Too Much to Remember (NZ Part 6)

Make sure you read the previous blog - it's much more interesting than this next one. Mostly, I'm just trying to keep up with all the traveling I'm doing lately. There is so much information about what I've seen, I will never remember everything. Something about history and reasons and government... It may come back to me. Anyway, mostly it's been driving from place to place. Yesterday I was in Dunedin, which was actually quite a big city. Well, "big." I bought a book by a New Zealand author, Diane Brown, called Here Comes Another Vital Moment. It's nonfiction, about things she noticed, basically, as she travelled. It's quite good. I like it. Anyway, I was kind of hoping that I might run into her while I was in Dunedin, as she lives there, but alas, it's much too big. And very hilly. It's home to the world's steepest street, as well as the 3rd and 4th steepest streets in the world. The 2nd steepest street in the world is in San Francisco. Why we have streets that bloody steep, I don't know. Anyhow. I'm in Lake Takepo right now, which thankfully is a very small town. I spent the afternoon walking along the lake shore, enjoying the lovely weather and the heavenly view of the Southern Alps, as they call them.


This is Baldwin Street - the world's steepest street. Magic Bus riders enjoyed a nice stroll up to the top. It really is quite steep. The bus wouldn't have made it.


These are some really round boulders on the beach. I don't actually know why they are significant, something to do with the Maori. I didn't read the thing. They look cool though, eh? This is one of our stops along the way.

While in Dunedin, I did do one pretty cool thing, and that was go on the Elm Wildlife tour. I meant to do the kayaking, as well. But that would have required staying an extra night, and I just don't have time to do that. I'm quite bummed - I just can't get to a kayak on this trip. Every attempt has fallen through... Anyway, it was really fascinating anyway, and my childhood love for animals resurfaced.

First we went to see if we could see some Royal Albatross. It isn't quite the season for them to be around, however, so we had no luck. Albatross are huge birds, and Royals can have a wingspan of about 3 meters, which is over 10 feet. Crazy! They basically glide over the ocean, filling themselves up with (dead) fish until mating season (they mate for life) and breeding season. Female Albatross spend most of their time feeding their little ones, of course, and it can take quite a toll on their bodies. They have only one baby, and they can only do it every 2 years. Fortunately, the average life span of this bird is about 40 years, and the longest known Albatross in this area lived to at least 62. Unreal! We did see some smaller Albatross, but they were so far away I couldn't get a picture of them.

Our next stop was the Sealions, to which we were very close, walking right near them as they slept, although they were aware of us. They aren't afraid of people, which is good, but can also be dangerous. If this video loads, you can see some of the males in their little social group, two of them fighting (play and practice), and in the middle is the biggest one, guarding his little guy (female substitute). We didn't see any females. They get sick of the boys pretty quick. Even the boys get sick of the boys.


No video, unfortunately, but we were quite close to them, as you can see! Very cool, very huge animals. They can get up to 300 or 400 kgs, which is about 800-900 pounds!

We also got to see yellow eyed penguins, which are pretty rare, but have a safe haven at this private beach saved for the conservatory. They are afraid of humans, but since there is a group there every day and goes to the places and acts the same, they are used to people, and tolerate us. We did get really close to one. They are very small and very cute. No wonder Amanda loves these little guys!



Lastly we went to a fur seal colony. Unfortunately, although they are nocturnal animals, they weren't very active. There were some pups there, and these are mostly females, but they were too comfortable on the rocks to move yet. That's alright. They are allowed to be comfortable. :) Our guide was very nice and seemed to take an interest in my interest, which was cool. She asked me lots of questions, though, about sea mammals in Alaska. Unfortunately, I don't know a whole lot. I only know that seals have fur that's spotted because we wear them and eat them. She seemed a bit concerned that natives are still allowed to hunt sea mammals (Maori are no longer allowed to in NZ), but I assured her that it is still quite traditional in that the whole of the animal is used in most cases. Anyway, I guess I need to brush up on my Alaskan sea mammal knowledge.



I'm running out of time online, so I'm going to wrap up. Yesterday and today I have been spending more time with one lady who has been on the bus with me for a few days. I've been in my own world, as she has been, so we've been reluctant to become more friendly. She's very nice, from Finland, and is actually looking to move to Australia, but is holidaying in NZ. It's been cool chatting with her. She speaks broken English, but works with computer programming and statistics, which is all in English, so that is how she learned. She said she can do alright with that part of the language, but she has a hard time with everyday words. So she can talk about politics, but she can't bake bread. I thought that was funny. :) Anyway, I have one more minute. I hope all is well with you all. Take care.