Helen: Well, we've been a fair old way since I last wrote – we all bundled into Ming, our trusty Mitsubishi estate (it's a good thing Panks are small and travel light is all I can say) and then we headed off for Dunedin. The guide book promised 'the Edinburgh of the South'...but it wasn't a patch on the real thing. We visited Princes St and George St and saw a few old stone buildings, but the real attraction was that we saw penguins! They come ashore when it gets dark, so we waited for them on the beach and saw a handful of them waddle ashore with white tummies and big yellow eyebrows and their ankles effectively tied together. You have to stay a long way away from them otherwise you frighten them so they won't return to their nests to feed their babies. Was a magical night – no one else but us and the penguins.
Then it was on to Curio Bay – beautiful beach (L, B and W appreciated it more than us – you can tell they haven't been sailing round the world recently as they were excited by the dolphins too), and then a 3 day tramp. It rained pretty much the whole time (typical West Coast weather – much like the West Coast of Scotland) and we didn't get any views at the top, but the huts were very luxurious – you could even buy wine and beer! Now enjoying a well earned rest before kayaking in Milford Sound tomorrow and wine tasting in Otago after that...
Hxx
PS had a hilarious game of 'international' boggle while on our tramp – we met a lovely Dutch couple and an Israeli girl who all spoke pretty good English so they joined in with our game (Bob's a star and carried travel Boggle all the way up the hill). In the spirit of international relations we decided we ought to play a round in Dutch and a round in Hebrew too. Was interesting how many Dutch words the non-Dutch contingent came up with (they only counted if you could also come up with a reasonable definition and the word actually existed in Dutch) – we didn't do so well in Hebrew though!
PPS had an awful 'oh-bollocks-I've-lost-6-hours-work-on-the-computer' moment last night (believe it or not I'm applying for my old job in Edinburgh again). Annoyingly, I'm now too old to blame the computer (well, I would, but C just looks at me reproachfully when I do.
PPPS read a brilliant bit in the guidebook yesterday – apparently the Maori believe the Fiords were created by a god with an axe and they were so beautiful that the Goddess of Death had to unleash sandflies on the area so that people wouldn't want to stay here forever! It worked!
Final PS – It's Jan 29th today. One year since Matt died. God I wish he was still here. Hannah, we're thinking about you and Nooka and all the good times we had together.
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