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The bus arrived late, having us panicking a little and being a bit annoyed as it had to pick us up at a different location so we were sitting outside. Although it was beside a street called Boydtown, I always love significant street names. We met Don the driver, picked up the others who included Laura and Nick and also Stu and Debbie, who we had met on the first bus in the South Island. Our first stop was the Clyde power station/dam. Then stopped in little town for lunch. Then onto Dunedin. Unfortunately we didn't make it in time to visit the cadburys chocolate factory. Instead we were taken to the worlds steepest street; Baldwin street, for a wee dander up it. (Puff, breathe, puff) apparently they roll Jaffas down it once year in a race. Afterwards we had a wee bus tour of Dunedin, it didn't have too much of interest to be honest. Then onto hostel called Hogwartz. We stayed here because we thought it was Harry potter theme; it really wasn't, with just a few basic decoration attempts. Don't get me wrong, it was a beautiful old house but that's about it. I did find it a bit strange that the bedroom doors didn't have locks or kets, but they must be a very trusting people. We headed into town, the octagon was the main centre, and they had a bike festival and lots of graduations going on. We were recommended a Japanese cafe where we got the best chicken katsu curry!! And was cheap too. Then headed to the supermarket for a box of wine, then back to Laura and Nicks hostel, Chalet backpackers, with a nice wee garden and good big living room. I had been trying to get in contact with McKnight, but couldn't get wifi, so used Nicks and he came to their hostel. Great to see him after a few years. It was a fluke that he was here on same day. We met his lovely girlfriend Sara and talked all things seals.
We were picked up at 8am the next morning, then went on for a fully packed day of travelling via the Caitlin's to Invercargill. Our first stop; a wee beachside cafe for a toasty but far too cold to go anywhere near the beach at that point. Then we headed to Nugget Point and the lighthouse where we saw fur seals. The next stop; Cannibal bay- a beach covered in dead seal, dead cow, and seagull carcasses, very strange. From here we hiked through some sand dunes to find huge seals on the beach. They put on a little show dancing and running around, giving poor Debbie on the sanddunes quite a fright. Next onto Florence point beach, with a beautiful peninsula. Then Lake Wilkie Walk where Kenny showed off his climbing tree skills. Next stop; McClean Falls Track. Next stop; Curio bay walkway and porpoise bay where there was a petrified forest and we were able to spot the rarest penguin in the world, soo cute. It was a long day but a good one. Stayed in Invercargill at Southern Comfort backpackers but it wasn't great. We had to pay for linen and hadn't been told that on the phone!
But at least the beds really comfy.
Had a really early start but ended up with extra time before the next activity so Don took us to Lake Moturau, very pretty. Then onto Te Anau (which had the best pies in all of NZ, in my opinion,) where we met the Kiwi Bus; Milford explorer. This took us to Milford sound; is actually a fiord not a sound and known to the Kiwi's as the 7th wonder of the world. On the journey there, we took some nice pictures, saw a strange bird, saw a beautiful mirror lake and then went on the Pride of Milford catamaran. It had been raining and apparently this meant it would be more beautiful. It did mean it had more waterfalls but it was a pretty misty day so we couldn't see a lot. We saw some cute seals and got some nice photos, but the boat was too rocky for some people. We made our way back to Queenstown admiring the Remarkables mountain range and Lake Wakatopu along the way.
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