The boulders
Peter was heading now to Christchurch for his flight back home the next day so after a farewell he went his way and I headed off in the direction of Mount Cook for a spot of walking. It was good fun though to spend the couple of days we had travelling around together and checking out the NZ wildlife.
Katiki Point
After leaving Peter I headed back into the village of Moeraki and took the Lighthouse Road up to the lighthouse (!) on a recommendation of a little old man we had met earlier in the morning and was I glad I did. The area was called Katiki Point and it was absolutely stunning. There was a sign post directing you to a penguin viewing point and although it was a lovely beach there weren’t any penguins about so I walked off down towards the peninsula and right before me about 5 feet away was an extremely cute and cuddly (although I didn’t attempt it) and very rare Yellow Eyed penguin. Then there was another and another and another. In the end I saw more penguins here than I saw on the penguin tour at Otago. In addition there were loads of seals and sea lions and more stunning scenery, added to which I was the only one there, just perfect!
The Yellow Eyed Penguin
At the end of the peninsula the land gave way to some rocky outcrops which then joined on to another small piece of land, it looked like you could cross it and I did half think and actually attempt it the only problem being the abundance of wildlife that was in the way! Having almost got in the way of a sea lion in the Galapagos Islands I knew what they could be like so was extremely careful not to get too close and disturb them, the thing is they don’t really move too much, unless disturbed, and then they’re the same colour as the rocks so you really have to keep your eyes and ears open. I thought I was doing pretty well until I heard a loud snort off to the side and before I could get a chance to see where it was coming from I had turned on my heel and was making a hasty retreat, so it seemed was also the sea lion, I’m not sure who was more disturbed by the experience.
It was a beautiful location with so much wildlife around and I had the whole place to myself, what could be better huh?
I finally dragged myself away though knowing I had a long drive ahead and headed off in the direction of Mt Cook. Before I did though I popped into Oamaru, which is supposed to be the penguin capital of NZ but after driving around it a couple of times I really wasn’t seeing too much evidence of it so decided to head out.
The drive to Mt Cook was a long one but a pretty easy one, the roads were quite fast (at least with me driving them) and there wasn’t too much traffic on the roads (at least not after I had overtaken them all!). I ended up staying at a place called Twizel around 50 km from Mt Cook, I stopped there mainly for the name if I’m honest, it just sounded like a great place.
Just before Twizel I stopped off at the clay cliffs. It sounded like an interesting place in the Lonely Planet so I thought I’d give it a visit. It’s on private ground and it’s not one of the most popular locations I’ve visited while in NZ, in fact I was the only one there! You turn off of the main road and travel for around 10 km before then turning off again and heading for another 4 km on unmade roads, there is then an honesty box where you pay 5 dollars before heading on for another couple of km on private farm land in-between cows and sheep, having got this far I really hoped it was worth it. When I finally did reach the cliffs it really was worth it, they were amazing and huge, all formed through two million years of erosion by wind and rain. It was getting pretty late by now so after taking a whole host of photos I headed onto Twizel.
The clay cliffs
The backpackers I had chosen was on a farm and the other guests were super friendly and we all sat up until the early hours having a drink or two and chatting, perhaps not the best idea when you’re planning lots of walking in the morning but it’s a holiday as well right?
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