Entering the new year with Senior Odhi

After about a week, we left the New Zealand Alps and headed towards the East Coast. You know the complaints about construction sites in German traffic, but at least damages are repaired as well as possible there. Because even if you accept in New Zealand that there is hardly any dual carriageway, it quickly becomes clear that the one remaining lane is by no means in the best condition. Potholes like on dirt roads, unsecured sections of road, level bridge starts, remnants of rockslides, and fresh tar patches that looked like the same stones were simply covered with tar. In addition, there is the 100 km/h speed limit, which, under the preceding circumstances, is more like a challenge. We also don't want to impose this effort on our Senior Odhi, so we leisurely trundle through the country at 80-90 km/h. Now, on the journey to the coast, it actually happened that a police car followed us with its sirens blaring. Tim was completely beside himself and didn't know what he had done wrong or whether there was a problem with the car. We stopped at the next pullout. Despite being confident that we hadn't made any mistakes, Tim, already slightly annoyed, expected to hear the police officer's request... 

Police Officer: 'Do we know the speed limit?' 

Tim: 'Yes, 100'

Police Officer: 'Then why aren't we driving it?'

Answer see above + Vintage Car 

So, to cut to the end of the story, the police officer told us to drive faster or let the following traffic pass more regularly. Our own perception was that we were already trying our best to comply, but there aren't as many opportunities to let vehicles pass on these roads. It was also a new experience to be stopped by a police officer and told to drive faster.

The rest of the journey was very unproblematic, even though it took Tim a few kilometers to no longer question the necessity of the admonishment. And here are a few pictures of our next stops in the southeast of the South Island:

Moeraki Boulders: It was truly extraordinary how round and sometimes huge these rocks were. They were formed about 65 million years ago. 

Passing by a seal colony

Spoonbill

Otago Peninsula: The 30 km long and up to 12 km wide peninsula has a lot to offer. In addition to the fantastic beaches, you can observe Royal Albatrosses, penguins, or even sea lions here. We were lucky enough to see one of the largest and most elegant long-distance flyers on earth, the Royal Albatross. 

Also on the peninsula, we discovered a gigantic sea erosion.

By the way, we spent New Year's Eve in Dunedin, a Scottish-influenced city. It was an interesting evening, but once again we missed friends and family, just as we did at Christmas. New Year's Eve was simply different.