Pounawea Morning

I fell asleep last night whilst stargazing out of the van window.  Thus the light woke me early this morning,  By the time I convinced myself that it WAS morning, the bright pinks and yellows were rapidly fading out to blue.

  I managed to drag myself and my camera out before all was lost.  Admittedly it wasn't really that great an effort - I only had to take about 10 steps to the left of the van.

Because I was up early I decided I might as well get on the road early too.  A morning visit to Nugget Point lighthouse gave me more penguins to photograph.  Then breakfast on the edge of the beach followed by coffee at Kaka Point. I headed off north after that with no set plans other than an intention to stop and see my niece's new house in Dunedin.

The trouble was that the closer I got to Dunedin the more upset I got.  When I passed the sign to the airport I couldn't stop thinking about Blaze flying there to buy his new bike.  When I passed the police station and then the hospital it was all too much.  That is where I had to go to identify Blaze after his death, and that is where I finally had to lose the hope I'd carried and accept that it wasn't a mistake; it was my boy who was dead.  

Anyway, all of that got stewed up in my head and I just found I couldn't stop there.  Maybe next time.

Continuing north I stopped at Katiki (the beach I blipped last week) to take photos and soak up the atmosphere.  Stopped again at Palmerston for coffee and had it on the side of the road at Blaze's cross.  Weird that I can handle that but can't handle being in Dunedin.  

After that I decided that today would be a good day for something new - no I didn't buy anything!  Well, other than cheese.

I took the turn off to Kakanui.  I've heard from a number of people that it is a great spot but I'd never visited.  They are right, it is beautiful.