Scotland?

Crikey, I now know what I need to do to generate lots of comments. It seems that jumping off a bridge with an elastic band tied to your ankles does the trick.
It's great to hear from my mum as well as Chas and Carol. I hope you're all very well (and get well soon to the George St collective). By the way, there's skiing down here as well you know - just not much of it at the moment.
I would also like to thank Anna for the interesting dry stone walling gift shop information, but I will obviously be opening my own virtual walling experience with real cheese improvements to be added in a further extension to the initial "pleasure dome" as time and funds allow, a gift extravaganza is built in and will soon be available in cake form.
Anyway, I am now in Dunedin, which has a very scottish feel to it. The rest of NZ swears that the people here have a scottish element to their accents, but I haven't heard any of it yet. To add to the scottish feel, it has stone buildings (unusual in nz) as well as the steepest street in the world - check out the Guinnes book of records if you are doubtful. I arrived here yesterday via the plains of Rohan - also known as central Otago. A beautiful area with bizarre landscapes and huge views towards the southern alps.
Today I will be off to explore Dunedin before heading off around the Catlins coast to Invercargil. The Catlins coast is supposed to be one of the least visited areas of NZ with wild beaches, penguins (not the chocolate ones), dolphins, sealions, whales and many other creatures not generally seen in the north sea. Whether I will get to see any, let alone photograph any remains to be seen. From there I may head to the Fiordlands - Milford Sound and all that business.
Since I'm heading to the back country, I doubt I'll get email access again until at least Invercargil, which will be a few days. In the meantime, have fun doing whatever it is that you are up to!