Week eleven: Dunedin, Southland and Otago

Last weekend we hired a car and travelled south along the coastal scenic route through the Catlins. It was stunningly beautiful and we were lucky to have glorious weather. We stopped at the Whistling Frog cafe for lunch and again at Curio Bay, famous for it's fossilised forest and yellow-eyed penguins, although they were hiding from us.
We stayed the night in Invercargill which is one of the world's southernmost towns. The couple we stayed with has a classic old Chev so we drove in it down to Oreti Beach which was stunning. The next morning we drove in it again up Bluff hill (I didn't think it was going to make it up the steep road) and saw spectacular views along the coast and across to Stewart Island.
We then drove north to stay in Alexandra which is a small town with a giant clock on the hillside. The drive the following day took us across some amazing Central Otago scenery with dry plains, brown mountains and blue sky, as immortalised in many art works here. We finished the journey with a drive down the coast north of Dunedin to Port Chalmers where the cruise ships dock and along to the end of the Otago Peninsula to see the albatross colony, but unfortunately no birds were flying.
The rest of this week in Dunedin I have visited the museum, art gallery, Botanic Gardens, rugby stadium and Olveston House, which is a fascinating house built in the early 1900s by a wealthy merchant and preserved as it would have been at that time. It is full of amazing art and furniture and has a beautiful garden. Yesterday I caught the us back to the Otago Peninsula for a picnic and walked back in the sunshine. Today is our last day in Dunedin so we hope to return to St Clair beach for dinner tonight, although the weather is quite cloudy.
Tomorrow we fly to Wellington - the final leg of my travels.

Weeks nine and ten: leaving Auckland, arriving in Dunedin

I made the most of my last week in Auckland by visiting the art gallery, Mission Bay and the harbour and Wynyard Quarter. A marquee was put up on the lawn of the Old Government House to host various events. On Saturday morning Cyclone Lusi hit Auckland with wind and heavy rain which meant our flight take-off was a bit bumpy. We overtook the storm so it was quite nice when we landed in Dunedin, but it hit hard on Sunday.
We are living in UniCol, one of the halls of residence with over 500 first year students. It is an interesting experience! They were very noisy on Saturday night and again on Monday which was St Patrick's Day. I have to stop myself from telling them off. The positives are that we are on the 9th floor so have good views of the city and we get three meals a day included.
I have been on a tour around the Dunedin area to see some of the main sights including the Otago Peninsular and the steepest street in the world. The beaches are beautiful and I watched a school triathlon competition at St Clair beach today. I think the teachers were enjoying drinking coffee in the sunshine between cheering on their pupils!

Week eight: Devonport, Pericles, Mamma Mia, Mission Bay and Pasifika

It's March! I can't believe we've now been in Auckland a month. Last Saturday we caught the ferry across to Devonport and clambered over the rocks at the base of North Head around to the beach. It was then a climb up to the top with amazing views across to the CBD. There weird lots of old naval defences and we were surprised that New Zealand ever felt they might be invaded by anyone.
On Sunday I walked to The French Market in Parnell and back through the Domain. The glass houses contain some amazing tropical plants and I particularly enjoyed the fernery.
All week the cast of the Shakespeare play Pericles have been performing on an outdoor stage next to our apartment. They make a lot of noise doing their warm up right outside our window and the live band is quite load too. Who knew that they had the theme from Rocky in Shakespeare's time!
On Monday I joined in an Aqua Zumba class at the gym. I've done aqua aerobics and I've done Zumba, so it was fun to put the two together. On Wednesday I caught the train to Newmarket, a swanky shopping area. It rained so I spent most of the time looking around the shops and trying not to spend too much money.
On Thursday we met up with friends for dinner before going to see Mamma Mia at the Civic Theatre. I was very impressed by the show and the interior of the theatre is amazing.
We cycled to Mission Bay on Friday and ate fish and chips in the sunshine with a beautiful view across to Rangitoto. After a cold spell the weather has improved, but they have gad terrible storms and flooding in the south.
On Saturday we went to the Pasifika festival in Western Springs. Each Pacific island nation has it's own village with stalls and a stage for performances. We sampled food from different islands and especially enjoyed the Hawaiian and Tongoan dancing.
We spent Sunday up in Red Beach with friends who invited us for lunch. It is a beautiful location with views across to Coromandel and the Barrier Islands.
It is now our last week in Auckland. Better make the most of the sunshine before we head to Dunedin!