It was Friday 17 September and we were on our way to Dunedin with only 4 of us on the Magic bus!! I can only think it was due to the weather as it was snowing very heavy.

Before reaching Dunedin our coach stopped off in a small town called Alexandra so we could stretch our legs and have some breakfast. There really wasn't much in this town that's probably why we only had 30 minutes!

We arrived in Dunedin which is the second largest city in the south island. Looking out of the coach window it was full of university students which make up almost 20% of the population in Dunedin!!

We arrived at the Leviathan Hotel, which had a section of budget accommodation for backpackers. The hotel was established in 1884 with some of the staff employed looking like they were probably alive when it was being built. The cleaners, in particular, looked like they were on their last legs! The hotel certainly had and old feel with much of the dirt being original. If you were in any doubt about the age of the hotel you just needed to sniff the air to get a nostril full of the decadent musty aroma. The Ritz this certainly wasn't but it was cheap. To top things off the hotel was freezing cold with no heating, even the electric blanket didn't work!

It was all a rush once we got off the bus and checked into our hotel. We had to make a quick decision as to whether we wanted to do a wildlife tour today or tomorrow as we were aware that a big storm was coming over from Australia with snow and heavy winds. As the weather looked good on arrival we thought it was best to do it that afternoon.
After checking in we were on the Elm Wildlife Tour minibus in 10 minutes. We were taken to the Otago Peninsula a few miles from the city where we stood by a cliff so we could watch the Albatross. We didnt see any of them. As we were keeping a close eye on the coast line we got caught in a hail storm! We all then ran inside the Albatross Centre to see displays and the information provided on these birds.

A recorded life span of an albatross exceeds 60 years with flights reaching speeds of over 100kph!! With an average wingspan of 3.5 metres these are pretty impressive creatures. When the birds first take to the air they head East for 9,500 km towards South America. The
flight takes 5 years during which time they lose about 1/4 to 1/3rd of their body weight as they fly without rest.

During our trip we were taken to a private conservation area where we walked along tracks and across farmland, rocks and beach. We got excellent views of birds, fur seals, sealions and yellow eyed and blue penguins.

The yellow eyed penguins are the rarest of the world's 18 species of penguins and are only in New Zealand. They were very funny to watch as they waddle across the sand like little drunk men. We have captured many photos and video footage.

There were 4 Hooker sealions (3 male/ 1 female) on the beach chilling out and rolling itself in the sand. At one point, the female sealion ran up the beach towards us. She was clearly looking for a confrontation so our guide jumped in front of us. The sealion ran
forward to attack but our guide stood his ground. Another attack followed before the sealion backed off. It was all a bit exciting but a little worrying as sealions can reach speeds of upto 20kmph on land!!

The weather held up for us in the end so made it a great trip. We were well wrapped up with hat and scarf as it was freezing cold by the beach.

After the tour we got dropped off in the city and went for an early dinner at the Little India restaurant. Unusually, the place seemed to employ staff of every nationality. We were served by a kiwi, an Asian girl, a black guy and then an Indian. It was the most cosmopolitan Indian restaurant we had ever been in. Unfortunately, like all the Indian restaurants we have been to in New Zealand they only use chicken thighs (not breast meat) so Lisa opted for lamb instead which was pretty good.

The next day we took the Taieri Gorge Railway, which is one of the World's great train trips. The train includes heritage carriages dating back to the 1920's and are pulled by classic DJ diesel electric locomotives. We left Dunedin to Pukerangi (58km) and returned back to Dunedin. We travelled through snow, farmland, forests and the wild Taieri River Gorge. We crossed stone and wrought iron viaducts and bridges and gasped at sheer drops! It was another rainy day but we did capture some photos.

When we arrived back to Dunedin we thought we would have a look at the Chinese Garden as it was close to the railway. The garden commemorates the contribution chinese people have made and continue to make in Dunedin's history, culture and ongoing prosperity.

The garden closes at 5pm giving us just 20 minutes to walk around. Given the limited time, we didnt think it was worth paying the entrance fee. Mark cheekily asked if we still needed to pay as they were almost ready to close and was somehow able to get the entrance fee waived!! We are glad we didn't pay the NZ$9 each as it wasn't worth it. It was very small and therfore 20 minutes was enough!

We then ventured to the world's steepest street called "Baldwin Street". As we started walking it was sunny but within minutes we were in a hail storm! We climbed the street with its 38 degree gradient, which was pretty hard towards the top but worth it. Many young lads drive up here so they can get a thrill driving down it, as we witnessed a few times.

As it was freezing cold, we hopped onto a local bus back to the city centre known as the Octagon. We had dinner and a few drinks before going back to our hotel.

We were up early the following morning making a few calls to home before going to the Cadbury Factory.

At the Cadbury Chocolate Factory we took a shortened 45 minute tour as the main factory is closed at the weekend. That said, we saw the visitor centre and chocolate making process followed by a chocolate tasting. We ended up making some purchases in their retail outlet. It was unbelievable to find that our tour guide use to live in Farningham, Kent which is about 5 miles from our house and was a teacher in a school that Mark attended!!

We took a walk around town to find some lunch and to read up on things to do.

We took a few photos and headed to the Otago Settlers Museum and saw some interesting information on Otago Maori, 1970's fun and games, celebrity visitors to Dunedin, portraits and the old steam locomotive.

After this, we spent the afternoon in a pub at the Octagon (city centre) drinking and typing up our blogs! We ended up having dinner in the pub too!

We got back to the hotel and packed our stuff as the next morning we were off to Lake Tekapo. More on that in our next blog.