying groceries.

We stayed at a hostel in Dunedin called Hogwartz! For those of you
who are Harry Potter fans, you know that Hogwarts is the name of the
school of witchcraft and wizardry that Harry and his friends attend (duh).
Kara, who is probably the biggest Harry Potter fan I know,was thrilled to stay there,
even though they had to spell Hogwarts ending with a 'z' instead of an 's' because
of copyright laws. We did not study witchcraft or wizardry, nor did we see Harry,
Ron or Hermione, but we did marvel at the nice living space we were fortunate to stay in.

The Otago Peninsula just outside of Dunedin.

At the Peninsula we saw a few albatross flying around the banks. The albatross is the largest of the seabird species and has a wingspan of 3.5 meters! That's about 11.5 feet, making one whopper of a bird that I would not like to be attacked by, ever. The is the best shot I could get of the bird because it moved really fast. Please see photo below for a more visual comparison of the albatross to other birds.

The albatross is in red. Like I said, it's a mammoth...with wings.

Dunedin is also the home of Baldwin Street, The Steepest Street in the World.
Many people are attracted to this famous street,and drive their cars up and
down the street for amusement. Our car is old and would probably
not make it to the top if we tried.

So we walked up instead.

....and crawled. It was quite the workout!

A side view of the street going up. Do you feel the steepness?

We made it successfully (and out of breath). Here we are with our
friends Corinna and Daniel.

Just another view from the top looking down.

Some more fun facts about the Steepest Street in the World
that I was too lazy to type out.
*Click on photo to zoom in*

The street is also handy for creating optical illusions and modeling poses.
Lookin' good Kara!

After Dunedin, Kara and I continued up the east coast on our own
and stopped at Boulder Beach to view the large sphere-shaped boulders
created by years of erosion by waves. We had fun with the boulders.

Yes we pushed them together. We are THAT strong.

Just some more of us being silly with the boulders.

On our way up the east coast we stayed in Oamaru for a couple of days.
Oamaru is an old town famous for the arts and has New Zealand's
best-preserved collection of limestone commercial buildings. It also has access to
colonies of blue penguins and the rare yellow-eyed penguins.

Main street in Oamaru.

I liked this red bridge in the botanic gardens.

One evening in Oamaru, we set out to find some penguins!
We first ventured to find the yellow-eyed penguins.

Some senic views on our way to see the penguins.

Wool-dn't you like to know? We bah, I mean saw, many sheep.

We walked for about a half hour to find only one yellow-eyed penguin.
It was worth it because they hide in the bushes and are hard to spot.

More beautiful scenery in New Zealand.

The blue penguins come out in the evening and people are
cautioned to watch the roads carefully and to check under parked
cars for any penguins that waddle into town.

So instead of going to an expensive night tour of the blue penguins, we decided
to try to and find some on our own and behold, we came across this cute
little guy just outside of the penguin tours.

He was so adorable and not even bothered by our presence.

We were lucky to get some snap shots because pictures are not
allowed on the guided tours.

Here is Kara with our little penguin. If only we could take it home with us!

Oamaru at twilight.

Well that concludes the traveling portion of Kara and Rachel's South Island Journey. We've seen some remarkable places! We traveled for about a month and are now settled in Christchurch for the remainder of our working holiday. We will be sure to post about our exciting time in Christchurch and the surrounding areas soon. We miss our family and friends greatly and we look forward to being reunited in about 2 months! Thanks for reading and cheers to you all!