7th August - Nelson Day 2 The centre of NZ and off to Kaikoura.

 Today we leave Nelson behind. Of all the places we have visited it is one of our favourites and we are sad to be leaving so soon. Before we leave we climb the ridiculously steep Botanical Hill - 

 

a horrible climb up winding paths in the Botanic Gardens. The path starts at the location of  the first documented rugby game took place in NZ and leads to the geographical centre of NZ. 

  

The scenery changes again as we travel through Blenheim and down through Marlborough "wine country"  and then hit the easterly coast and the crashing turquoise ocean - leaving the Tasman Sea behind us.

Several fellow travellers advised us never to pay to see penguins, sealions or seals in NZ as we could easily see them for free. We are heading for Kaikoura - a town rich in marine life where we hope to have another wildlife encounter - but cant quite believe  the roadside views of the plentiful groups of seals laying on the stony beaches and grassy banks all along the road into Kaikoura. 

 

 

We stop several times and venture unimaginably close. Another remarkable afternoon. 

Saturday 30 July - Dunedin and Sealions!

  

Another night in Oamaru- Hurray! Today we visit Dunedin going first to  Baldwin Street – the steepest street in the world. Nelly copes well with the climb up to the top which is 1 in 2 on some sections! David is not so confident about the brakes as we head back down though!

    

In town we take a mini tour of Cadbury World, (no photos allowed inside the factory) and the girls enjoy lots of freebie chocolates YUM! 

    

  

We learn about the process of making chocolate from the cocoa beans and get a chance to see inside the factory including climbing up inside the huge purple "crumb" silo - once used for storage and now just part of the tour. Crumb is the dried base mixture made from mik, sugar and cocoa solids which can be stored for long periods.

We also spend time in the visitor centre exploring some of the history of chocolate and of Cadburys both in England and NZ. There are interactive displays and a delicious smell permeates every room.

We also go to the pretty and well photographed Victorian Railway Station before our now familiar "picnic in the car" for lunch. We have a wander around the town but the weather is a bit dreary and there is not an awful lot to see, apart from the cathedral and a very large statue of Robbie Burns. We are all feeling slightly jaded and the regular, long car journeys are taking their toll.   

We drive across the bay onto the Otago Peninsular and to Sandfly Bay

the Lonely Planet guide book mentions it as a potential place to wildlife spot at dusk so we head off down the track and onto the breathtaking but steep sand dunes. We are immediately rewarded with a group of sealions far below us on the beach and as we carry on our tramp down the sandy slope we can see more lolloping out of the sea ready to find a safe spot to sleep and recover after a day at sea.  

  

 

Not sure how close we should go, we gradually  descend to within 50ft climbing and circling dunes. David and Tiegan venture up a dune and to our amazement nearly step on a sealion, already holed up in a grassy patch. We get within 6ft and just watch. We feel truly lucky! What an amazing trip "on the off chance" of seeing something we were able to get within touching distance of these amazing creatures. This is what this trip is about!