Before leaving town for Curio Bay, we decided to check out an “est,” (bigg-est, tall-est, deep-est, etc.)  In a suburb of Dunedin is the Guinness record holder for world’s steepest street, Baldwin Street. We left the van at the bottom and walked up. It was a good workout and challenging coming back down as well.

The weather deteriorated as we head further south, but it hadn’t started raining when we stopped at Nugget Point.  There was a nice walk out to the lighthouse and we saw seals far below playing in the pools and resting on the rocks.  There was one that we’re pretty sure was an elephant seal. This is one of the few special places where these two as well as the fur seal can be found together.  The views were spectacular, and we had an impromptu lunch overlooking the sea.

Nugget Point

Further southwest was another walk…this time in the rain, to Jack’s Blowhole–200 meters from the ocean and on a hill.  We thought it looked more like a sea cave, but it must “blow” sometimes.  The rest of the drive along the Southern Scenic Route was rainy and misty, but this made for some enchanting views.

Curio Bay

Arriving at Curio Bay, the campground’s lone building was abandoned, and we couldn’t figure out what to do to register or reserve a spot, so we just parked. The weather had been deteriorating all day, and we vowed to try and pay before we left in the morning. The only being around was a loud-mouth seal, who watched us curiously as we sat in the van trying to spot Hector’s dolphins on Porpoise Bay.  Late in the afternoon, we took turns shivering above in the tall grasses, trying to spot the shy, Yellow-eyed Penguin.  An hour or so into the search, there they were, surfing in on the waves through the sleet and flurries: two Yellow-eyed penguins landed in the shallows and waddled up into the brush right at the shoreline. It was a truly amazing experience.

We planned to try and get a better view of the Petrified Forest below during the next morning’s low tide.

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