Dunedin: The cats getting done and the weather being weird

On the 31st January our kitties were taken to the vets again to be neutered and spayed. They were not allowed to eat a meal the night before, however they were able to be taken home the same day. After that they acted normal. Hermione had a lump on her belly as a reaction to the stitches, but its become flat again since then. Both never sulked and are just the same as they always were.

The 31st just so happened to be the hottest day of the year. It reached 31ºC today at work.

We have been buying decent ice cream tubs recently. Passionfruit and mango is one of them, chocolate orange with chocolate chips is another, and finally we have had Goodie Gum Drops, which is a turquoise bubblegum tasting ice cream with real soft gummy sweets in it. That and the Boysenberry flavour make for really interesting choices to buy.

1st Feb, Thursday-
Even though it was the hottest day yesterday, today it rained like crazy, all day. Relentless sheet rain. It even started getting into the house from a screw the connects the chimney pipe to the ceiling. I used a bucket to collect the water before leaving for work. luckily the bucket didn't collect too much! Also, it dropped 10 degrees. The contrast made it seem really cold!
I text the landlady about the water getting in, and on the 8th Both her and her husband came along to fix the sealant on the chimney. That was a dry day again so the new stuff could dry properly. Hopefully the rain doesn't get through now!

Dunedin: the last week or so, including a short break to Te Anau

Its been really hot these past few weeks. The hottest day so far was the 16th Jan with temperatures reaching 30ºC. They gave out ice lollies at work that day which was nice.

Weet-Bix is really yummy. Sabine bought me a box of them and I LOVE them!

20 Sat-
Sabine and I went to this funny seminar thing at an academic aquarium in Portobello, located at the peninsular. I think It used to be a public aquarium, but now its only used for Marine Biologists. Anyway, due to her work, she somehow knew about this photographic session today, and booked for the both of us. The room was packed with about 30 keen photographers, who wanted to learn how to take photos of marine life. We focused on the shoreline and what surprises you can see by turning over a few rocks. Actually it was pretty interesting, and we did manage to see quite a few interesting creatures under the rocks. But that were pretty small. Sabine doesn't have a macro lens so she struggled taking photos of these things. I was the only one there with a phone camera but apparently that's considered a good thing in this field due to maneuverability. Some of my shots came out okay. The place had a few tanks with some interesting small creatures and shells. The main tank at reception had interesting fish and cray fish.
Out on the shore we found this weird looking creature that was guarding(?) its eggs.
Sabine came away a little bit disappointed because she wanted to learn about the cameras people have and how to do interesting shots with settings and lens types etc. and they should have done something like this, but somehow failed to do so. Never mind. It still was a nice thing to have done today.

The aquarium

all these photos (above) are from the indoor tank

these next 3 photos were in the tubs

Next we visited the shoreline outside

21 Sun-
We went to the Ecosanctuary for the afternoon and spotted a South Island Robin. Quite a big bird for what you expect.

This fella didnt care how close I got to him!

Thanks Google Photos for the gif!

22 Mon
Our EOI application got through to the next stage on Monday 22nd, meaning we now have 4 months to collate our paperwork and hand it in. Its nearly the same sorta things that was needed for our Visas.

23 Tues-
We drove to a Justice of Peace (notary in this country) after work. It was a old couples house in Maori Hill. A nice older lady stamped a lot of the copies of our documents, having first seen the originals.

26 Fri-
Sabine had to drop off our cats at the vets because at their previous check up, Hermione had a cold, and they refused to let them stay in a normal cat hotel, instead offering their services instead. Fair enough, its all the same prices anyway.

new and old cat toy mouse. Its their favourite!

After work, Sabine picked me up and we drove to Te Anau. We drove south and along inland on a nice road I don't think I've ever been on before. We have a nice AirBnB to stay at. Its small but its a new build and has everything we could ask for, for the weekend. The drive was only 4 hours.
We met the woman who owns this place. she lives on a farm 3km away. she came and talked us through the house.
Its very hot!

on the journey to Te Anau

Home from home? Mum and Dad have this book!

27 Sat-
Sabine wanted to leave very early. and i was very groggy. However we drove north to a walking track called Routeburn Track which then leads to Key Summit lookout trail. this was a nice walk and it was early so the morning sun wasn't so strong. It had a nice lookout of Lake Marian at the top.
Next we actually walked up to Lake Marian by driving to its car park and walking up over a swing bridge at first. Then the terrain got mad and very hard going. It was suppose to be a 3 hour walk return. But its so hard going it was more like 3 hours one way. We finally reached the top and spent about half an hour there, leaving at 2.30pm. It was very sunny. All the tourists were in their twenties and thirties. its not a walk for those ill prepared. luckily we had JUST about enough water with us to make the walk viable.
I was a bit tempted to go in the lake for a swim. But i didn't.
Just after we left we noticed a whole bunch of Tom Tits that wanted to come down for a drink in a puddle. Sabine took a few great photos of them, even though it was difficult.
we came back and had a shower and a drink and then went to to Chinese restaurant in town.

On route to Routeburn Track

Routeburn Track

Routeburn Track near the turning that starts ascending to Key Summit

Key Summit

Key Summit

a beautiful place

A view to Lake Marian. Thats what we walked next directly after this mountain climb. It made this walk feel like the warm up...

YEAH RIGHT! More like 3 hours one way!!

it started out beautiful but became like a jungle.

at least the trees were happy.

3 hours later! We made it!!

Lake Marian

View point from the road of our climb to Lake Marian (located out of shot but above all those trees in the middle)

28 Sun-
We packed and headed to Te Anau lake front and enjoyed the views. We then walked to the aviary where there was a really big Takahe enclosure as well as Kaka and parakeets. After a short while, the aviary ranger gathered people around her to join her for the takahe feeding session. We were all allowed to go inside and see the bird first hand as it was being fed. They actually have two pens each with a pair with chicks, so they are doing really well here. We also saw the More Pork and parakeets being fed. I wasn't interested so much in the Weka enclosure though.
After that we drove back to the town and had a white hot chocolate, sharing a 'big breakfast' which was actually small.
After that we drove home. Sabine drove the first leg, I drove the remainder. Only took us about 3 hours. Te Anau is actually really close by when you think about it.
When we got home we only had a short while to pick up the cats before they would have had to stay overnight for one more night at the vets, even though it was arranged to have them stay until Monday anyway, but it saved us $28 regardless.
On a last note, today marks the day we have been in New Zealand for exactly 6 months!

At the Te Anau visitor center

Te Anau lakeside

Morepork at the aviary

Dunedin: 14th January 2018

The weather was better than yesterday so we went to the Eco-sanctuary. Sabine has finally given up with her old camera and as of today is officially using her new one which she's had now for way over a year, maybe a year and a half already.
Her old camera is kinda busted. It wont work on one lens and the LED screen isn't working very well at all.

The weather was nice in Dunedin but there was a lingering fast moving cloud in the mountain where the Eco-sanctuary is. It was actually quite cool to look at.

The birds were all amazing today. We decided to get yearly passes meaning we can now visit whenever we feel like it. The Tui's, Bellbird's and especially the Kaka's were at the bird feeders, and none seemed to mind humans much at all. Sabine stood on a rock near one feeder and one cheeky Kaka landed on her shoulder and stayed there for ages! It kept rubbing its head on her shoulder and then preening. It was such a cutie! Later I also saw a Red Poll and even saw a Rosella out the corner of my eye as it flew off.

After walking around we had a hot chocky at the cafe and I finally ate what they call a lolly cake. I've been eyeing these thingies up for a while now. It was okay I guess. Its a cake with hard marshmallows in it with a coconut topping. Sabines cake was a winner though. A carrot, beetroot and elderflower cake. Much better than mine. We heard some people talk about how they saw kingfishers at Allans Beach, so we inquired and headed there.

The GPS took us to the peninsular and up to this beach via gravel roads. It was an interesting ride but probably bad for the car. The beach itself was vast and quite a few tourists were parked there.

The wind was picking up the sandy beach too much. There were three sea lions but no kingfishers. Its been windy all day so I guess that couldn't be helped.

On the way back we decided to drive a different route via Portabello, and sure enough on that stretch of road we saw kingfishers on the telegraph wires. At least 2 of them. Didn't get a chance to photograph them though.