The Otago Peninsula

We really found that people in the hospitality industry will go out of their way for you. They kind of have to, but it can still be handy. So, when I wrote to Back to Nature tours asking about one specific day trip, Chris wrote back asking if there was anything else he could do for us at all. I had concerns about hitting all the different points on the south island, so I asked for some advice there, and he offered to book all transportation, accommodation, and tours. That is how we ended up with a personal guide.

The tour I was initially asking about was pretty much the Discover the Peninsula tour. It looks like they have made a few changes to the package, but the main points are the same, and that basically ended up being one day for us, our first in Dunedin. I'm going to write separate posts for Larnach Castle and Penguin Place, but this is everything else that happened that day.

We has spent the night in Te Anau, so we started the day with a three hour road trip. We needed to get it out of the way some time. We arrived in Dunedin right about lunch time. Chris dropped us off at a Chinese restaurant while he went to go make some arrangements for us. I wish I could tell you the name of the place, but seriously, the only English word I saw anywhere was "restaurant". It was an orange building, and reasonably priced, and might have been on the west side of town.

I almost forgot, our Dunedin Cadbury tour happened on this day also. Well, I already wrote about that, and suffice it to say that while New Zealand is wonderful and magical, Cadbury is much better in Tasmania.

Now, Chris was customizing things for us, so I may mention things that we did that are not normally done. A lot of their business is picking up cruise ship customers, where they have fairly strict time lines. Still, Back to Nature Tours is very accommodating, so it might be worth asking.

Right across from the Cadbury factory is the train station and other historic buildings, as well as a museum and Chinese garden. I will write about these more later, because we did some exploring on our own the next day. Chris also took us to the university campus to look around, and to see Baldwin Street, which he told us is the steepest street in the world. Wikipedia says there is some dispute about that, but as you can see, it is quite steep.

We started off for the peninsula proper, with Chris telling us about the local history and ecology. After Larnach Castle, we headed over to Sandfly Bay. This sounds like an unpromising name, especially as our bug bites from Kangaroo Island had barely stopped itching, but the issue is not sand flies. Instead it is that there are frequent high winds, and so the sand flies. This was definitely true.

In two of the photos you can see Lion's Head Rock, which is a local landmark. Some people also think it looks like a baboon's head, but the locals see a lion, and I can see it too, so that's what I'm sticking with.

As we approached the bay, we passed two men and a dog on a tractor. They were sheep farmers. When we came back, they were gone, but there was a sheep outside the gate, and it seemed disturbed to be separated from the rest of the flock. We are helpful people, and have a lot of compassion for animals, so we felt bad for the sheep and wanted to help. We asked Chris if he could open the gate for the sheep.

There was a look on his face which I did not understand. I thought perhaps it meant that we were overreacting, and the sheep would be fine without our help, and maybe he thought we were a little crazy. It was not that.

Chris tried to prepare us, that if we wanted to muster the sheep, we would all need to get out of the car, and close off different angles. It all seemed rather complicated, when I thought that all he had to do was go and open the gate. Still, this is what he said needed to be done, so we got out, and he moved a little forward, and the sheep bolted and completely escaped our perimeter.

I know sheep have a reputation for being stupid, and maybe that is true, as this one could not see that we were trying to help. What I will say is that they are skittish and fast, and that is why you need dogs. Three confused Americans? Not so helpful.

(Incidentally, we were told earlier that if you find a stray sheep, you can take it. You need to allow some time for the owner to claim it, but you can eat that sheep. Well, this law is less useful knowing how hard they are to catch.)

As stated, Penguin Place will be its own post, but there were a few other stops. One was the Royal Albatross Colony. This is another case where going a bit later could have been helpful. We were right at the start of the breeding season, so there were only two albatross there. That number would be increasing over the next few weeks. Still, we did see those two. (And sea gulls. Lots and lots of sea gulls.)

We also made a few stops for other bird watching at random places. We were on a peninsula, but rather than jutting out into the open sea, it goes out a little and follows the shoreline, so you have this rather large inlet with some good shelter, and you get all kinds of sea birds and shore birds. I can't even remember all the types we saw.

There was one bit of wildlife I will remember for sure though. At one point Chris got out of the car and found four little crabs so we could have a race. He drew a circle in the sand, divided it into quadrants, and set each crab in the middle. Mine was the first one to make it out.

All in all, it was a very good day. We did a lot of different things and had a great time--so much so that it will require three posts total to do it justice (four if you count the Cadbury one).


http://www.backtonaturetours.co.nz/index.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baldwin_Street,_Dunedin