This morning I was up early to watch the sunrise over the lake. It had stopped raining & the sun was out so I then headed into the town to get coffee & toast. I had a quick look round in the daylight, then as the rain started I planned my route to Dunedin. There were a few options & would include pretty views - however I spent so long planning it all I then didn't actually have time to stop and admire any of them! (Plus while the drive to Dunedin was only 3 hours 20, I'd forgotten to plan for the 45 min drive out to the otago peninsula where the Penguins were!). So I whizzed through the mountains towards Arrowtown, past the lake & fruit farms at Cromwell, the bright blue river, the trees with leaves blowing off in the wind & the sheep between Alexandra & Roxbrough & the flatter but rocky hills towards Milton & arrived at Dunedin.

A fairly large town with a steep hill as you approach it providing great views of the mountains & Ocean as you drop into town. The drive to the Otago Pennisula was interesting - a windy, steep, narrow, whinding road with no barrier or fence between the road and a steep drop down into the sea! Least that's what it felt like, I was gripping the steering wheel keeping my eyes firmly fixed on the road!! It was no longer just leaves coming off the trees, it was sticks & branches too!

I'd chosen to go to Penguin Place, a penguin conservation reserve rather than some of the penguin tourist attractions in the area. Here you are not guaranteed to see penguins & seals, but if you do they are genuinely wild.

On the reserve they have bought a section of beach so the Yellow Eyed Penguins can feed & nest away from the public & predators such as dogs (& cats - they have seen 20 different stray cats in the area). They also have a penguin rehab hospital to look after sick or injured penguins.

There are only 3000 yellow eyes penguins left in the world. At the reserve in 2013 there were 19 nesting pairs, 2014 there were only 12 pairs & last year only 6 pairs. Yellow Eyed Penguins like to live in coastal forests as they don't like the heat so need shade, they also like to have a territory so use trees & bushes like 'garden hedges' to define boundaries. As coastal forests are destroyed so is their habitat

There was a group of around 8 of us, we were taken in a small mini bus up and down to the private beach. We walked down to the beach and were taken through a series of tunnels to the hides. There were 2 penguins returning from the sea ready for bed. After watching them for a while we then walked out of the hides and round onto the cliffs above the beach to watch 4 more penguins come home from their day in the sea. We also saw 3 fur seals on the rocks beneath us too.

The tour was 90minutes and well worth it. It was getting dark by the time I left to drive back over the whinding road, not sure if it was better in the dark not being able to see the drop down the cliffs?!

I checked into my motel then headed towards town to get some dinner. The girl on reception had recommended a Thai restaurant on the St Clair sea front. As I parked up the waves were huge & the noise they made as they smashed on shore was really loud - I'd not seen/heard waves like that before!

I then came back to the motel to plan my next few days. I had planned driving straight to Te Anua en route to Milford Sound for the cruise but Dunedin looked so pretty I think I'll spend a bit more time here & then see how far I get tomorrow. Is just so much to we and do!!

(Ps the Thai was called spirit house if you're ever in the st clair area - it was really nice).