Thursday 22nd July - Invercargill - Dundedin (250Ks)
Another day of driving in the rain - best place to be when it's like that . We drove the 'scenic coastal route' through rolling hills of farmland and unsealed gravel-strewn mountainous road. It seems we can finally listen to radio all the time now though unfortunately for us, it's still mostly talk radio - Christian radio seems especially popular. Made it to Dunedin mid-afternoon. Dunedin is supposedly the 5th largest city in area in the world - rather than see if it was true we settled for visiting the steepest street in the world - Baldwin Street - which certainly was 'an experience' as we drove up it - we feared tipping backwards at one stage. Had cosy night in with 2 good films on TV - 'Road to Perdittion' and 'Behind Enemy Lines'

Friday 23rd July - Dunedin
A day of nature for us. We headed to the Royal Albatross Colony on Otago Peninsula - the only such example in the world. We climbed a hill to the observatory close to where they nest. The albatross behave in a similar way to humans when it comes to relationships, i.e. they stick together (generally but not always) . They also glide incredible distances accross oceans but always come back to their 'home'. We headed onto the 'Yellow Eyed Penguin conservation reserve in time for lunch but they didn't open till mid-afternoon. So we headed to a place called 'Natural Wonders' which brought us on a rollercoaster-cum-moon buggy ride around the local beaches. We did get to see some NZ fur seals but as is usual for us, the main event (the yellow eyed penguins) did not happen. We did have to admire our guide who was wearing a t-shirt whilst we had 4 layers, woolly hats and gloves on! Oh well, we did get to see some small 'blue penguins' whilst the yellow -eyeds are as rare as the Bald Eagle and the Giant Panda!

Saturday 24th July - Dunedin
This morning we visited the local Larnach Castle which will most likely be the only time we visit a castle on our trip. The castle is privately owned and has been restored since 1967 and we like the fact that we had to ring the bell to get in the front door! Interesting displays included something called a 'moustache cup' which as the name indicates has a strip accross the top to ensure mustachioed men didn't wet their bristles!The views from the castle top back accross Otago Bay were brilliant. On our post-lunch city walkabout we decided to visit Cadbury World. Ignoring all Willy Wonka thoughts we proceeded on our guided way with plenty of chocolate handouts along the way. We discovered that there are many more chocolate bars produced this side of the equator compared to at home, e.g. here 'Moro' is Cadbury's version of a Mars Bar...
We watched the 1st Lord of the Rings film on TV for evening entertainment but only managed about 45 minutes of it before falling asleep.