Wham, Bam, Alacazam

Yeah that's right you are listening to the sounds - the super sounds of the sixties. Yeah that's right that's all I heard for a nearly 4 hour drive to Dunedin in our little grey Ford station wagon. Oh yeah thanks America for making gas so cheap. They pay $1.34 a liter here and there are 4 liters to a gallon - give or take - so that's like $5.36 or something a gallon and even after the conversion advantage we have it's like $4.50. Anyway we had to fill this gas guzzler up a few times on the 600k round trip and it was pricey. Or spendy as some say.

Well this little speed demon took the corners of the curvy mountain road like a true champ and at times I really felt like a rally car driver. They drive Subarus and stuff so I figure when in Rome. I always misuse that. Ahh hell. So we spent a couple of nights in Dunedin and saw about 5 movies while there including but not limited to: What's Eating Gilbert Grape, Independence Day, American Wedding, Ali G's Innit, and Glory. Good sheet.

The point of the journey was to see penguins though. The Otago Peninsula is just out of town (which was crazy because the Lions (English and Irish national rugby team on tour)) and this would be our only hope. They have blue and yellow eyed penguins and both are able to be seen at dusk after a long day of hunting at sea. After hiking through a cow field and having some scary ass bulls stare us down we made it to the beach. There was supposed to be a blind there so you don't scare the little guys but it couldn't be found so we hid behind some dunes. For an hour and a half. No sign of any penguins but there was a stiff breeze and freezing temperatures that were found. A curious sea lion came up and walked around for awhile and there was a grotesquely fat one that looked like a log that had been beached but no penguins. Ahh well.

We did however see Royal Albatrosses and those guys are huge. Up to a 4 meter wingspan they can have (thanks Yoda). Yeah so we saw one of those cruising around right after going to the car to make a pbj. Rushed out and since there was no wind at this point he was cruising real low. Coolest wildlife encounter thus far in NZ. There are no native animals here if you didn't know. Except a couple birds like the kiwi and a lizard. Well for the ride back we bought a tape adapter so we could listen to ipod or cd. Mucho better and had a huge ice cream cone in some town and it was only $1!!!