Curiosity Cilled the Curio

We have had a great reunion with old friends Jim and Mary, down from Idaho, and Anne, down from Auckland. We all knocked around Boulder together years ago, running trails and rivers together in Colorado and Utah and Idaho. Dunedin friends Mark and Julia, here from Bozeman, joined us all for a Rocky Mountain evening at our place: "sweet as". Next day Anne and Mary and MAC ran a half-marathon on the peninsula, chatting the entire way, and we loaded the car and were away to the Catlins that afternoon. Our curiosity was rewarded by the sight of a decal on a Japanese-import vehicle, which dreamily informed that "As enjoyable as communing with nature is the comfort of cruising through the tree-line boulevard" (pic). We camped at Curio Bay, where our curiosity was rewarded with views of the yellow eye penguins from the bluff. There are no more Ciwi birds at Curio Bay, not to mention Moa. Clay screamed absolutely bloody murder at bedtime but then slept well. Our tent was placed among the flax that creates privacy barriers and shelter from the "occasionally chilly" southerly winds. Next day was absolutely brilliantly clear and warm. We swam with the dolphins in Porpoise Bay, and removed no curios from Curio Bay (v cool petrified forest). While lounging on the beach, a wee blue penguin came squawking ashore followed shortly by a seal that laid up to rest. We figured the seal was looking for a penguin meal; unfortunately a crowd of kids surrounded the poor penguin who returned to the sea without respite. Estin spent hours boogie boarding and we each skimmed Clay around on the wave-wash using a boogie board (for days since Clay has dragged the "bee-baw" around the house, hollering for more rides). Dinner, wine, stories, monster pictures, etc. Next morning we said good-bye to Mary and Jim, checked out the wee bum end of the South Island, (pic) and headed back to drop Anne off at the airport in Mosgiel. It was a fine time with that ex-Boulder crew, last together on the Salmon River in the early '00s.

In reference to our previous entry, we discovered that Rakiura does actually glow: on it's way to Australia, the sun dropped right straight through Rakiura, and she lit up with pleasure. (pic, ever-so-slightly enhanced).