Do You Still Feel Small When You Stand Beside the Ocean

Wow, it has been one very busy, but amazing week!  Last Saturday, Sophie, Erin, Rachel, Audrey, and I went to the Farmer’s market again and bought some fruit because it is super delicious and cheap!  I purchased 4 apples for only a dollar, which is only about 80 cents in US dollars.  I even embarrassed myself when I asked the lady again how much I owed her because I thought I had heard her wrong.  I also tried the infamous bacon buddy for lunch there, which is basically an unhealthy sandwich full of bacon, onions, and mustard.  But I enjoyed it nonetheless.  The rest of the day was rainy (unfortunately we finally got our taste of typical New Zealand weather), so I just hung around the flat all day, but it cleared up that night so Erin, Laura, Lorenzo, and I headed to town for the evening.  We went dancing at a club called Urban, where Erin somehow managed to lose her phone battery, but not the back of her phone.  It’s still a mystery to all of us!  But it was a fun night and we will have hilarious memories from it! 

Then the next day, we got up early (a bit too early after our previous late night) and caught a bus to Tunnel Beach.  From where the bus dropped us off, it was a 45 minute hike down to the beach.  Now I thought that St. Clair’s beach was beautiful, but when we reached Tunnel, I felt like I had just stepped into another world!  Pictures cannot even capture it.  This is also where the title of this blog post stems from.  Out of nowhere, I start singing “I hope you dance” with Rachel on the cliffs looking out into the ocean because the line “Do you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean” popped in my head.  I was mesmerized by the sight and definitely felt small watching the roaring ocean hit the rocky beach.  The name Tunnel Beach comes from the creation of an actual tunnel in the rock formed by the forces of the ocean, and you can walk through it during low tide.  Unfortunately, we did not look up the tide schedule before we headed out, so we were unable to cross under the rock tunnel, but it’s so close, I’m sure we will go back!

On Monday I went to brunch at a famous Dunedin pancake house called Capers with Lorenzo.  I chose to try the apricot pancakes filled with fruit and yogurt, which was delicious (and free because he had a two for one voucher)!  Tuesday was another relaxing day, spending time working on homework and watching TV with the flatmates that evening.  On Wednesday night, my flat went to pint night at the uni bar, called Refuel.  Yes, there is an actual bar on campus catered directly towards the students.  Crazy!  But I tried my first Speight’s, which is a local Dunedin brewed beer and it was quite good!  Thursday and Friday were non-eventful as well, but I did finally watch the first Lord of the Rings movie.  So nobody can give me a hard time for never watching it anymore!!! But I really did enjoy the whole thing (much more than Erin can say considering she fell asleep within the first half hour)!   I also had my first fish and chips dinner, a local favorite, supplemented with Hokey Pokey ice cream, another NZ creation!

And finally, my first weekend trip to the CATLINS!!!  It was planned a little last minute, but turned out to be one amazingly fun, hilarious, and memorable weekend!  We set out in our rental car early Saturday morning with Wynton (Dad) driving, Marvin (mom) in the front, and Erin, Rachel, and I (the kids) packed in the back annoying the “parents” to death singing Taylor Swift and a million other songs in the backseat!  Marvin and Wynton are both from Germany and are so great and together we all made a perfect little family!  The drive was about an hour and a half to our first few stops in the northern Catlins, Kaka and Nugget Point.  Kaka was basically just a really pretty beach, but Nugget was unique.  There is a lighthouse that you hike up to and a viewing of rocks that protrude from the sea and appear to be “nuggets.”  We also spotted our first sea lions from afar!

Our next stop was a bay (that I can’t remember the name of) where we decided to take the slightly treacherous hike down to the ocean.  Rachel and I made it to the bottom safely (thanks to our hiking boots).  But Erin was a little slower coming down, and decided to stop and wave at us while not looking where she was going and took her first fall of the day, a hilarious spectacle for Rachel and I as we watched her disappear behind the bushes.  Once everybody was down, we hung out on the beach for a while snapping pictures of the gorgeous bay and trying out our penguin calls to see if we could spot any.  But without any luck, we headed back to the car and drove towards Cannibal Bay.  Here, Erin takes her second fall as sand collapses beneath her while she tries to jump over a small stream.  We also climb over the rocky coast and venture a little too far, causing our feet to get wet when we can’t scamper away from a larger than expected wave quick enough!  Wynton was the only one that stayed completely dry, laughing at us the whole time.  We also encountered our first sea lion up-close!  We were walking near the brush along the beach, when Rachel spots it hiding in the grass to her right.  She screamed and grabbed onto me, I (having not even seen it yet), screamed and grabbed onto Wynton, who then ran away.  Great reaction to be only a few feet away from this creature right!?!  Good thing they are fairly friendly. 

Our next stop was Purakanui Falls, a short hike from the road.  During the hike we came across a dead, but still standing, hollow tree and had the bright idea to see how many people could fit in it.  Well, we determined the magic number was three as Erin, Marvin, and I squeezed inside!  But the three-tiered falls were beautiful and a great end to Saturday’s outdoor adventures.  So we grabbed dinner at a local café in the town of Owaka (there were only 2 dining options in the town of 1200) and checked into our backpackers (NZ equivalent to a hostel).  And to our surprise, they had individual electric blankets…what a luxury!  After settling in, we headed to the local pub and Wynton bought us each a mug of Speight’s and we sat on some couches relaxing after a busy day.  The pub was quite funny though as the older locals finished their meal and became more rowdy throughout the evening, evening asking us to stay when we got up to leave at 10pm. 

The next day, we grabbed breakfast at the same place we ate dinner and hit the road.  It was about an hour’s drive to the southern part of the Catlins where we stopped at Jack’s blowhole.  Although, it does not actually blow, the gorge was spectacular and the views from the hike were incredible.  We then headed to Curio Bay where we hung out for most of the afternoon.  We climbed all over the rocks and up and down the cliffs.  Marvin even got a little swim in, when an unexpected wave crashed on him as he was scampering to a far rock.  Poor guy, but it was hilarious!  We also stopped by a petrified forest in the evening on the coast and spotted...wait for it…our first PENGUINS!!!  They were so cute and fun to watch and a great end to the perfect first weekend away from Dunedin.  Afterwards, we all piled back into the car and slept with heads on each other’s shoulders most of the way home (Erin was such a trooper driving back)!  It was a wonderful weekend and it was great to spend time with friends…but now I probably should go spend time with my books and stop my procrastination!