A Stunning Lookout!

Day 3…. Overnight our van was buffeted and rocked by continuous strong winds, making for a restless sleep – on my part at least! On waking though all was calm and the sun shone, making us eager to get out and do a loop walk along the beaches through Aramoana village before moving on.

Back over the dunes, we took a right along the first beach toward the mole – a man made breakwater built to protect the harbour – that separated the beaches.

The sea was calm sparkling under the suns rays. Via a lane track we reached the beach along the spit – a long strip of  land extending into the harbour. A local informed us there could be seals further along, we walked to the far end for a look but any seals had gone fishing. Retracing our steps back to the lane we walked through the village passing a real boat-house on our way back to base.

D.O.C. Lookout Sandy Mount Track halfway along the Otago Peninsula…. a 45min drive with stunning views to the other side of the harbour with viewpoints along the way took us to this short 30min return walk to the lookout. A steep sandy track but worth the effort for the stunning panoramic views at the top.

Back at base our packing of the fridge failed miserably, on opening, the box of eggs fell unceremoniously to the floor breaking half the contents. Long-suffering and his muse ‘scrambled’ about getting in each other’s way, making a mucky situation worse, still at least tomorrows breakfast was sorted!

Royal Albatross Centre…. a short stop here, we did not see any Albatross they were out on the wing fishing, but the red legged seagulls were in abundance and two seals were seen basking on the rocks above crashing waves.

Our third night we stayed at a basic powered site by the Kaitanga River, really clean with hot power showers and friendly owner. For the next two nights we would be freedom camping. Weather was set fair and supposed to be mostly dry!