Albatross, Penguins & Sealions Oh My.

Where in the world is BobO, taking a picture of Mike on a table on a hill at Sandfly lookout, looking out for penguins and sea lions.

Breakfast this morning was fresh crossiants, fruit and bread. We got to try VegiMite. We have an uncontested vote, it is NOT edible! Mike might have eaten an entire loaf of fresh raisin bread! We have been able to make coffee at all the accomodations we have stayed at, and so far it is always with a french press not a coffee pot. The one other guest at the B&B was from Chicago. She was working at a Museum convention.

We took a city tour of Dunedin (Dun-Eden). Dunedin is a college town with about 100,00 residents plus + 30,000 college students. It is home to the worlds steeptest street. The best thing about the town, it is home to Cadbury. We have been trying out all the different kinds of Cadbury chocolate.

After the city tour we hit the Pick & Save for meat and cheese for our lunch. We drove out to the Otago penninsula for bird watching and a picnic.No penguin sightings, they were out to sea. We drove a little further to the worlds largest Albatross colony. These birds are enormous with a wing span for 3 meters (about 10 feet). We got to see one of them flying around. The real sight is to see the whole colony flying, it wasn't in the cards for us today. They were not active.

We took the high road back to town. We stopped at Sandfly lookout. Supposedly there was a hike down to the water to see a colony of penguins. Bob and I started out on the hike. We stopped about 1/2 way down questioning whether we should keep going because it was raining/hailing out. The beach looked like it was 5 minutes away. It didn't seem to get closer the farther we walked. It was 40 minutes straight down hill in the sand. At the bottom we saw some lazy sea lions on the beach. No penguins. We will have to try our luck at penguin sightings when we get back to Christchurch.

We started back up hill, where we saw Mike & Linda right behind us. The walk back up hill in the sand was life threatening. I heard Mike call out, "I might have the Big One". Mike & Linda had a whirlpool tub for two in their room. I picked up bath salts at the Albatross center gift shop. They were much appreciated.

The drive was pretty scarey. Very narrow and windy roads. Similiar to the cliff drive we took in Ireland. Mike said if this is a pucker drive, then this is pucker point. The speed limit is 100kpm (62mph) Bob drove 50kph.

It was quite a bit cooler. We could see our breath in the morning. I wore all the clothes in one day that it took me one week in Australia to wear. Tank top, t-shirt, long sleeve shirt, tank top, and a fleece. I even grabbed a hat & gloves.