Amy Visits NZ Part One

Hey everybody 👋

Our friend Rebecca is a very accomplished recipe developer and writer. She and her partner Steve (my former colleague) have been working as nomads since 2020 and we love following their travels and catching up when we can (Michigan in July 🤞).

She maintains 3(!) blogs:

Of Batter and Dough - Reliable recipes for exceptional home baking
A Little and a Lot - Simple, affordable, heart warming, comfort food.
Let's Get Lost - Newsletter about their travels which includes recipes, cooking videos, and so much more.

The most recent Let's Get Lost newsletter includes thoughts about the duality of our times. This really struck a chord with me so I would like to share part of it with you (with her permission).

The gift of caring for others is offered in a thousand different ways, in every location on the globe, imperfect people taking care of imperfect people. We are violent and we are kind. We are terrible and we are wonderful. We harm and we heal. We destroy and we repair.

This is the world, beautiful and terrible. May the side of us that cares overcome the side that destroys.

Powerful words to think about. Thank you Rebecca. 🙏

Back to the travels ... I am long overdue to share our travels with our friend Amy who visited from late Feb to early March. She was a self-professed nature nerd so we planned to share some of the natural highlights with her. This is Part One of those travels when we went south down the lower east coast to the bottom of the South Island. 🚙

We picked Amy up at the Dunedin airport and drove north as fast as we could to get to Ōamaru, home of a large blue penguin colony, a picturesque historic precinct, and a steampunk museum(?). 🚂

I thought this was a funny scene - it seemed like the New Zealand fur seal was practicing before the penguin show which was scheduled after sundown. The seals also hung out in the penguin colony area. 🦭

We went to see the penguins at 8:30pm as they came back after a day of feeding at sea. No cameras were allowed so I pulled this one from the website. Still the cutest animals on earth and we were treated to seeing over 140 penguins return (some waddled right next to us)! 🐧

The next day we visited the mysterious Moeraki Boulders ... some nerdy detail about them. Pure New Zealand said that 'scientists explain the boulders as calcite concretions formed about 65 million years ago.' 🪨

Contemplative Amy. 🧘‍♀️

Steve and Amy found some cool rocks at Katiki Beach North! 🤩

Made some friends outside the Royal Albatross Centre (the world's only mainland Royal colony). 🐏

Amy was truly moved to see the mama and baby birds nesting. 😱

So grateful for her camera and photography skills. 📸

It was so special to see several nests. I took this screenshot from a Department of Conservation (DOC) video of a ranger checking on a bird. Their size was stunning and hard to capture. 🤷‍♀️

Here was another way to compare the size of these birds - what a wingspan (3 m / 9.8 ft). 🪽

We also saw the unusual nests of the cormorants (aka shags). 🪹

We said goodbye to the birds and headed into the Dunedin CBD on a cloudy day. The spectacular train station was the first stop. 🚂

We then went to the Toitu Museum and I was astounded to see that they had an exhibit of a dress collection I read about last year.

Eden Hore collected Kiwi high fashion dresses in the 1970s and 80s while living in the rural community of Central Otago on the South Island. He shared the collection with selected people and then added an animal farm and opened up his home to the public. Wild.

There was a beautiful book published last year which I really enjoyed so it was a great thrill to see some of the collection in person. Not the greatest photos but what a treat. 🤩

We took an early evening stroll along St Clair beach in Dunedin. 🌊

The next day we hiked down to Tunnel Beach. 🥾

The tunnel was carved by one man for his family to access the beach many, many years ago. ⛏️

This small beach was only accessible at low tide so it felt like a special time to be there to enjoy the beauty. 📸

We left Dunedin and headed south to The Catlins. Of course, we saw some sheep along the way. 🐑

Our first stop on this tiki tour (drive with many stops), was the Nugget Point Lighthouse. 🔭

We made a quick stop at nearby Roaring Bay. 👀

Our next stop was the delightful Lumberjack Cafe in Owaka where we celebrated Amy's birthday. Thanks to Louise and Max for another great meal. 🍽️

We got back in the car and headed to the Purakaunui Falls which started with a beautiful bush walk. 🥾

This was another candid shot - the falls put on a spectacular display. 😳

Amy got busy taking gorgeous photos ....

... like this one. 📸

A quick stop at Florence Hill Lookout over Tautuku Bay. Simply stunning. 📸

We arrived at our accommodation and were not disappointed with the view over Waikawa Harbour. ✌️

The neighbors weren't too noisy. 🐑

Amy said this was the first time she flew a kite on her birthday. 🪁

The next morning had a glorious start. 🌅

We drove over to Cathedral Caves which also started with a bush walk. 🥾

The next day we went to Porpoise Bay with hopes of seeing the local Hector's dolphins. 🐬

Sadly, they were too far out to swim together as we had in the past. 😔

But this oyster catcher as MUCH closer. 😮

Steve and Amy visited Slope Point on a very windy and chilly day. 💨

We ran into this show last year when our friend Lori was visiting it worked out again for us. The end of the season hydrangea arrangements at the show entrance were perfect. 👌

Browsing (and buying) art made us hungry so we headed over to a lovely cafe in a former schoolhouse for lunch. The gardens were bursting with blooms. 🌼