BTDU

Today saw us make the trip down to Dunedin for 2 nights where we would hook up with a friend of Julie’s who she was at both primary & secondary school with, but has only seen 3 times in the last 40 odd years! I wondered if they would still recognize each other🤔

Finally some much needed rain fell on this parched land…

This part of Otago is dominated by fruit growers, so we took the advice and pulled in for a cuppa😉…in the village of Dumbarton, in the Teviot Valley just south of Roxburgh and north of Ettrick☺️🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

I asked the owner how many apple trees she had on her land and she replied it was her father in law’s business and since he was the largest producer of apples in the Southern Hemisphere it was hard to tell! NB – Claim still to be verified 😉

The rest of the journey to Dunedin was a mixture of arrow straight state highways punctuated by small towns and more ☔

We arrived in Dunedin c.3 pm after descending and climbing some very steep streets to be greeted by Pete & Pam… thankfully they all recognized each other too!

After a meal out and much catching up, our hosts drove us around the coast to one of the many beaches..

This beach is home to many fur seals, and sometimes, huge sea lions too; I soon learnt that getting within 10 metres to take a photo of such a beast was not such a good idea as he suddenly roared, rose up on all four flippers then went into Usain Bolt mode with me clearly as his prey!🤪

…and how they can shift … fortunately, I was marginally faster and lived to tell the tale….phew.

Suitably chastised, we made our way back home feeling quite relieved to be able to safely climb into bed..