NZ Day 3: Ever Notice that Nearly Every Brochure Says, "Open Every Day Except Christmas"?

Christmas morning we awoke to exchange gifts while staying at the Hulmes Court B&B in Dunedin, New Zealand... a very unique Christmas morning! Luckily I loved everything Dana got me and (I think) Dana loved what I got her. We popped over to the common room for breakfast, and, not surprisingly, we were one of only a few couples staying. Hulmes Court is a larger B&B, with a number of rooms across two houses. The B&B-man, Norman, chatted with us as we ate until his kitty started peeing into a potted tree. When Norman picked him up, the kitten shared its pee with some more of the floor. Good laughs. And a very good place to stay in Dunedin, just outside the city (walking distance) but a cozy place to stay. And the cats are cute... apparently mandatory for B&B status.

The next time you pick up a brochure, take a look at the hours of operations. It doesn't matter if it's a house of wax or a historic mansion, it will say, "Open every day except Christmas Day." So Dana and I did a lot of driving and walking Christmas Day. We took the scenic drive from Dunedin to Invercargill, and Dana picked out every obscure scenic drive road sign along the way. It was amazing. The first one came up after a quick left: Dana says, "There, 'coastal scenic route' quick, turn right." I made the turn but thought it had to be wrong. That sign was impossible to see, and to be the first sign on the entire route... but, it was right! As navigator, Dana is like blind man who kicks ass at tennis. At home, she's the least observant person I know, but on the road, driving at 110 km/hour, she's on fire! We didn't make one wrong turn the entire trip.

After finding a servo (gas station) serving sandwiches, we drove to Nugget Point (Tokata) and had a wee tramp, as the kiwis would say... that means a bushwalk or a hike. There were seals playing down at the bottom of the cliffs and low clouds caressing the mountains. We tramped out to the lighthouse for a better view of the nuggets. The drops on both sides were extreme, but we could still watch young seals at play on the rocks. It was a solid hike, rewarded with those sandwiches from the servo. On our way out we say another walk to see the rare yellow-eyed penguin. Since you rarely see a penguin during the day we almost didn't go... but when we did we spied a large yellow-eyed hobbling up the beach! We hurried to the viewing shelter... by now the penguin was hopping up into the dunes, presumably to a nest.


With the rest of the day we drove towards Invercargill through the Catlins, checking out the beaches full of seagull wings and kelp. We did love the sheep, of course.
Full set of day three photos here.