Cormorants and Seals and Penguins, Oh My!

Yesterday, I got back to Dunedin around 1:00pm. Finy and her friend Chiang picked us up and we went on a Natural Wonders tour on the Dunedin peninsula. We piled into a cool safari Argo 4WD and it was the most exciting drive I've ever been on. Our tour guide, Roy, drove us up rocky hills, and mud puddles. He was extremely good-looking, tall, had the bluest eyes. Sighs. We first saw some cormorants, which were much prettier than the ones we have at home. These had blue and white plumage with turquoise around the eyes. We saw the New Zealand fur seals next. They were SO CUTE. There were tiny tiny babies and lounging mums. And they were so close. We were in a protected area, not open to the general public without a guide, so they did not fear us. We then went to search for the famous yellow-eyed penguin. Alas, they were nowhere to be seen. Roy lingered for as long as he could, as he told us, but it seemed they were still out hunting in the ocean. As a consolation, he showed us an area, only accessible to very small groups of people, where the little blue penguin or fairy penguin (my favorite) were nesting. They were RIGHT THERE, in the wild! One even poked his head out of the little tunnel, which Roy said rarely happened. AHHHH I wanted to take it home so bad.

Finy and I went home to rest a bit and eat a quick dinner. We then set out for some night shopping. Dotti is a dangerous store. I swear, almost every time I've been in that store I've come out with a bag. Seriously, I've told Finy to restrain me from buying more clothes. They also have a Kmart here, which really cheap and better looking clothes than ours. Finy and I shared a mint chocolate shake after our shopping spree (more like my shopping spree) and it was really good. Ice cream here seems stickier.

We went back and watched Milla Jovovich be fierce and flawless in the first Resident Evil before going to sleep.

Now I'm watching the Olympics opening ceremony,  which is turning out to be pretty epic. Voldemort, Mary Poppins's, Mr. Bean, and hot athletes. It's all good. I always seem to be watching it in another country. But I'm not complaining.