Our day in Dunedin was very busy. In the morning we visited the Royal Albatross Centre. It was located on the Otago Peninsula. It had
absolutely stunning views all around.
Albatross are the world largest seabirds, with its massive wingspan of up to 3.3 metres.
It is said that they normally live on remote islands and spend at least 85% of their lives at sea, well away from land and human view. That's is why this Dunedin Royal Albatross Center is unique. This is the ONLY mainland breeding colony of royal albatross in the world! We were there at the perfect time of the year too. The breeding birds arrive at Tiara Head on Otago Peninsula in September, and they nest during early November. Within the following three weeks an egg is laid - one only per couple, every two years.
When we arrived at the Centre we found out we need to pay quite a lot of money for all of us to do an hour tour (which doesn't guarantee the sightings of the albatross, we might be lucky, we might not be lucky and see no birds...). So instead of joining the tour we walked to the free viewing platform. Unfortunately it was an extremely windy morning. Even for adults it was hard to stand still.
It must been our lucky day, we spotted a couple of albatross flying over us and we even saw a seal having a play in the rough water below.
It was just amazing to see such rare wildlife in this beautiful scenery. We spent quite a while admiring them and walking around the peninsula.
The kids also had a ball running up and down the hills in the super wind!
After a great morning we drove up the hill to visit Larnach Castle, NZ only castle built in 1871.
This castle was built by a politician, William Larnach. The Castle is still privately owned and cared for by the Barker family who purchased it as their home in 1967!
Having 5 little ones with us our main reason for the visit was to walk through the amazing garden which has been rated as a Garden of International Significance.
It got nice and hot while we enjoyed our coffee and snacks at the cafe. See, even our kids got rid of some layers of clothes!
After lunch we said good bye to Dunedin and started to drive up towards Ashburton. On the way up we stopped at another nature's wonder - Moeraki Boulders. This is another famous tourist spot on the East Coast of the South Island. According to their website some 60 million years ago, the Moeraki boulders stated forming on the ocean floor. Centuries of coastline erosion have revealed a spectacular view of these curiously large spherical boulders. The larger Moeraki Boulders are as big as 3 metres and weigh several tonnes!
You can see more amazing photos from their website here.
My advice for you if you are visiting this site is to check the time for low tide. Well, certainly we didn't :(
We had to rush back after a small walk as the tide was coming in so quickly...
We had a relaxing coffee and ice cream stop at the cafe before heading back to our campervan.
Our last stop for the day (yes, we are crazy Japanese tourists!!) was to visit the Oamaru Blue Penguin Colony. Here we could see the world's smallest penguins in their natural environment. Since we didn't plan to stay in Oamaru that night, we did the daytime self guided tours. Unfortunately, during the day penguins are not active on land, they are either out at sea fishing or hiding away in their nesting burrows. But we managed to see two penguins up close in the penguins breeding area. And spotted some more in their nesting burrows which the kids enjoyed a lot! Of course Luca tried to pet a nesting mother and almost got bitten.
Maybe he was more interested in seeing these strange creatures...
Lots of fresh air and exciting penguin spotting for all of us to wrap up our busy busy day.
Watch out, penguins are crossing the road!
