Yesterday was Queen's Birthday, which gave me an extra day in the weekend for this adventure. I took the bus out to Portobello with the goal of hiking around the peninsula for the day. I had no track or destination planned but I felt like I knew the general geography of the peninsula well enough, so I just started walking along a road in the direction east of Portobello. Within a couple kilometers I came to Hooper's Inlet and turned onto the dirt road hugging the water. After another couple k's the road branched off into the hills and came to Sandymount Road, which I had vaguely heard of. I took a left further uphill and eventually came to Sandymount Reserve, home of Lover's Leap and Sandfly Bay. I had heard of both of these landmarks so continued on trails to visit them as well as to the summit of Sandymount. Lover's Leap was just one of many impressive geologic formations along the beach, and Sandfly Bay was hands-down amazing. Trudging through the dunes accompanied only by the sight of the moon, I felt like I was on another planet. I met a massive sea lion sleeping on the beach...I may have startled him a bit but he went back to sleep pretty quickly. I retreated up into the dunes a bit and took shelter in a viewing hide to see if I could spot a yellow-eyed penguin; they don't like people on the beach. Within five minutes a single penguin came swimming up in the waves and hopped up on some rocks. He was pretty hilarious looking, but too far away for a picture. Below I've pasted a close-up shot of such a penguin:
As the sun set I crawled back up the steep sandy slope and walked back to Portobello in the dark in time to catch the bus back to town. It really was a perfect day.
Other highlights this weekend: first workday at 126 Ashmore Street, the Dunedin Habitat for Humanity site. On day 1 we set up a portable toilet, hauled gravel around the site to cut down on mud, and surveyed the foundation for the digger to come this week. I got to use a nail gun that shot nails through 2x4's which was pretty sweet. I was interested to see that we used the 3-4-5 method for ensuring that corners were square: measure 3 meters on one side, 4 meters on the other, and hope the diagonal is 5 meters.
I also did some cooking that I was very proud of, although it wasn't elegant or healthy: the best fried chicken I've ever had (I'll never give away the secret recipe for the coating) and sweet potato fries for Sunday dinner.
And finally, I have enrolled in a Department of Nutrition study to determine the effect of a daily snack of hazelnuts on blood lipid levels. Next week I will be assigned randomly to one of four groups: the hazelnut group (I hope), chocolate, potato crisps, or nothing. Over the past week my arm has been pierced multiple times for blood tests, I've had a full body DEXA scan, and I've had a resting metabolic rate test. Plus this week I have to wear an accelerometer everywhere and weight all the food I eat. All this for a three month's supply of hazelnuts or some other meager snack...I'm consenting only in the name of science.
Below are pictures from 1) the lab hike a couple weeks ago and 2) epic day trip to Sandymount.
5 comments:
Eeeeee! Penguin! You have some beautiful photos, sir, especially from Sandymount. I am very impressed. :)
Dunedin is just full of surprises! I love the yelloe-eyed penguins. Have you tried the walking trails around blueskin bay area? Orokonui and the organ pipes are just supurb! you can arrange a time to wander through the Orokonui eco-sanctuary.
Pictures of Sandymount are fantastic, but I want that fried chicken recipe!
New Zealand is beautiful....wonderful pictures. You are having a lot of interesting experiences. I don't understand your lab work but it sounds like you are making progress.
Not likely to run into a sea lion or penguin in Columbia, very cool.
Thanks for taking and uploading all of the photos. Gives us a much better idea of the terrain.
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