Allans Beach Farmstay Dunedin

... ourselves away to the car to continue on to Dunedin where we were staying the night. We stopped off at a couple more view points and saw seals again from a distance before checking into our fantastic hostel called Hogwartz which I highly recommend for anyone visiting Dunedin, but we only had a quick turn around here before heading out again along the Otago Peninsula to try to see the elusive rare penguins that come onto shore at dusk to nest. The peninsula is also ...

... in nature in an open space with the wind, usually with a friend). And there is also something liberating or empowering about being in control of a kite, the only attachment to you being a single string (you tie this string to the kite with a good, trustworthy knot that, if broken, will result in the loss of the kite, the ultimate failure in kite-flying practice). All of my sympathy and the innocence and beauty of flying a kite is captured quite nicely ...

On Thursday we heard the sad news that my (Jimmy's) Grandma, Alice, had passed away on Wednesday at the age of 93 so we had a teary morning speaking to home followed by a calm day of driving. The drive was quite long so we stopped off at a couple of cool places along the way. The best stop was a place called the Moeraki Boulders where we stopped and walked on the beach (Nat was provided with the best beach combing potential ...

... had a wedding to get to which was actually the only overcast day, but better for photo's so they say. I'm not supposed to put any photo's of the bride online yet until the official shots have been released. It was a beautiful setting outdoors in an old park, and a lovely reception in the Otago museum. Good day all round, and lovely to be part of. The rain came just after the party moved indoors so some more good stuff from mother nature going on there. ok, enjoy the photos..

... none of us really fancied it once we got there, as it was small and dark with no views. It was obvious then that we would have to find our own place to stay and we had picked up a brochure in the Info centre for some new apartments in a disused chapel, allegedly the oldest church building in the city, which is just up the road from where we were. After a couple of calls, first to the agent and then to the owner of the apartments, $300 in cash changed hands and we got the use of ...

... were surrounded by a group of Japanese tourists, who seemed determined that every member of their party should be photographed striking various poses, whilst seated on the boulders!!! Conscious that time was not on our side we simply grabbed what photo opportunities we could, like tourists who simply tick off the sights they have seen, and hurried back to the car without stopping long enough to appreciate them!! Finally we reached Dunedin, which from ...

... was really cool, I enjoyed it a lot more than the albatrosses, who were very impressive in the sky but quite far away. The penguins were much closer. I debated whether to go back to Pilots Beach and watch the penguins coming home after a long day of fishing, but in the end thought that driving back down the coastal road in the dark would not be much fun, especially since there are no street lights. The penguins don't return until dusk, so by the very ...

Kia Ora, Dunedin ist gaelisch fuer Edinburgh, Dunedin wurde vor 150 Jahren von schottischen Einwanderen gegruendet und war vor 100 Jahren die groesste Stadt Neuseelands - heute ist es die fuenftgroesste (115000 Einwohner) mit der groessten und aeltesten Universitaet (20000 Studenten in der Otago University). Ausserdem ist es die fuenftgroesste Stadt der Erde wenn man die Stadtflaeche als Grundlage nimmt:-) Dunedin hat einiges zu bieten, neben der Otago Peninsula ...

... lake edge where you could take bits of glacier (very small bits) out and see they way there really is 7/8th's under the water and how its actually made up of loads of honeycombs of ice rather than a big sheet. i actually think that al gore mentioned the tasman glacier in his an inconvenient truth cos the big sign said that 30 years ago there wasnt even a glacial lake, just some sinkholes. and now theres a huge lake. global warming is a scary thing. and then this ...

... their facilities. We made a curry and baked some bread, and took it in turns to have showers and stir the pot. Kirsty attempted to dye her hair bright red, but the results were a little disappointing. Well, very disappointing to be honest. In the summer her hair does tend to redden quite a bit, and really, the dye achieved no more than a day or two sitting in the sun would have done. Maybe find a hairstylist to do it properly. We shall see. The curry and bread had the ...