A Day Around Dunedin

 Long time no see, readers! It's been a crazy few weeks of assignments and tests, and preparation for the next 3 weeks of exams. Last Friday (May 20), some friends and I had planned to make a trip to Mt. Cook. Unfortunately, the weather stopped us from making the journey there, so we decided to use the rental car to explore some of the areas around Dunedin.

  Our first stop was Baldwin Street. This street is famous for being the steepest street in the world! The street is just 350 meters long, but it takes about 10 minutes for someone to walk up the street because its so steep! They also hold the Cadbury Jaffa race at the top of the street. Participants line up at the very top of the hill, each one with their own individual numbered Jaffa, and throw it down the street.

Welcome to Baldwin Street

The view from the top

The history of Baldwin

The mural at the top

After the quick hike up Baldwin Street, it was out to the Peninsula in the hopes of seeing an albatross on this windy day. We took a quick tour of the Royal Albatross Center, and made our way to the walkway by the ocean to try and catch one of these giant birds coming off of the ocean. After waiting about 10 or 15 minutes, we didn't see anything so we moved to the other side of the center to a little beach. Here we stumbled upon some sea lions having a little snooze on the beach! 

Looking for an albatross

A lonely sea lion

The rest of the sea lions taking a snooze

  Later that evening, we went to a local beach called Sandfly Bay to try and see some of the yellow-eyed penguins coming in off of the water. Not only did we get to see two penguins come in and walk in from their nest, but we also got to watch a gorgeous sunset over the water. 

The sunset over the ocean

The beach of Sandfly Bay

Watching the waves

A pair of yellow-eyed penguins

Although our original plans didn't work out, everyone still had a great time exploring the many spots of Dunedin! 

Tunnel Beach

This is it....the moment you've all been waiting for....the final chapter of my mom's visit to New Zealand. I know, I know. You guys just can't contain your excitement. You must be on the edge of your seats with anticipation! Just kidding! I'm using this post as an excuse to avoid my work for just a little bit longer (oops!).

For the last day that I was able to participate in my mom's visit, we made the trek over to Tunnel Beach, one of the most beautiful spots in Dunedin (or so I had been told). It took us a 15 minute walk to the bus stand, a 30ish minute bus ride, and another 20 minute or so walk to even reach the beginning of the trail! On the way over to the beach we were stopped by a local farmer. He asked us if we were headed over to Tunnel Beach, and proceeded to tell us the story behind the area.

John Cargill, who lived in Cargill Castle not far away, had used the beach as his own private beach. He had his daughters use the area for swimming and sunbathing to keep away from the common folk, and the men. Cargill had brought in Italian tunnelers to create tunnels from the Castle to the beach so that the girls could easily get to the beach. Unfortunately, one of his daughters is said to have drowned on the beach (which I have to say gave it a bit of an eerie feeling).

Looking down toward the beach

A rainbow after the rainy morning

One of the tunnels (I think) 

Another (possible) tunnel

Looking out to the water

Mom and I probably spent an hour (maybe more) taking in the breathtaking area. Even though it was a pretty cloudy day, the beach was still beautiful. After taking in the beach it was time to make the hike back up to the car park, possibly the steepest walk up a hill I had to make in a long time. Safe to say mom and I were pretty exhausted by the time we got to the top, and luckily a couple of other students stopped and gave us a ride back to town! Later that night mom and I went to Velvet Burger for their 2 for 1 Tuesday special. We each got a venison burger (I got the stag, portobello mushrooms, blue cheese, venison and salad with plum chutney and aioli and mom ordered the velvet burger, venison, salad, grilled pineapple with chilli mayo and velvet relish). A welcome hearty dinner after our walking that day. 

Mom's trip came to a close on Wednesday. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to accompany her on any trips that day because of my 9-5 class schedule (boo classes!). BUT Mom had a nice time touring Larnach Castle on the Otago Peninsula and we spent a quiet evening in my flat. She left around 8 am the next morning. I was sad to see her go, but she reminded me it's only another 6 weeks until I'm home! 

Otago Museum

Sorry this week seems to be going on forever, but my mom and I managed to pack in a lot of stuff before she left! After our travel filled weekend, we were met with a cold and rainy Monday. Originally I had planned for us to go to Tunnel Beach on this day, but mother nature didn't seem to agree with my plans. We kept our day pretty low-key by walking over to the Otago Museum located right next to campus. Unfortunately we weren't able to make it there until later in the afternoon due to classes, so we only had time for a couple of things in the museum. 

Mom bought us tickets to see a show at the planetarium located inside. Since we had some time to kill we looked around at some of the exhibits. Most of our time was spent at the Pacific Civilizations exhibit. Here you got to look at items and facts from civilizations from Hawaii to New Guinea and much much more. 

Welcome to Polynesia!

The Hawaii display

Austral Islands

Unfortunately this was the only exhibit we were able to walk through in the short time before our planetarium show. Our show lasted about 45 minutes, in which we were shown the prominent constellations in the southern hemisphere and then taken out to a tour of each planet in our solar system. It was quite impressive, and definitely better than my other planetarium experience at UMO. 

We ended our rainy day with a quick trip up to Rob Roy for ice cream and walked back to the flat for a quiet evening. 

Otago Peninsula Wildlife Tour

Hey hey hey! Sorry for the absence but its been a busy week entertaining my mom while she was here for her visit. Sadly we had to say goodbye this morning :( But! Only 6 more weeks until I'm home, though I will miss this beautiful country and the amazing people that I've met here!!

I thought I would take the time now (while I'm avoiding my assignments) to tell you about the second trip of our weekend! Mom sprung for a wildlife tour of the Otago Peninsula including going to the Royal Albatross Center to see the baby albatross. The tour started around 2pm, giving us some time to walk around Dunedin to see some of the main attractions of the city. First we stopped at the First Church of Otago, built with the original settlement of Dunedin. Then we stopped at the railway station, the second most photographed attraction in the southern hemisphere!

First Church of Otago, opened in 1873

Dunedin Railway Station. Opened in 1906, it used to handle up to 100 trains every day!

Shortly after it was time to head back to the Octago (the city's center) but not without passing the courts of Dunedin. The first courts were originally located at the foot of Bell Hill (they were built in 1859) but had been torn down and relocated to their current location, built in 1895.

Dunedin Court House

Finally it was time to wait for the bus. After a short wait the wildlife tour bus came up (much excitement!). It was about a half hour drive from the Octagon to the end of the Peninsula to the Royal Albatross Center. At the center they monitor and help along baby royal albatross chicks. The Royal albatross is the world's largest sea bird, and only has one chick per breeding pair every two years. 

An albatross chick. At its current size the albatross cannot stand on its legs

An adult Royal albatross. It has a wingspan of about 3 meters

We were super lucky to actually see an adult albatross come in from the water! There was basically no wind that day, and the albatross rely on the wind to help carry them in so that they can feed their chicks. After the albatross center we headed to the private beach that Elm Wildlife conducts its tours on. On the way we passed a pair of shell-ducks, some pukeko, and a white-faced heron. 

The pair of shell-ducks. They mate for life!

The pukeko, a flightless bird introduced from Australia

The white-faced heron

After driving up a very, VERY steep hill we parked at the top inbetween several pieces of farmland. We hiked down the hill to the first beach to see the New Zealand sea lions and the yellow-eyed penguins (hoiho in Maori). The New Zealand sea lion is probably the rarest sea lion in the world, with a population of only 150 individuals, and only about 30ish of those being females. 

Some male sea lions sleeping together. Sea lions are nocturnal and will sleep all day and fish all night

This sea lion proudly basking in the sun

Sea lions can walk on all 4 of their flippers and are able to move up to 20 km per hour

When they wake up its time to play! 

Along the same beach was an area where the yellow-eyed penguins, the rarest penguins, came in from the ocean to sleep for the night. Having seen the penguins before I didn't think this was going to be a big deal, but I didn't get the chance to actually see them come in from the ocean until this day! It was very cool to see, and I was actually the first one to spot the second penguin coming in. They kind of look like ducks when they're first coming in from a wave, but once the stand up its pretty apparent that they're penguins! 

A yellow-eyed penguin toward the top of the hill

A penguin coming in off of the water

Nearly there!

Finally on to the beach!

After spending about an hour on the beach it was time to hike back up the humongous hill that the bus was parked on. We walked down the other side of the hill to the second beach on our tour to see the New Zealand fur seals. Luckily, this beach was a breeding area so it was full of mothers and their pups, so cute!! Here we got to see a mother nursing her pup, and even had a pup climb up onto higher rocks to watch us take pictures from the hide! 

A mother nursing her pup

Some pups playing in the pool!

This pup climbed the rocks to see us

The evening ended with a relaxed bus ride back to Dunedin with a gorgeous sunset. Mom and I ventured from the Octagon to Fish Hook for dinner (a great sea food restaurant if you're in the area!) and finally made it home to crash in bed. A full day for sure! 

The beautiful New Zealand sunset

Catlins National Park

Boy has it been a busy week! I have been so immersed in preparing my flat for.....MY MOM! That's right, my mom flew all the way to New Zealand to visit me! And I had a lot of stuff planned for her! Mom arrived on Thursday morning, and spent most of the day relaxing and getting comfortable in my flat. The next day (Friday) was a tour at the Cadbury chocolate factory. For 20 NZD each, we spent an hour on a tour of the factory learning about the ways they make their various chocolates, like Jaffas (which I'd never heard of) to their regular chocolate bars. We even got to spend some time in the sensory lab putting together our own chocolate creations, not to mention the tour guide gave us tons of free chocolate. You read that right. F.R.E.E. C.H.O.C.O.L.A.T.E. After leaving Cadbury with our loot, it was off to class for me (boo actually studying while studying abroad).

Some Cadbury facts

An old time candy display

This milk tank truck is from 1919! 

 We closed the evening with a delicious lamb chop dinner and a trip to Rob Roy with a few of my friends from the complex. Mom tried Hokey Pokey, one of New Zealand's best flavors. That brought Friday to a close, now on to the big adventure!

Saturday morning we woke up early to make the hour walk to South Dunedin to pick up our rental car. Mom was a bit wary about driving "on the wrong side of the road". She did........ok. We didn't die so I guess that's the most important part. It was about a 2 hour drive (plus some because we got a bit lost) to the Catlins. Unfortunately we didn't make it as far south as I would have liked as the bridge was under construction to get to Cathedral Caves and Porpoise Bay, and the detour would have taken us too long. Our first stop were the Purakaunui Falls. These were absolutely gorgeous falls! And it was a nice easy walk down there, perfect for the start of our day.

A 20 minute return walk to the falls

Some baby falls we saw on the way

Purakaunui Falls

After Purakaunui Falls, we looped back around on the scenic highway to head toward Matai Falls. Luckily there wasn't much traffic through the afternoon which made driving on the opposite side of the rode much easier. 

A 30 minute return  walk to Matai Falls

Matai Falls

Horseshoe Falls

Our last stop on our mini Catlins tour was Nugget Point. This is home to a lighthouse built in 1869 with 5 small rock islets (The Nuggets) off the coast. If you're lucky, you can catch a glimpse of fur seals and the rare yellow-eyed penguin. 

The Nugget Point Lighthouse

The Nuggets

After waiting about an hour and a half we only managed to see a couple of seals, but no yellow eyed penguins We ended the night with a fabulous dinner at The Point Restaurant (I had the pasta of the day - chicken and mushroom fettuccine with carbonara) before driving home. Such a long day sure had us exhausted!