← PreviousAn unforgettable experience in the fjords of Milford Sound – Te Anau, New ZealandAfter the long, hard day before, we'd planned to rest a little. We lingered in bed before a leisurely breakfast and then lunch. I was cooking our steaks when a guy from the hostel came to speak to me. According to him, I'd stolen his cooking oil, and he seemed very angry with me. I apologised several times and explained that I'd thought the oil was for everyone in the hostel. Nothing seemed to calm him down, and we had to raise our voices to defuse things. The people around us didn't seem to understand his anger over a few drops of oil, and neither did we.
We quickly moved on and set off for a brand-new experience. An hour's drive south, we parked by a cave. We went in, winging it as usual. Our phones were our only torches and we were in shorts and T-shirts. Of course, the temperature in the cave was around ten degrees. We passed people with headlamps and thermal clothing, much better prepared than us for this hour-long underground adventure. So we were in total darkness apart from our lights, and we had to squeeze through following the markers. In places we had to crawl under the rocks. We enjoyed the experience, but we weren't exactly brimming with confidence either. Almost at the end, a hole full of water lay before us. It looked really deep, so we didn't tempt fate and turned back.
We took our time on the way back, switching off our lights to stand in total darkness and enjoy the hundreds of glow-worms clinging to the ceiling. We were starting to feel claustrophobic, and when a cool breeze hit our faces, we breathed a sigh of relief. The temperature gradually rose and finally we saw daylight. What an experience! We got back in the car to drive to Invercargill and spend the night there.
We parked at Curio Bay around 10 am. It's a beach known for its Hector's dolphins, which you can see swimming a few metres from the shore. We walked on the sand, keeping a careful eye on the waves. While I'd climbed up on some high rocks to watch the mouth of the bay, I saw Cassandre waving at me wildly and heading off purposefully the other way. I quickly joined her and came face to face with... a little penguin! We knew penguins lived here, but they were supposed to come out only at night to avoid humans. It was incredible luck! It walked in a funny way and looked a lot like a grumpy little old man. We stayed watching it for a long time, well aware that we'd probably never see one again in our lives. We then went for a walk by a very pretty waterfall and drove on to Dunedin.