Day 6 (23-Dec-2009) Dunedin - Stewart Island via Invercargill - 270km

It’s been one of those days again: where to begin? – mainly because I’m suffering a severe moment of old age pensioners blondness. Ok, let’s try to jog my memory. I do remember falling asleep with the lovely prospect of a good breakfast as was promised me, having skipped dinner the previous night owing to some little Blue critters. As happens when food is involved in this manner, I fell asleep and woke up with a huge smile on my face just because of the thought of food. This expression, however, was quickly wiped off once I realised we’d not have enough time for a sumptuous breakfast considering all that had to be achieved today if we had any hope of making our check-in time of 16:30 hr at Invercargill airport.

1. Pack separate pack for our day on Stewart Island tomorrow
2. Check-out of the hotel in Dunedin
3. Shop for food to be taken on the Milford Track, as we’d not expecte X-mas day was a good day to find shops open
4. Fill the car up with petrol
5. Visit the steepest street in Dunedin (in the world I believe) and try to set a new record running uphill
6. Reach Invercargill Airport by 16:00 hrs (preferably for peace of mind)
7. Enjoy the drive

It became clear, quite early on, that in order to maintain peace of mind, we’d better skip our attempt at the Guinness Book of Records by having to forgo our attempt to run up the steepest street in the quickest time ever recorded.

Like I said before, I’m suffering a senior blond moment so I can’t remember to where along the Southern Scenic Tourist Route we made a little detour to visit an absolutely gorgeous outcrop which provided us with a leg stretching opportunity.

After this pleasurable little side-trip to this unnamed location, we decided to make straight for Invercargill, picking up our first bit of rain for the holiday. We reached Invercargill with plenty of time to spare so decided on a quick exploratory drive through town and a stop at the local Starbucks. We also managed to get a replacement watchstrap for Q’s statistical measuring device.

When we got to the airport we were able to check in early and board the plane even earlier! Don’t worry about switching off your phone, just make sure you’re wearing you’re seatbelt and don’t try to walk through the plane whilst in the air! The short flight over stranded us on Stewart Island before 17:00 hrs, which was the time we were supposed to take off from Invercargill! I’m sure there is some sort of a time machine operational in NZ....

Checked in to the hotel, went for a short walk followed by a lovely dinner, followed by a longer walk. Bedtime after a quick stop at the local pub where we witnessed local fashion in action: men in shorts wearing wellies! Fortunately, the females were dressed more appropriately.