Not So Summer in the South Island

Monday January 11, 2010

Well, we are experiencing the worst weather of the entire 3 month journey. It has been really frickin cold for summer. The highs have been hovering around 14C and the lows have been dropping to 4C at night. We would be able to cope with it better if it wasn’t also continuously raining. I know that we should just suck it up, but we were searching for shade only a week ago!! I have been told that it is good acclimation to the horrible temperatures back at home. We are still making the most of the beautiful South Island.

We left Dunedin this morning after a few little adventures. Here we went to a real castle, Larnach castle. It hadn’t really changed at all in the last 10 years, except maybe the cost. The kids were given a little scavenger to follow as we went into each room. It made the visit much more bearable for them. Bridget’s keen sense never ceases to amaze us, as she was the first to find the answers to the clues. From the castle we went out to the Penguin Place. Here we visited some Yellow-Eyed Penguins in their natural habitat. We travelled through trenches so we wouldn’t disturb them. We were able to see 3 chicks with all their fluffy fur very up close and we also saw some coming out of the sea and walking along the beach. Nature has not been kind to the yellow-eyed penguins. There were a lot less penguins around than 10 years ago with Aunt Sharon. Out of 26 penguins born there last year, not one of them survived the winter at sea. I think in total we saw 9 beauties. We all really enjoyed watching the penguins walk. It is really cool to see these little guys move. Amelia and Bridget both noticed the yellow eyed penguins were much bigger than the little White Flippered ones they were up close and personal with at Akaroa.

Earlier in the day we drove up the steepest street in the world, Baldwin Street. There was a sign saying not to drive up, but since it was raining we were not interested in making the 25minute climb up. Driving up was freaking me out. I am not a rollercoaster fan and this was just like that first climb up one. I was truly freaked out at the top and was not looking forward to the drive back down. Let’s just say I rode the brake all the way down. I did take my foot off once and we just took off. We obviously made it down safely and had a great time doing it.

We are now in Queenstown. And guess what …it is still rainy! We are hoping that the weather fines up for our Jet Boating tomorrow. We hope that it will be just as fun as it was in Taupo. I probably won’t be blogging much more, as there are only 10 days left and most of it will be in the car. Well, maybe after we go to the glacier!

Cheers,
Carolyn

PS We hope that Hannah and Nicholas had fun on their 3rd Birthdays!