Allen's Beach

Allens Beach

(we surf near that awesome natural rock spine)

Yellow-eyed Penguin

"dute da doo"

The big sea lion is hidden mid-left on the beach

"Made in the Shade"

Natlalie and I went to Allens beach this last weekend. I have been surfing there several times with Glen and couldn't wait to take Natalie there and check out the scenery.....and watch me surf! While surfing I saw this huge black thing swiming around me and thought.....SHARK!!!! But soon I realized that it was a huge sea lion. So later Natalie and I went on a hike around the beach and saw several Sea Lions chillin on the rocks. As we were walking we stumbled upon a few Yellow-eyed penguins, which was a complete bonus because they normally don't come out until dark. Here are some cool videos of the wild life around us. The sea lion was just getting up to move into a more comfortable position. The other video is so awesome and is pretty rare from what I understand. The penguin is leaving its nest to go get some food, watch her jump from rock to rock....so cool. The penguin makes its way to the water and takes one last look around to make sure that the coast is clear before she takes the plunge...awesome!

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Fishing for Blue Cod

Glen with a nice beauty

I had the opportunity to go fishing for Blue Cod with my mate Glen. He owns a 10ft long rubber raft with a 30hrs pwr motor on back. Glen backed the raft up to the beach and we dragged it to the edge of the surf. We had to time it just right to we wouldn't get crushed by the waves. After an intense first 5 min we were past the surf break and out in the open sea. We got to this island within 10 min and started fishing. It was similar to deep sea fishing for red snapper, except we were catching fish instantly. We caught 25 blue cod within 1 hr. We had to go in early because the weather got "hairy." This was definitely one of my favorite days in NZ.

15 Blue Cod

White Island

Some "not to shabby" scenery behind us

I kept telling Glen that everyone back home wouldn't believe how quickly we were catching fish, and he said "Well I'll take if video of ya mate" and so this is it. I like this video because you get to really see how quick the fish would strike and because you get to hear Glen comment on the action.

Boulder Beach and the Yellow Eyed Penguins

A few weeks ago we drove up the peninsula a little ways (about 15 minutes or so) to this beach called Boulder beach. We heard that if you get there right around dusk you can see yellow eyed penguins come in from fishing for the day...they make their nests right off the beach. So we decided to go for it and see if we could find them. It was a bit of a hike from where the car park was but we ended up finding what seemed like a good spot to watch. We were told there may be quite a few sea lions too in the area so to be careful. Sure enough there were two sea lions on the beach, one was snow white and the other was grey. We all hunkered down in some brush off the beach and just waited with our cameras ready. Sure enough right around dusk we saw this little black head pop up out of the surf, he would duck down and surf the waves in. It took him about 10 minutes to fully come out of the water. And when he did, he popped his head up and wiggled up on his feet and gave himself a big shake. Then he hobbled up towards his nest by the rocks. It was the most amazing thing to watch. I still cant believe we were able to be so close to a yellow eyed penguin and sea lions in nature like that. No one else was around either. We felt like real explorers. It was great!

We had to hunker down in the brush, so that the penguins couldn't see us!

A yellow-eyed penguin making his way up to his nest, after a long day of fishing. He was about 2 feet tall, and full of spunk.....kind of like Natalie.

"Seabert the Greatest Seal of All"

Dunedin

Sunset over St. Clair Beach

Well we arrived in Dunedin about a month ago. We have all found some great part time work, and a house to rent. We are getting into the swing of things, and really beginning to feel like we live in New Zealand. Our house is great and has beautiful views of the Pacific and the city. We are a hop, skip, and a jump away from our jobs- and just a short drive to beautiful beaches, and amazing hikes. We are all doing really well and are happy to be settled for awhile. Below are some photos we have taken from the various places we like to go around Dunedin.

Natalie jumping from a sand dune on St. Kilda Beach

Johnny doing the same jump. Bobby did it too, but Natalie was too slow taking the picture.

These are some sweet trees all over the place on the drive up the Otago Peninsula.

Migrating South

Johnny and Meagan next to one of Wellington's monuments

Natalie and I at another monument
An another ...
Johnny and I walkin the Plank (In the summer kids use this as a divingboard)

As winter came to a close and spring arrived. The four of us decided it was time to begin our migration south for summer. After Napier we made our way to Wellington which is the capital of New Zealand. Wellington was sweet it reminded us of San Francisco. There were lots of historical landmarks and cool monuments. We decided to check out this huge Museum that tells a lot about New Zealand’s heritage and had sweet displays of the native animals and of the Maori people. After that we needed to give our brains a rest so we went to see a movie, which was our first in a couple of months. It was great. We then drove Jordan (our car) onto the Ferry which Meagan had informed us would take 30 minutes to get to the South Island. 4 ½ hrs later we arrived on the South Island. We decided to push through and try and make it to our destination which was Kikoura. While driving through the sudden storm we swerved to miss ….a Seal!!! Yes, sitting in the middle of the road was a huge Seal. We all couldn’t believe it. We finally made it to our destination safely and met a really cool Irish couple at our hostel. The next morning we headed to Christchurch and spent the night there. We thought we might plant ourselves there, but Christchurch did not meet our expectations. So we headed for Dunedin which is further south and on the east coast. I’ll write more about Dunedin and our Job situation on our next blog.

Just like the Seal we saw in the middle of the road

Tour de Napier

Definition of Style

Not as easy as it looks :)
Brookfields Vineyard (Our Favorite)
Vines at Mission Vineyard

After Rotorua we went to Napier (Hawks Bay region) which is known for its wine vineyards. Napier was also very beautiful. We wanted to get jobs at some local vineyards, but the timing was not quite ripe…I mean right;) We decided to go on a wine tour instead. Of course we wanted to go in style, so we chose to rent tandem bikes and wear classy helmets while we went from vineyard to vineyard learning about the wine making process. We had so much fun. We went to four different vineyards: Brookfields, Church Hill, Mission, and the fourth one I don't remember(not because of the wine, because of my bad memory:). All in all we rode 20 miles by the end of the day.

Zorbing in Rotorua

Before the Madness

After the Madness

When we arrived in Rotorua we were taken back by the horrible stench of sulphur in the air. Actually, I think Natalie kind of liked it, strange. Rotorua is a very thermal city, full of hot springs, volcanoes, and zorbing! Zorbing is a hilarious extreme activity native to New Zealand and we all have been looking forward to trying it since we arrived. The best way to picture it is to imagine a giant inflatable hamster ball with a second smaller ball inside- or just check out the pictures. We arrived in Rotoroa with Zorbing in mind. We made our way to the Zorbing hill and changed into our swimsuits and shorts. Natalie and I decided to Zorb together. We were driven up the hill, we hopped inside the tiny little opening in the side of the Zorb ball, they shot a few inches of water in it with us (warm water since we weren't from Australia or Auckland)..and we were off!....tumbling and laughing our faces off! WE WERE LAUGHING SO HARD! The whole process was quite amusing and a complete blast. The video doesn’t make it look that exciting, but on the inside we were spinning around, rolling on each other and crashing into the rubbery walls of the Zorb. It was like a crazy water ride. Watch Natalie trip right when we get out of the Zorb, she was pretty dizzy. It was funny. (video's below)