Subject: December 22: A day of bird fun, and getting close to the South Pole
Date Sent: Tue, December 29, 2009 7:26:17 PM
Kia Ora,
Today was a "driving day" -- mostly. The plan was to go down to the town Invercargill following the Southeast coast.
Driving south from TImaru, the first real stop was the Blue Penguin Colony at Oamaru. When we went inside we were told that we can go see the penguins in their natural habitat. Some of them had given birth recently and the chicks were also viewable. That was the good news. The bad news was that since they were not to be disturbed, we were not allowed to take any photographs. We were also there at the wrong time of the day. Every evening all the penguins come in from the sea and walk to their homes -- each one knowing exactly which hole in the ground goes to their house! Priya wanted to stay there the rest of the day to see this, but unfortunately that was not possible...
We went into a wooden building and looked through some holes to see the penguins nesting in their homes underground. A few chicks were up too. There were some eggs but I couldn't make out any -- probably too small. We weren't there too long though... after coming out we decided to follow a trail to a seal colony. This turned out to be a lesson in "animals will do what they want, not what you want them to do". We walked down the trail looking for the seal colony but never found it! It was supposed to be "15 minutes" away on the trail, but we must have gone a good 30-40 minutes before deciding to turn around and come back. Apparently all the seals were out in the ocean... So overall this was a little disappointing, but at least Priya got to climb her 1 "mountain" on this trip :) (I didn't)
Next stop was lunch in the town of Dunedin. When you see the pictures from today (10 minutes after you read this email), see #23-25 from my camera and #91-96 from Priya's camera. We were eating lunch on the sidewalk of an outdoor cafeteria. The group of people next to us got up after their meal and WITHIN SECONDS, several birds swooped down seemingly out of nowhere and started to grab anything and everything still left on their plates! It was hilarious to watch, because it was obvious the birds were keeping a close eye and just waiting for their opportunity to grab some free food for themselves! Well, soon after that we noticed a few birds hovering around waiting for US to finish... we decided to take some pictures of this, and sure enough, about 5 seconds after we got up from our table there were several birds grabbing whatever they could, even fighting amongst themselves! One of them was really selfish -- driving others away! :) Anyway -- all those photographs are available for your viewing pleasure!
Next stop was Invercargill to check into the motel -- and then a drive down south to the town of Bluff, which is the southernmost city in South Island. There is a touristy sign here which gives distances to different places on the globe, especially "South Pole" and "Equator" among others... we took a few more pictures there and then drove up a hill for more wonderful views of the surrounding area. It was windy but beautiful :)
Finally, back to the hotel and saw the movie "A Perfect World" -- free DVD rental from the front desk. It's about a time machine.
E noho ra,
-me.
From Ishaan's camera:
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From Priya's camera:
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| Dec 21 | Contents | Dec 23 |