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TRAVEL BLOG ENTRY
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We reached Dunedin late evening and headed straight through the town and onto the Otago Peninsula, a stretch of land jutting out from the mainland that looked like it was worth exploring. We followed the main road that gripped the waters edge in an alarming way, until we reached a small farm stay where we would stay for the night. After dropping our bags we drove to Pilots Beach, where at dusk, we were told that Blue Penguins come to shore to return to their nests. We arrived just before dusk and waited with a few other couple in the cold. Nothing happened for quite some time, but we had been assured we would see penguins. After a long wait, and out of nowhere, about 25 tiny penguins scrambled onto the beach. The waddled up the beach and climbed the bank in front of us before huddling together again just next to us, their feathers showing the blue tint that gives them their name. When they thought it was safe they were off again, waddling off to their nests. These were followed shortly by more penguins, until we must have seen close to one hundred waddle up the bank in front of us. Hannah thought they were so cute that she now wants a pet penguin when we get home, but I think there are rules against that kind of thing.
The following day we explored Dunedin. A city founded by the Scottish, presumably because it is a place just as rainy as Scotland, it never stopped raining the whole time we were there. Our main reason for the visit was Cadbury’s World. The factory tour was interesting and there was plenty of free chocolate. Hannah told me off a couple times for not being near enough to the front, she was determined that if any free chocolate was on offer, she would be first to get it. We left with enough chocolate to last at least a week. It lasted us until the following evening!
After seeing Blue Penguins the previous night, we headed out again, this time in search of the much rarer Yellow-eyed Penguin, after a gruelling walk across dunes we reached a hide from where we watched the penguins come to shore. We only saw two penguins, although we were able to watch two sea lions fight over territory right in front of us. We got a better glimpse of a penguin when we accidentally bumped into one on the way back to car. They were bigger than the Blue Penguins, but not as cute.
The drive back to Dunedin took us over a hill. As we drove a brief hail storm hit the high ground, covering the road. As we drove along we suddenly begin to struggle on a hill to the point where we were going nowhere. I suggested that I should get out and push us up the hill, but Hannah refused to drive on the slippery surface. That left one option… with Hannah pushing we covered approximately 5 metres, it was useless! We rolled back to the bottom of the hill, only to find another hill round the corner. We were stuck in the world smallest valley right on top of a hill in the worlds tiniest hail storm, how the hell we managed this, I do not know! Thankfully after a run-up, we were able to scramble back up the hill in the direction we had come from. We set out on another route back, only to get lost. At this point Hannah went to the boot to get the map, only to discover we left it back at the hostel, damn! Oh well, off we go again… Nope, I had managed to stop on another gradient, much smaller this time, but we were still going nowhere. Hannah retook her position at the rear of the car after some fine pushing we were able to get moving again. When we eventually got down the other side of the hill, there was no sign of the hail at all, just rain. We returned to our hostel still in disbelief at what we had been through!
The following day we travelled inland back towards Queenstown. We travelled through the hills that had a fresh layer of snow from the night before, which was quite strange for the time of year (November is the equivalent of May in the UK). We stopped briefly at Ranfurly, Alexandra, Cromwell and Arrowtown, all built up during the gold rush in the nineteenth century. Our stops were quicker as there was generally less to see. We returned to Queenstown late afternoon and returned the car. The end of our road trip.
(Note: No pictures of Penguins as we weren’t allowed, apparently it scares them… wimps!)
previous travel blog entry
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