Day 3 • Twizel - Dunedin

A busy day comes to an end. After a short drive from Twizel to Mount Cook, we hiked the Hooker Valley Track to the glacier lake this morning. A truly beautiful tour if you start early. By noon, the trail is already quite crowded. When we arrived at the lake, it took about 20 minutes for the sun to break through the clouds. We then continued towards Oamaru. On the way there, we passed the 'Elephant Rocks.' Somehow bizarre to stand in the middle of nowhere in front of such rock formations. Why Oamaru...? In the evening twilight, the 'Blue-eyed and Yellow-eyed Penguins' walk up the beach, and sometimes even across the road. Unfortunately, we were a bit early and instead encountered a whole jetty full of cormorants. We continued to Moeraki to see the 'Moeraki Boulders.' These are balls made of mud, fine clay, and clay, glued together by calcite. No one really knows how they were created and why they lie there. Our last stop for the day was Dunedin. We were already asked by our hosts in Christchurch why Dunedin? Actually, for only one reason..., to spend the night. Tomorrow's tour is quite long, and it was simply on the way. They were really right, there is not much to see. The train station building is really the only attraction. :-) Tomorrow morning we will continue to the southernmost point and then to Te Anau.