Southern Cross Hotel Dunedin

... of the events and that I almost don't want to write because of this. So...<br><br>The flight was thankfully uneventful. 5.5 hours from Philadelphia to LA, 12 hours from LA to Auckland, 2 hours from Auckland to Dunedin. Actually, Air New Zealand had the friendliest airline people I have ever met (although they may have given me special attention since I was sitting alone in a row right near the food preparation area). They even tucked my blanket in ...

... our trip towards the coast and stopped in the town of Omamaru, famous for its penguin colonies. <br><br>We went to check the yellow eyed penguins on a particular beach. Normally, 30 are here but for the last few weeks only a third of theme arrive each night. Locals are getting worried. We managed to pot one!. We then went to Shag point, another viewing ...

... going to be picked up in a small town called Portobello not far outside Dunedin. The drive there was quite enjoyable offering up many pretty vistas of Dunedin and its bay as well as the peninsula itself. The weather made it all look a bit drab and depressing, but we could clearly see the beauty hidden in it despite all the rain. We both agreed that, with better weather, we could spend many hours taking pictures and just plain enjoying the scenery of the peninsula ...

... passing us we saw three pedestrians and one driver all texting at the same time! I was surprised at the low profile of uniformed police and pedestrian disregard of road rules. Both Vanessa and I also remarked on the amount of litter in the city centre, which we did not see in Christchurch. In juxtaposition, we did notice a more visible display of pride in their rugby team, the Otago Highlanders, than in Canterbury.

... a few pictures. Then we stopped at Curio Bay and Porpoise Bay to scout out the yellow-eyed penguins. We did end up seeing one yellow-eyed penguin, but had to look from a distance as to not disturb them in their environment. We drove on to Nugget Point. We took the walking path which led to a lighthouse with dramatic views of the coastline on either side. We did discover some ...

... an historic train trip inland tomorrow. I'll try and do an update after that to show you some of the sites - it is supposed to be quite impressive. The trip should take about half a day. After that we will head off to Gore and then from there onto Queenstown where we will be doing lots of different things but more about that later.

... we got there and the seagulls were fighting to maintain flight. David and I were fighting keep our feet on the ground. We didn't see a single albatross (that we know of) but we saw lots of spotted shags. Beautiful birds that have long thin beaks, a fetching little mohecan and a body full of black and white feathers. Watching them just sit in a nook in the rocks was fascinating for the first half an hour before we started to lose the will to live. We also visited ...

Another lovely drive in beautiful New Zealand, stopping at Benmore Dam, Elephant Rocks (Aslan's Camp in The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe,) Omaru and the Moreaki Boulders we arrived in Dunedin once again impressed by New Zealand. Out into Dunedin, we started at the excellent Otago Museum. And then we went to Cadbury's World. It was amazing, although there was a disappointing lack of chocolate rivers, singing Ompa Lumpas and glass elevators. There ...

... don't come out of the water until dusk, we were about 4 hrs too early. i would have loved to have stuck around but the girls had to get on the road and travel to queenstown before it got too late. so we decided to head back. not too much wildlife to be seen, but i suppose it's to be expected now that the colder weather is here. had a fun time with the girls though. perhaps i'll try to get back out there on my own at some point.

... where we got a footie and I got a film developed. Then we did a bit of shopping for food for the tour. By then it was time to go, and once we were picked up, we set out for the Otago Peninsular. The weather today has been excellent with blue skies and little wind. This made the viewing of Yellow Eyed Penguins and Sea Lions even better. Unfortunately the conditions to see an Albatross weren't right - a shame because they are the biggest in the world! It was still a good day ...