Returning back to the sea to tour around the east and south coasts of the south island we took in Oamaru and Mauraki with their penguin and fur seal colonies briefly stopping to see the bizarre Mauraki Boulders. A collection of almost perfectly spherical boulders lying on the beach.

We covered quite a lot of ground in this region, often camping beside the sea, however the true highlight was the Otago Peninsular. A particularly stunning outcrop of land. One side has still calm waters throughout the harbour, the other has long sandy beaches, while the interior is blessed with deep blue inlets, rolling hills and, of course, thousands of sheep.

Before commencing our exploration of the peninsular we had the good fortune to run into a Spanish couple, Salva and Delia, at the campsite we stayed in at Invercargil. I missed the introduction but apparently Salva and Delia were talking in the kitchen and Espe’s head spun round upon hearing her native language at which point Delia and Espe stared at each other. “Española?”, “Si”. We started talking and were over an hour late checking out of the campsite before touring the peninsula in our camper van convoy (they’d booked through Backpacker Campervans and had been given a Britz, while we’d booked a Britz and were given a Maui).

Salva and Delia are pretty much the same route as us. They have a round the world ticket and they’ve been to every country we’ve been to including India and the Philippines (not included on the more standard RTW itineraries) and in Australia they drove pretty much exactly the same route as us in a camper van. They will be arriving in Fiji a week before us and then move on to the Cook islands… Just like us. Spooky.

Although I was held back by the language barrier (I think they, along with Espe, were very happy to not have to speak English), it was a real pleasure spending time with them. Both are very confident and open minded people although very different in their ways but they seem to complement each other very well. I would love to spend more time getting to know them but it looks as they will be leaving Fiji as we arrive and will be in the USA before we even reach the Cook Islands. Maybe I’ll just have to wait until Barcelona.

Through Delia’s curiosity and confidence to speak to anyone we found ourselves surrounded by sheep as some farmers were completing one of the many tasks that take place during “lambing season”. We witnessed how they added an elastic band to the tail which cuts of circulation causing it to fall off within a few days (apparently they are more hygienic without the tail), feeding them some nasty looking anti worm liquid and tagging their ears. An arduous task given the number of lambs that needed to be processed. The constant almost deafening bleating was quite something, as was watching the lambs jumping and headbutting fences in an effort to escape.

While on the peninsula we were treated to a wide variety of wildlife doing their thing in their natural habitat (and all “for free”). We saw more penguins, fur seals, sea lions and a whole host of sea birds but not the elusive Royal Albatross. An incredible and rather large species of bird that mates for life. Every couple of years the pair set off to circumnavigate the globe, in opposite directions, returning just under a year later to the exact same spot. As if that wasn’t impressive enough the couple normally arrive within a day of each other!

The true highlight of the peninsular was the spectacular Sandfly Bay. Sliding down the huge sand dunes to a large beach, we were the only people there to witness a very impressive display of Sealions battling it out right in front of our very eyes.

The beach was littered with the beasts however at one point the was a huddle of about eight or so. It became obvious that this was not a peaceful gathering and over time we were able to figure out that the dominant male (who was understandably the biggest there, a really huge specimen well over two metres long and not far off that in height at full stretch) was preventing any other of the males come close to his three females. A forth female was also in tow but the dominant male didn’t seem to care if any other sealion came close to her. The males would often come in closer only for the biggest one to flop its way over barking and aggressive trying to strike out. The signs of blood on one of the sea lions showed how serious he was taking this. Interestingly it wasn’t only the males that were at it, with the three females occasionally battling it out amongst themselves, handbags and all.

This was truly an incredible experience and unbeknown to us, two and a half hours passed as we were on the beach taking it all in. In fact, the only thing that was missing was a commentary from David Attenborough.

I am particularly happy with the above picture. I was about ten metres away from the female sea lion (they don’t recommend going any nearer) when she moved closer. It almost seemed as though she was posing for the camera. After a while the male took objection to me being so close and started for me, barking in anger as he flopped towards me at a surprising rate. Not a pretty sight. Hearing calls from Espe and Delia at the same time as realising what was happening, I knew I had to move sharpish but first I wanted a photo of the beast coming straight for me… “Memory Full” flashed up on the display.