Penguins

Sunday 23rd February
When we arrived in Dunedin last night Jamie met us at the airport. Oh boy it was great to see him. We went to his house in St Clair, just round the corner from the beach, and met his house mate Louis, who was very pleasant and welcoming to us. After a short walk along the beach we had dinner on the seafront which was delicious, and then managed a cup of tea before declaring ourselves ready for bed. James in particular was so tired that his head kept falling backwards suddenly as he sat on the couch. We both had an excellent sleep. Jamie brought us coffee in the morning which we drank while sitting outside on his deck.
It’s lovely but very strange to go from winter to summer so quickly. Today we have spent a warm and sunny summer’s day on the Otago peninsula. Jamie was keen to show us the area, because the first time we came to Dunedin two and a half years ago it was lashing with rain during the few days that we spent here before heading to ski in Queenstown. Apparently this summer the weather has been very mixed here, so Jamie was delighted that he could show us around in the sunshine. We first went on the Monarch cruise, which is a boat trip near the end of the peninsula past Otakou. It was a wee boat and we saw lots of seabirds, most notably a huge albatross which flew over the boat, and some cute young blue penguins swimming in the water. The sea was a beautiful turquoise blue and there was a row of volcanic mountains in the distance to the north. We had lunch sitting outside an idyllic little café in nearby Portobello, with beautiful views of the sea.
Then Jamie took us to Penguin Place, a conservation reserve for sick or injured penguins. There are several types of penguins in the area including the endangered Yellow Eyed penguin. We were shown the recovering penguins relaxing in their pens, where some of them were clearly enjoying (and in one case literally dancing under) a fine spray of water, which looked very refreshing. Then our guide took us to the bay where we didn’t see any more penguins (they are mainly out at sea at this time of year) but we did see fur seals fighting and rolling about, and sea lions gallumphing into the sea.
Jamie then drove us to Allan’s beach which is spectacular, with huge rolling waves and fine white sand, bounded at each end by sea cliffs. There were a couple of sea lions lolling about on the sand. The time flew by and we realised that it was dinner time so went straight to Luna in Roslyn which has fine views over Dunedin. What a day; it was great to spend it outdoors after the long plane journey from Scotland.