Halfway... down South!!!

I forgot to mention in my last post on Friday, that on that day, I'd hit the exact halfway mark of my trip! Six months gone, only six more to go, which means it's all downhill from here! Well, maybe not, but it still feels like I was at Manchester airport yesterday! I'm also the furthest south I've ever been in my life, and the furthest I will ever go... until Antarctica that is! OK, I'll probably not fit that in on this trip, but never say never! It will be the only continent I haven't been to once I return home! That'll be quite a bit of saving as it's supposed to be RIDICULOUSLY expensive to get there, but it will be good practise for when I have to start saving for a flight with Virgin Galactic. You think I'm joking, right? Not a sausage... if I can get into space before I die, I will. Dead serious. Just remember, when I do it, you read it here first!

One last sunset in Queenstown

Anyway, what have I been up to over the weekend? Not a lot really, the laid back pace of NZ continues. I leisurely strolled back to my hostel on Friday evening, by Lake Wakatipu, for one last time. Queenstown is actually really beautiful, especially at the turn of the seasons, and well worth a visit, even if you're not an adrenaline junkie. On Saturday, I went to Dunedin, and by the time I arrived most of the day had gone, so I did my... LAUNDRY! Just before we all got off the Magic Bus, the driver asked if it was anyone's birthday. No-one replied. He seemed disappointed, so I piped up "Well, it's my Auntie's birthday today!" "Really? What's her name?" "Eileen." "Well everyone, let's all whistle Happy Birthday to Auntie Eileen!" I was in stitches! Admittedly, only I joined in (it was a right miserable crew on Saturday, let me tell you).

Yesterday, it was very fitting that, being in the "Edinburgh of the South", the weather was appropriately Scottish too! By that, I mean cold, grey and drizzling! However, off I went at half past nine in the morning on a self-guided city walk, swathed in scarf, woolly hat and gloves. I'll be honest and say that there's not much that interesting to see in Dunedin, the rumours were true, but the Botanical Gardens were well worth a visit. I spent quite a bit of time there, feeding the ducks and looking at all the birds in the aviary. Two even whistled "Singing in the Rain" at me! I also found some conkers... conkers in March!!! How odd.

After heading back to the hostel in the early afternoon, I went online and activated my travel bug for Geocaching. I placed it in a cache in a park in Dunedin, and its mission is to get all the way back to Warrington, via as many countries as possible! I hope it makes it, especially as I got muggled in the process. Let me set the scene: I'm scrabbling around in the undergrowth with a large box. Two women also appear in the bushes, scrabbling around. So, surely we are all equally weird. I let them carry on with it, for all I knew, the could have been fellow cachers! Then one appears just a few metres away, staring at me like I'm a nutter. So, I bit the bullet and said "Hello! What are you looking for?"

"Mushrooms."

Well, that may be slightly more plausible than my response of "Oh, well I'm doing a treasure hunt with GPS!" I hope my explanation satisfied her, as my travel bug isn't likely to make it home if she's reported me to the local bomb squad! Anyway, after all that fresh air, I snuggled up in some blankets in front of the telly all afternoon. I watched The Departed and Walk The Line, the former being an Oscar winner that didn't make me lose the will to live, at last!!! So that was about it for Dunedin. Oh yep, this morning, the Magic Bus stopped at Baldwin Street, the "World's Steepest Street." Indeed it was. I walked all the way up to the top and then back down, and I was extremely grateful that some bright spark has installed a bench and a water fountain at the summit!!

So steep, my camera fell over!

After visiting the Moeraki boulders this morning, I arrived in Oamaru, and I've had another lazy day strolling around looking for geocaches. I found two out of six, which isn't particularly good going, but at least I'm still on target for one in every NZ town I stay in! The weather is glorious again, if a teeny bit nippy, so I'm heading out again now to improve my tally. Then, I'm off to Lake Tekapo tomorrow, the forecast looks good so far, so fingers crossed, it stays sunny, at least until I've taken my photos!!!