Timaru, Christchurch

We made our way up the east coast. It has much more settlements then the deserted westcoast and the landscape is dominated by agricultural areas.


But before leaving Dunedin we discovered the Otago Peninsula. It has the only colonie of Royal Albatrosses on Mainland. So we drove up to the end of the peninsula to see them. Unfortunately we had to discover that the colonie nists behind a small hill and that the whole area was closed down. To see these huge birds we would have had to pay a ridiculously high admission-fee. So we went back to our car, where Oli took this picure of a Karoro (black-backed gull), also a big bird which is often mistaken for a albatross by naive tourists (like Oli)...

Next we made stop at Baldwin Street - "the steepest street in the world" according to the Guinness Book of Records.

It was quite exhausting to walk it up.

A little north of Dunedin we visited the Moeraki Boulders. These are big spherical boulders that look as if they were not of this earth.

After having slept in Timaru we headed for Christchurch which is the biggest city on the South Island. It has a very english background. Next to nice churches...

... there are beautiful buildings and a city tram circle.