Wild Weather!

What a difference 24 hours can make in the weather!  Yesterday was beautiful and sunny, but today it's pouring buckets, very windy, and c-c-cold.  We are currently docked in Dunedin on New Zealand's South Island.  This morning we braced ourselves, and boarded a smallish boat for a cruise out of the harbour to view the bird and wild life that call this part of the world home.  Thankfully we were provided with warm, waterproof coats because we definitely needed them!

As you can see from this photograph, the sea was quite wild, and squalls of rain kept marching through.  We were lucky to see a female New Zealand sealion patrolling the water, looking for a Shearwater breakfast.  We also saw some black swans, several different types of albatross, petrels, oystercatchers, and shags.  I was giggling to myself, because I had the hood of my coat clutched around my head which made hearing the commentary from the captain a bit of a challenge.  Whenever he made reference to the petrels, I thought he was saying "pit bulls" (a very rare sight to see at sea!), and there was some sort of albatross which I kept hearing referred to as a "solvent albatross" but I somehow doubt this is its proper name!  It was a real thrill to watch the albatrosses soar and swoop with their huge wingspans, but they were very difficult for me to capture successfully on film.