Dunedin - Lake Tekapo + Photos!

I was dusting the sand off! - Abel Tasman

Rapids on the walk to Lake Marion

Billy in the Cadbury van

Kea

Milford Sound

Abel Tasman

Billy enjoys a Velvet Burger

Lake Gunn

Lake Marion

Billy in his bug hat whilst we were Kiwi Spotting

Us at Franz Josef Glacier

Panning for gold in Ross

One of the blowholes at Pancake Rocks in Punakaiki

Weka (he kept moving!)

Billy hitching a lift with the Kayaks

One of the islands we stopped on whilst Kayaking in Abel Tasman

Hiding Blue Penguin!

Billy getting wet at the Moreaki Boulders (I cant spell!)

One of the views from Billy Brown's

Billy Brown x 2

The Beach near Billy Brown's

Yellow Eyed Penguin

Billy enjoys a crisp breakfast at the car boot sale

Albatross!

Good Evening,

We've had a really nice couple of days staying at Billy Brown's (yes, really!) backpackers just outside of Dunedin and this afternoon we travelled to Lake Tekapo.

We spent Saturday exploring Dunedin. This involved a trip to Cadbury's World which was very exciting, though as it was the weekend the production line was closed which was sad. Billy was a total suck-up to the tour leader throughout, so we ended up with plenty of free samples to take away and left feeling altogether sick. For lunch we went to 'Velvet Burger' in the Octagon after Dad told me he'd had his best ever burger in the Octagon 30 years ago - We're not sure if its the same one but it was tasty anyway! In the afternoon we ventured out along the Otago Peninsula and took an Albatross tour in rather inclement weather - though we saw quite a few which was exciting.

On Sunday we planned to get up at 6.15 to head out to a car boot sale to get rid of our camping gear. However Billy managed to set the alarm badly, meaning we raced out at 6.45 waking most of our hostel in the process (though that was only 4 of them!) and enjoyed a cereal bar and BBQ crisp breakfast on the way. We arrived at the car boot expecting it to be busy but finding we were the only ones there. Thankfully a few others arrived later, but it was hardly the giant car boot we'd expected from at home! We managed to sell most of our gear for the equivalent of 40quid, not as much as we'd hoped but at least its all gone!

In the afternoon we headed to the 'Big Get Together' at Otago Museum for free candyfloss, yummy Mexican food, chemistry displays and some very cute snow dogs. We ended up spending 2 hours working on a mask to enter a competition to win an Xbox. Sadly our masterpiece on the theme of 'We love NZ' complete with the scenery of New Zealand and several pipe cleaner birds was unvictorious, but at least we won't turn into gaming addicts. We went back to the lovely Billy Brown's hostel feeling slightly deflated only to be beaten by two Germans at scrabble - though they were pretty fluent! At the last minute we decided to head down to the beach to try to see yellow eyed penguins in the drizzle. We managed to spot 2 waddling up the beach and Billy also got attacked by a cloud of flies which was equally entertaining.

This morning we said goodbye to Anja, Uta and the other Billy Brown and headed up to the Moreaki Boulders (think that's how its spelt!) which were very cool. We continued to Lake Tekapo where we are now, picking up a nice Dutch hitchhiker on the way who was thankfully very good at directions! Tomorrow is our penultimate day in NZ and we plan to head to Christchurch with a rather full car, as Billy seems to have gained us yet another passenger!

Hope everything is good at home,

Lots of love,

Rosie and Billy

xxx