Next morning we left Dunedin and drove towards Twizel in search of Wrybills and Black Stilts. We had been told places where we were likely to find them by Simon and Rodney. On the way we stopped to look at the rounded boulders of Moeraki. These, nearly spherical, boulders were grown on the sea bed from a supersaturated solution of carbonates. The action of the tides caused the growing rocks to roll around on the sea bed and form almost perfect spheres. The boulders were buried in the sediment which later rose above sea level. The boulders are now being freed as the sea washes the soft sediment away.
It took us about 3 hours to get to the place where Simon told us there were Wrybills. We had to drive down beside a canal used as part of a hydroelectric generating system and stop at the end of a gravel track. We then walked out on to the wet land and pebble covered ground. We saw a single Wrybill in the distance but when we approached it flew off. We waited for some time but it did not return. Instead we saw several Black Fronted Terns.
We then drove on to Glentanner Station at the foot of Mount Cook to look for the Black Stilt. Rodney had given us very clear directions and we easily found a pair of Black Stilts with one juvenile bird. We ate our lunch while watching these very rare wading birds for a little while. By this time it was getting late (15:30 or so) and we left to continue our drive towards Christchurch. We finally stopped for the night in Ashburton; being about the only place on the way large enough to have both a motel and a restaurant. We were very pleasantly surprised to find the restaurant was rather good and we had an excellent evening meal with a good bottle of wine.
After breakfast we drove directly to the International Antarctic Centre at Christchurch Airport where we spent an hour and a half in the shop. We spent a small fortune on tee shirts, sweatshirts, underwear and other penguin essentials as well as getting some presents for Mag, Pete, Tim, Jeff, other friends, work, etc. We then drove into Christchurch and as we passed the hotel where we had stayed on the way out we thought (as it was quite all right) that we would stay there again.
We went into town to get some lunch and to buy an extra bag to carry all our loot (the things we have bought and the red parkas we were given by Southern Heritage). After lunch we drove to the Banks Peninsula to look for White Flippered Penguins according to Chris's instructions. We found Tumbledown Bay as he said - although the drive involved going down a twisting gravel road with a sheer drop on one side in a rental car that likes to slide around on loose gravel. It was an interesting ride - remind me never to buy a car with rear wheel drive! Unfortunately when we arrived at the place where Chris had said there were penguins we could only find empty guano stained burrows. The penguins were presumably out at sea. We waited as long as we could but we didn't see any penguins. There were plenty of shags and gulls but no penguins.
