We made breakfast at our cottage, packed up and were off at 8:25 AM. We’re crossing from the west coast to the east by driving along the southern coast of the South Island, We dropped due south from Te Anau and drove through beautiful valleys surround by snow-capped mountains until we reached the coast of the Great Southern Ocean. There we pulled off at an overlook and watched miles of waves crashing in from cold Antarctica.
Under rapidly thickening clouds we drove east to Invercargill and by-passed the town of Bluff where the ferry to Stewart Island takes off, and where we would be going had we planned the trip differently as there are a lot of birds we need there!
We drove through farmland more like the areas of the North Island we had previously explored: rolling Marin-like green hills and pastures. We were looking for gas for the car but the occasional gas pump in the first two small villages we saw were empty. Fortunately on our third try, after lunch, we found a station that still had some gas for us.
We drove along a river lined with tiny picturesque buildings that are white bait shacks - sort of like ice fishing shacks - for the tasty treat that one sees on menus all over New Zealand. On Lonely Planet’s recommendation we turned off at Niagara Falls, so named by a surveyor with a sense of humor, as the falls hardly measure up! LP starred the Niagara Fall Café, a hippie restaurant with a very cheerful waitress. Bob had a lamb burger and Hil ordered a chicken/bacon salad, and I, priding myself on being an adventurous eater, ordered a Whitebait Fritter. (We have seen Whitebait fritters appear on menus all over the South Island so it seems to be a local special favorite - not that we had seen anyone eating them….) As a child, my father would occasionally net up tiny minnows, we called white bait, which he would fry up and serve as a salty snack, so I was expecting something similar. I received a large patty which, when I opened it up with my fork, turned out to be a mass of tiny, white baby eels held together with an egg batter! Adventurous as I am, I was revolted!! I managed to eat most of it, however, as I didn’t want to insult the national treat of NZ, but really!!
**OK, Goggle says NZ Whitebait is the fry of galaxiids fish - they just look just like eels!
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| Niagara Falls Cafe |
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| Whitebait! |
We continued east and turned off on the road to Nugget Point and, as it was three o’clock, we walked down the steep path to a hide from where we hoped to see the Yellow-eyed Penguins returning to their nests from feeding in the ocean which they do, according to the sign, from 3-5 PM. And there was one cute penguin waddling up to the rocks and hopping up onto the grass. Several more followed and we got great views of the spiffy penguin with bright pink feet!
It was getting late so we drove straight to Dunedin, turning off to the Otego Peninsula where we have a reservation at the Portobello Motel. We drove along the northern edge of the peninsula, right along the coast. We had been told that there was no grocery store or restaurant open on Monday night and we would have to bring our own food. The problem was that the coastal route doesn‘t connect with any towns that have grocery stores, so we cut up to the high road that runs along the spine of the land, up 1000’, and returned to the base of the peninsula and found a mega grocery store where we stocked up with supplies for two dinners and two breakfasts. Then we set off again on the coastal route, finally arriving in Portobello at seven…..to find out that there IS an open restaurant right across from our unit…the owners forgot to update the information they recently sent us to “summer” information. A little irritating to say the least, but we moved into our two-bedroom unit and I cooked dinner. Tomorrow it is supposed to rain, so we’ll see how successful we are in seeing the several birds we want.
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| Yellow-eyed Penguin |
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