What a great birthday I have had today it's not exactly going into Cleckheaton for beers and curry, but a close second!!!!!
We took a drive out of Dunedin and went to the Otago Peninsula, it's a 30km drive around Otago Harbour and the weather has been phenomanal. On the way there are tons of things to stop off at.Our first stop was Larnach Castle,which is the only castle in NZ and was built in 1871 and from the tower at the top you get superb views of Dunedin and the harbour, from here Mel had been going on about Happy Hens studio where they hand make these crazy looking hens which are pretty cool so we called in and bought one!!! (anyone would think it was her birthday!!!)We then drove down a gravel track to The Pyramids (not egypt) they are 2 great big hills that look like pyramids and are nice to see. It was then just a short drive on to Taiaroa Head (like Flambrough Head but warmer) we stopped and had our picnic lunch and shared it with the red beaked seagulls who seemed to like our quiche as they whipped it from under our noses!!!!
They have an Albatross Centre on the head, which you pay for but we just sat and bided our time and sure enough they appeared. The Northern Royal Albatross has a 3m wing span and they were lovely even better through the binoculars.We boarded another boat (the world has gone mad,boats are brill!!!) for a wildlife cruise around the head and this is where the day got even better. We started off looking at Spotted Shags and Stewart Island Shags (cue funny jokes) then there were the NZ fur seals which are lovely and lazy. As we made our way around the head we could see all the Albatross chicks being fed by mum and dad. Once these chicks leave the nest in 4 weeks time they will not touch land then till they return to the nest 4 years later!!!! Had a ride out to sea and turned around as we were heading back in to the harbour our skipper took a detour and we were surrounded by Bottle Nose Dolphins rounding up fish, so we kept our distance then they came right up to the boat and followed us in to shore diving in and out of the water and spraying water it was magical (I think one of them said happy birthday!!) It topped off a great day with great weather, just had enchiladas for dinner and have a nice bottle of wine chilling in the refrigerator. And then a game of Yahtzee we are too rock and roll, Ozzy move over here come the Shaws.
Kia Ora M & M