Hello hello! I left Queenstown a disheveled mess and headed for Dunedin for some rest and relaxation. This part of the tour is not as popular but severely underrated! After spending a night in Dunedin we headed down to the town that Mick Jagger once referred to as the "asshole of the world." It's called Invercargill and it's the southernmost town on the south island of New Zealand. I have to say that even though it was the late 60's when Mick made that comment, he was not far off!! There were some good photo ops along the way though.
We stopped off in the Caitlins to check out some sea lions on one of the coastal beaches, this is a pretty big deal as there are only around 100 of these particular variety that still exist. These things are HUGE! They're almost like cows and can actually move pretty quickly when they have to!
After that, two friends and I decided to really get out there so we chartered a plane to take us to Stewart Island. (This is probably as far south as I will ever go in my life.) The whole island is really exotic as it is home to some extremely rare wildlife like yellow eyed penguins, sea lions and a special species of dolphin. This doesn't include the literally hundreds of birds that also inhabit the island and the surrounding area. Stewart Island apparently has more millionaires than any other place in New Zealand but I can't imagine why! The place is REALLY remote with one grocery store and one bar, creatively named "BAR." The first day we got there we rented bikes and biked out to the lighthouse.
The next day I did a guided kayak tour around the island and then took off for half a day with a friend. This is where the magic happened! As I was paddling around by myself I noticed movement in the water a little ways off. I paddled over and low and behold there were about 15 wild dolphins just jumping and playing around! I raced them for a couple of hundred meters as they jumped right out of the water within inches of me! The guide told me that was the second time in 25 years that she has ever even seen dolphins so close to a kayaker!!! Sweet!
