Creature Comforts
Like an escaped prisoner, I skip across green hills and beaches, chocolate smudges on my lips, daring to bare my shoulders and shins. ; ) Truly a dramatic, welcome change from my month of grueling “self-improvement,” being back in New Zealand is a nice pocket of gifted time before I feel obliged to turn bootcamp lessons into goals. (I wouldn’t want to steal the effect of New Year’s Resolutions by starting them too early!) SO, now’s the time to sleep in late even when I’ve had enough rest, to eat food just because it takes good, to let my body slump into backrests, to read a novel that doesn’t contain a trace of Sanskrit.
I’m also loving the change from being mostly alone in a crowd of a couple hundred people to having the company of a best friend in a crowd of…well, a couple thousand sheep. Kristin was indeed waiting for me in Auckland. After shifting things into storage, out of storage (the common theme of the past year), we headed immediately to the South Island, specifically the area around Dunedin. Our first rainy day here we took a wildlife bus tour that fulfilled its sales pitch: we really DID see Royal Albatross (giant seabirds) soaring up cliff faces, a pack of fur seals and pups, sea lions loafing on a beach, and (the real treat), penguins walking in from the ocean after a day of fishing. [Kristin took some great pictures that I’ll upload soon.] No, these aren’t the giant Emperor penguins of Antarctica, but these smaller “yellow-eyed” penguins are still incredibly comical and cute as they shoot in from the waves like submarines and then hop and waddle their way up rocks and sand to their homes in the grass.
The next day we rented a car to drive to the Catlins. Although this somehow sounds like a snobby adventure (like going to the “Hamptons”) it really just means hitting the coastline south of Dunedin with all its picturesque lookout points, bays, and beaches. Although the waves weren’t agreeable to give Kristin her birthday surf, they did bring in playful creatures to watch. We watched a sea lion chase a group of swimmers onto the beach, dolphins swim circles around swimmers and surfers, and a sea lion ride a wave into the beach. While checking out the “Petrified Forest” another penguin also shot out of the water and casually waddled his way past us.
Today, although a much wetter version of the Catlins that sunburned us yesterday, was a peaceful day to drive back to Dunedin, with leisurely sidetrips for a big breakfast in a little town, a manual- and left-side driving experience for Kristin, and the discovery of a hidden beach perfect for warming ourselves with pumpkin soup on a campstove. Although I’m sure there could be and have been more exciting ways for Kristin to spend her birthday, there is still joy in small discoveries and no one is better equipped to appreciate them than her. : ) “Sweet As,” Kristin, you’re “good as gold” (to borrow Kiwi-speak).
Tags: Dunedin, New Zealand, The Catlins
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