Tuesday, May 22

May 22, 2007

We left the Fortrose Retreat at 10:30 and went back to the “homestead” to return the keys to Jeanette. We paid the bill and then Jeanette asked Josh about what type of research he conducts. He answered her briefly but she asked for more details and then Josh let loose with a bunch of big terms like “curve referenced” or something or other and I think both Jeanette’s eyes and mine were crossed and our brains were fried after that!

I told Josh about how he’d waxed eloquent once we got back in the car but he said he doesn’t get to “talk shop” a lot and she had asked about what he did, so, he told her in detail.

The drive in the Catlins is partially a coastal drive so that was spectacular on such a sunny day. We stopped at an overlook and then, further down the road, we pulled off and walked out to the beach. There was a sign saying that the daily limit of paua shells that can be collected are 10 shells per person. Since it was low tide, I thought that we might be able to find some, but we didn’t have any luck.

Further down the road, we pulled off to view a waterfall. It was 4 kms down a gravel road, however, it was only a 10 minute walk to reach the falls so that wasn’t so bad. There were signs posted, however, that they had laid out poison to kill pests like possums so we were a bit nervous about that. The waterfall was nice, not as big as McLean Falls, but still nice because we had the area all to ourselves.

Onward to Dunedin, we detoured off the Southern Scenic Route to visit Nugget Point where a lot of seals and sometimes dolphins can be seen. We were able to see seals (grown ups and babies) at the water’s edge at the bottom of the cliff as we walked out to a historic lighthouse. Awesome.

Nugget Point got its name because people thought the rocks sticking out of the water looked like nuggets of gold. I thought they looked more like sharks teeth sticking out of the ocean.

Balclutha the town that Josh doesn’t like because he was honked at while we were sitting at a stop sign and then, a few minutes later, he had to move the car to a different pump at the gas station because of the all the people there. I made us ham and cheese sandwiches to eat in the car and then we continued our drive to Dunedin.

When we drove into Dunedin, the sign for the city was posted about 30 minutes out of where the actual physical city started. We thought that was weird. We drove into the city while it was foggy and rainy. We missed our turn for the city center but got to see a bit of the city like the Warehouse, KFC, and McDonalds. Once we figured out the right road, we made it to the Octagon (which is like Palmerston North’s Square only busier) and from there it was no problem finding our hotel which was just off the Octagon on George Street.

Josh and I noticed that George Street had a lot of places to eat at so it looked like we were in a good location. When we spotted the sign for the Alexis Motor Lodge, we drove up the steep driveway and parked the car before going into reception. The lady at the desk was nice and gave us trim milk for our tea and coffee. She also gave us a map of town and explained where the major sites were. Then, Josh and I were off to our room.

We were staying at this hotel for three nights and I paid more money for an upstairs room which just happened to come with a single person Jacuzzi tub. The kitchen was really a kitchette and the décor left something to be desired especially having just come from the Fortrose Retreat. I think I was a bit bummed (but not too much) because this place only cost $25 less per night and wasn’t nearly as awesome as the cottage in Fortrose.

Josh and I got settled in and brought our luggage up to the room (not noticing that there was a closer staircase to where we had parked). We ended up carting our suitcases further than necessary but I didn’t notice that till the last day after we carted all our luggage back down the long way too!

We stayed in the room for the evening and Josh made us grilled cheese sandwiches and soup for dinner. We still had some food left over from the groceries we’d purchased in Invercargill so we had better eat what we bought. I spent time updating the travel journal while Josh found some movies to watch on tv (of course)!