Moeraki and Curio Bays

Over the last week I took about 200 pictures, most of them of mountains. So, I will attempt to play catch-up with pictures. Now that I'm back in Christchurch, I could spend the subsequent days recollecting some of the highlights of my travels from October 6th on. In a nutshell, in case other stuff happens and I don't know how to itemize it all, I joined the Swedes in their campervan and drove south to Moeraki Bay, through Oamaru and the Otago Peninsula, into the Catlins, across to the Fiordlands, up to Queenstown and back.

Here is a picture of one of Moeraki Bay's famous boulders. They're ancient and really round and people seem to like them.


Before finding the boulders on the beach, Fil did a u-turn on the road, and we ended up stuck in a muddy ditch. Being stuck is fun with a campervan, which is like a bulky man on little legs, bulky chassis on little wheels. Several really friendly guys from China and Vietnam helped us; they jacked up both sides of the van, and we collected stones, which they shoved under the wheels for traction. We tried many times to push the back of the van while the car started. 45 minutes after we had gotten stuck, we succeeded in pushing the van out. On our successful push, the tires and clogged-up muffler sprayed mud and dirt on us as the van charged over the grass. We were covered in dirt and screaming with joy. Those guys who helped us are our heroes. When we asked how we could thank them, one guy, William, said, "Just enjoy the rest of your day."

It was one of those faith-in-humanity moments. Fil, Ola, and I are all relatively positive people, so no one was ever really angry or frustrated throughout that ordeal. We actually considered the getting-the-van-stuck experience to be the highlight of our day. At any rate, that night was Fil's birthday and the three of us got really really drunk, so much so that we spent the whole next day lolling about Dunedin.

A couple short walks, spotted shag sightings, beach hikes, hundreds of sheep, and one yellow-eyed penguin later, we left the Otago Peninsula (on the evening of the 8th) for the Catlins, where we saw waterfalls, Porpoise Bay, and Curio Bay. Curio Bay features a fossilized forest, which dates back to the Jurassic Era and which one can only see at low tide, i.e., too bright and too early in the morning.


It's now past midnight, so I'll wrap it up and post a couple more select pictures tomorrow.