Dec. 25

Dunedin, via the south-bound highway out of Dunedin

The car we've borrowed has been making some non-comforting sounds in occasionally braking situations. Metal-on-metal sounds make people nervous. Everything is closed for Christmas - seriously, it's hard to find a gas station open. We decide to press on South and get things looked in a few days, when things open back up, but we make a poor map-reading decision to take a shortcut and end up trying to climb straight up a hill on a gravel road with what is essentially a Geo Metro. We make the top, just as the radiator decides to show it's displeasure with our navigation by sending it's contents out in a plume of white steam.
After letting things cool off, we decide it might be a decent idea to stay an extra day in Dunedin. Since the weather is generally poor - pissing down rain - it's an easy decision to make. Also a good one - at this point on the road, we could use a day to do nothing. Which is just what we do.
At least until late afternoon, when we head out to see a bird colony on the outskirts of Dunedin. The town claims the only mainland albatross colony in the world, but access to the colony is locked (it's Christmas - everything is closed). We watch a thousand sea gulls fly and roost on and around a rock cliff.
The weather gets poorer - more rain, far more wind, less heat. After taking refuge in the car, we decide to act the idiot tourists and step out again. Apparently, the poorer the weather is, the happier the albatross(es?) are. They need the wind to get airborne, and we watch a few of the birds - they look like sea gulls on steroids, with nearly 10-foot wingspans - glide over the sea before giving up and heading back to the hostel to resume our previous activity of doing nothing. Dunedin looks like a ghost town - we find two deserted Chinese restaurants open.