Dunedin and Otago Peninsula

What did we do in Dunedin... Hmm... On monday we left the Catlins at a leasurly pace, since the drive to Dunedin isn´t that long (maybe 2 hours) First we had breakfast in M&Vs room at 9. The well fed black and white cat that came to visit us last night, was there again in the moring. We didn´t let it in, so while we had breakfast it lay leasurly on the door mat. Not a care in the world. Our toaster mallfunctioned at on moment, burning the toast and setting off the smoke detector. The cat gave an indignent miauw and stood up, but didn´t leave. It was a hell of a noise, but I managed to shut the thing up. The Motel owner, who also workes the little supermarket and gas station in front, didn´t rush over. Even the cat settled down on the mat again, not even leaving when we started carrying out our luggage. Only when we had to push out the big suitcases it moved to the storage bay behind the store, getting some sun, lazily looking over at what we where up to. Packing the car is a well oiled machine by now. We left at the time we usually leave, about 10 AM, exaclty check out time.
Once we where underway, we had a bit of rain. But that didn´t stop us from enjoying the wonderfull Catlins scenery once more. We drove parts of the way the day before, but now we took the sealed higwhay all the way, and not the unsealed road we did before. So it was less adventurous, but the views were lovely as ever, with many interesting farm buildings and hills full of sheep. We even ran into a farmer herding his sheep along the street in his flatbed car. One farmer drove in front, the other behind, coaching the sheepdogs to steer the sheep over the street. Despite the fascinating view this offers, we where glad the sheep didn´t have to go that far, so we could resume our journey quickly. We didn´t make a substantial stop until Lake Waihola, where we stoped to to take in the view from the hilltop over the lake. I had a "picknick", a NZ candybar hybrid between a lion and a snickers.
Once out of the Catlins, towards Balclutha, the Southern Scenic Route joins the main highway for a while, and it shows. More traffic and less scenic. The region between Balclutha and Dunedin is mainly industrial (logging) and the centre of agriculture (larger facilities like stock food, large farm equipment and I managed to spot a slaughterhouse; South Kill Slaughter) But once we left the main road again at Taieri Mouth, back to the scenig part of the route alongside the coast, views improved. The beach here is mostly sandy with rough waves and less cliffs, looking a bit like the north sea coast. We stopped at one point between Brighton and Ocean view. The sand here has a fine layer of reddish sand over the fine white sand. Interesting look. Shortly after that we already arrived at Dunedin´s city limits. Here the towns, at one moment quiet coastal settlements, bleed over into the greater Dunedin area. We drive through the city, a medium sized metropol, large streets and a well sized city centre. Not very touristy, just a normal city where the buisiness on the street is formed by people living normal daily lives. Many students too because of the improtant university here.
After a small loop thourgh the city we found a motel at the north end of George street (the street that cuts right through the heart of the city, the Octacon, we at this point didn´t drive through that square yet) Quite a few motels had No Vacancy (the Quality Inn where we asked first had no space for 4) so we ended up a bit further from town, but not by much. Most of the hotels are walking distance from the city centre. (Our hotel was maybe a 30 minute walk to the Octagon, the 8-sided heart of the city)
Once in the motel, once unpacked, I hit the city around 4, after I used up 10 dollars worth of wireless Internet. After 13 degrees and ferotious winds at the coast, Dunedin, with the sun shining again, was warmer, but a sweater was still necessary, even though some Dunedin residence where only in T-s.

The walk to the heart of the town, took me about 30 minutes. At the Octagon, the first stop was the Cathedral. A large, impressive stone church, right next to the town hall and i-Center. Inside, the alter section of the church had been renovated in the 70, making the end of the church look strangely modern (large windows and a modern looking corss hanging above the atlar) from the outside it looked even more unsightly. In the chirch there also was a flower show, with half a dozen old biddies having set up some tables to present some flower arangements.
Walking the city takes little time. From the Octacon we walked to the 19 Centruy Train station. A magnificent building,
After this we walked to Queens Park, a small green patch next to a broad main street, with a strangely phallic monument next to a statue of Qeeun Victoria. Behind it, on the other side of a main street, the Art Deco looking Settlers Museum. Had we had more time, I would have visited this. In the distance the steepest street in the world. We walked back to the outer ring of the Octagon (there ar 2 streets shaped with 8 sides, the main square and a street beyound that, the outer ring so to speak) where we found the First Chirch of Otago. Inside, a beautiful wood roof. I also quickly checked the movie theater Rialto for what it was shoing that night. Only movie of interest, Girl with the dragon tatoo. We walked the outer ring to another theater behind the town hall, here they show more arthouse fare, also The girl... It started at 19:40. It was 18:00 so we desided to go for some dinner and I would try to see the movie. We ate at the Planet recommended Palms restaurant, a relatively fancy place set in a historic building overlooking Queens Park. The food was great, very distinct tastes in small portions (lamb with spinache, kumara puree and mint cubes) but taking disert made me mis my movie. It also was the most expensive place we ate at (total 210 Dollar) but we all ate desert, and the wine was kinda pricy. I of course drank Speights, since Dunedin is the town where that beer is from. You can also visit the Speights brewery here.
We walked back to our motel. The center of town wasn´t deserted, like most towns in NZ after 8, but it wasn´t as bustling as Auckland, Christchurch or Wellington. Maybe most people where inside because of the cold? Maybe most students are not around yet? I did manage to hear some live music coming form somewhere. I read that Dunedin is well known for its lively music scene. But we all called it a day. At our motel, whe had full access to Sky TV for the first time during our trip, 60 plus channels, ans still nothing on. So Marcel and Silvia hijacked the TV to watch the winter olympics. I managed to listen to my audiobook (the lovely bones) in bed before I fell asleep. the bed´s here are soft and wobly again, so not too compfi for my tastes.

The next day we went back into nature, the Otago Peninsula, just a 15 minute drive from Dunedin town center. This little half isle offers stunning views, great beaches and amazing wildlife. The scenery is smalltown and one very similar to the catlins. A strange idea that a large city is so close to what comes down to a stretch of nature reserve and farmland. Only the view from the north coast towards the city reminds one how close Dunedin actually is. Otherwise, it´s like being in the middle of nowhere. Of course the peninsula is bustling with tourists, but so are most parts of NZ (even in the more remote parts like the catlins)
The main draw of the peninsula is the wildlife. One can view Yellow-eyed and blue pengiuns here, as well as many fur seals on the rocky coast and sea lions on the beaches. The north side of the penisula forms a bay with the shore of Dunedin, so the coast here is very calm, with a low coastal road next to the mountains with small, pitoresque fishing villages, while the south coast, towards the open sea, is just as rough as the one in the catlins. Wild seas and high cliffs as well as beautiful white beaches (the beaches here also had the misterious red layer on top) with high dunes. The view from the Highcliff road offering stunning views of this adventurous coastline.

We left a tad late from our Motel, i think it was 11, but we made good time getting to the peninsula. On the way there, I used the city map I bought the day before at the i-center, and for some reason we all where in a pissy mood. I tried to give directions, but apperently not good enought because at some point it almost deteriated into a screaming match. When we finally entered the High Cliff road, we stoped at a viewpoint. We almost drove past it, because it wasn´t clearly pointed out by a sign, a rarity in NZ (normally you get a sign 600 meters before, saying there will be a viewpoint in X meters, and then a sign pointing to it when you get there) a narrow path led to a gigantig parking lot an picnic area. You had a wonderfull view of the bay and the city on the other side. You could cleary see the shipping lane in the otherwise low tide bay. The sky was stark blue and the sun was shining, so slowly our moods lightened up. The rest of the High Cliff Road led past the south side of the isle, leaving the city views behind the mountains and hills, making it feel more like a remote coastal route. Stunning views of the coast and farmland everywhere, the hills once more specked with white dots. Our first stop was Sandfly Bay, not named after the pesky insect, but after a wild, windswept sand beach with a large dune area, not unlike home. Here there is a breeding ground for Yelloweyed penguins, so some of the dunes are off limits and there is a penguin hide, from wich to spy on them when they get back to their nests. Strangely to get to the hide, you had to walk over the beach, which I think would defeat the purpose of a hide. The penguins are extremely shy and won´t come a shore when they see something threatening (like us) So I guess they close the beach, since the hide is also accessible from the next bay over, which doesn´t lead over the beach, but through the dunes, past the sandyhill. The advice is, once you see a penguin on the beach, keep at least 200 meters away and sit down, as to not seem like a predator. Once I was on the beach, the others lagging behind on the high dune path, I saw something moving in the distance. I first tought it was a person, but it was too small for that. It was a Yelloweyed penguin, making it´s way from the dunes to the sea! I quickly sat down and watched the little fellow waddle accross the beach. It was too far to take a picture, and I didn´t have binoculars. So I just sat there and watch him make his way. He reached the sea, after one wave he floated on the water like a water bird, and after the second wave he was gone. Amazing! Silvia came up behind me (Marcel and Veronika stayed at the entrace of the beach, getting some sun) and we managed to find the fresh penguin tracks in the sand. We walked all the way to the hide, a 20 minute walk along the white beach, but didn´t see anymore. We walked back to the others and had some time in the sun as well, sitting in the sand in the warm sunshine. We were very lucky weather wise again today. Blue sky, sunshine but not too hot either. The climb up the steep sand dune back to the carpark proved very straneous. Feet kept sinking into the deep sand.
From the beautiful beach of Sandfly Bay we headed back onto the unsealed road, on our way to the next bay and beach, where Sea Lions where supposed to hang out. On the way, we passed an Inlet of sea water, mostly dry because of low tide, but an interesting site nonetheless. We also passed the Otago yacht Club and some boat ramps. We also saw a farmer training his dogs to herd his sheep. Maybe he was practicing for the championships? On TVNZ at night we saw a broadcast of the NZ sheep hearding championships. Very interesting to see how one man stears his dogs just by whistling and sometimes yelling.
The next beach (Allan´s beach) was more accessible, just a 10 minute walk over farmland and no high sandslope to conquer. On the way to the beach a couple told us there was a sea lion mother with child. It turned out to be a male and female, we figuered when one mounted the other. They looked small lazily sleeping in the sand, only sometimes moving to throw some sand over their hide, but once a wave hit them they jumped up and you could see how massive they where, especially the male. Not as big as the one we saw in the Catlins, but still. Especially because we where pretty darn close. Marcel managed to snap quite the amazing pictures. Quite a sight to see the two large animals in action. How often can you see you had your lunch in an amazing sandy bay with enormous sea mammals fucking right in front of you? Forget Discovery channel! Before they mounted each other, the male tried to bite the female in the behind. I think they boath wheren´t that in the mood, since they lay back down again soon and resumed their slumber. We waited a bit for antoher wave, but the high tide was still too long off, so we set off again. By this time it was 4 pm.
Another low tide inlet lead us to the other side of the peninsula. Here the coast was much calmer, with some small vilages and farmland. At one point we saw a goatfield, where some of the goats where eating leaves of a tree on a hillside wich lead traight down. Amazing that the animals didn´t fall off!
At the end of the peninsula, at the point so the speak, is Taiaroa Head, which houses a lighthouse and an albatross centre and some stunning viewes off a high cliff. The Royal Albatross Center offers tours up the hill to the Albatross colony, but we decided to just see the large birds soar from below the center. And soar they did! At first it was hard to distinguish the albators form the larger NZ seagulls, but after a while you could easily distinguish between them. Albators are much larger (their wings spanning up to 2 meters, 3x larger than the seagull) are don´t move their wings as much. Also their beack looks much different. So we tried a couple a different places from which to best view the birds fly over, the best one tunring out to be the slope behind the centre´s café. While the others had some refreshments, I tried to snap some good shots and managed quite well. Albatross depend completely on wind (if there is no wind, they cannot even take off) so once the wind led theme directly over my head, some pretty amazing pictures where to be shot. All the while the small NZ seagulls literally screamed for attention as well. It´s incredible how cheecky and loud these birds are. They really don´t move away when you come close to them! An they always loudly beg for food or scream at each other for coming to close to their food source. The young ones also squeek at their parents (at least I think they only do it to their parents), duck in front of them and rub their beaks at their throats untill they vomit up food. These little squeeky gulls also don´t tollerate any strange gulls in their vicinity. They call loudly and make trheatening moves. (We saw this up close many times when we sad on beaches having our lunch and one seagull chasing off all the others that came to beg) The Seagulls are also known to frighten chicks of other bird species (like the spottet shags seen on the peninsula) into vomiting up their food. They really are little bastards. And they are as plentyfull and pushy as pigeons are at home. Only Seagulls are loud as well! An Veronika often made the mistake of feeding them. Before you know it you´re surrounded by dozens of the fucking birds!
On the other side of Taiaroa head, towards the open sea, you can look off a high cliff and you can look up at the lighthouse and the albatros colony. So sometimes you can see one of the large brids fly over (a thing some photographers with telelenses where waiting for) Down below the cliff a spread of rocks revealed many fur seals playing and resting, and up the cliff walls in the bushes you could see birds like spotted shags and `lepelaars`. Quite the little flora and fauna show. Also the seawead between the rocks was pretty fascinating. It´s connected to the rocks. We where happy to have our trusty binoculars with us for all of this.
Beneath the Albatross center carpark, towards the Dunedin bay, is a small beach (Pilot´s Beach) where after dark little blue penguins come ashore to return to their nests in the rocks after a day of fishing. Behind a camouflaged fence you can watch the penguins come in, but we where too early, it was only about 7:30 PM. We waited till 8PM for maybe a stray penguin coming back to the colony (we saw one on a loneley beach in the Catlins) but we where out of luck, and nobody wanted to drive back to Dunedin in the dark. So we had to abort our mission to see blue penguin and drove back into the city, arriving shortly before dark. Ended the day by having a very late dinner at our motel (saucages and pees), and watching some winter olympics (fucking ice dancing!). SKY movies was also showing No country for old man, of wich I cought the middle part. It´s still amazing how fucking awesome that movie is.