Well, after one more night in Queenstown, I drove to Invercargill and Bluff, which is almost as far south as you can go in the South Island. There really wasn't a lot going on in Invercargill, although I think I had just missed out on their country music festival! Bummer! There also wasn't much going on in Bluff either, to be honest, although I did learn that I was exactly 15,008 kilometers from New York, but only just over 4,000 kilometers from the South Pole.

The major highlight of my trip down there was the fact that the station my car radio is stuck on actually came in. It was the first time I was able to listen to music on my trip, which was great, as before, I had just been listening to the sounds of the car and imagining all sorts of things that could be wrong with what I was hearing.

So, with no real reason to hang out on the bottum of the south island, I started driving back north through the Catlins area. I would definitely recomend visiting the Catlins to anyone who has the time. It was a very beautiful, if very, very windy area. I really enjoyed taking my time driving through that area and visiting the scenic sights, waterfalls, etc. I was also very proud of the performance of my car over so many unsealed roads. She has been running very well so far, although tomorow I'm taking her for a free inspection with midas to see if she needs any TLC.

I have started staying in hostels again, as the weather has taken a colder turn for the worse lately. The other night in the Catlins I stayed at a great hostel, and watched Ireland win in a tight game over Argentina in the rugby world cup. Unfortunately, the United States has yet to win a game. The All Blacks are still undefeated, although there is still almost a month left of this tournament!

I am now in Dunedin, and am not exactly sure of my plans for the next week. I have signed up to volunteer at the Southern Traverse Adventure Race here in Dunedin on November 7th, which I'm really excited about. But until then, who knows? I am super excited about taking the Cadbury Chocolate tour here, and I promise to give a full report! Until then...