Overcast start to the day - jobs done & ready to leave camp on the stroke of 10am! Picturesque drive out of Dunedin - nice view of the bay as we drove up, onto the Otago Peninsula. Mostly coast road to Taiaroa Head, & the albatross colony. "Free entry" to the gift shop & information centre, but only very expensive tours available, to see the historic fort & gun emplacements (not interested!), plus a video about albatrosses & a brief stop in the hide to view them. At around $100 for a family for less than an hour, & a significant proportion focussed on things that aren't important to us, we politely declined, and walked to the cliff edge of the car park instead, to see seals & sea birds. Drove to the café above and to the east of the centre, in the hope of catching a glimpse, but did not see a single albatross. Reading between the lines, the fact that it was not a windy day limited our chances of a viewing "on the wing", as those are the conditions that the birds prefer.

Slightly disappointed, we retraced our steps, & drove to the Marine Research Aquarium ("Dunedin's boutique aquarium"!). $25 entrance, & the kids were given a couple of info sheets to keep them entertained, & a checklist of creatures to spot! A bit of detailed information on the & current research for D&L to read to start with, while the kids played "fish based" computer games!

Then a deep sea dive simulator in, of course, a yellow submarine, to discover the creatures that live in the deep sae canyons, just off shore (over 1km deep). Next a couple of open pools containing carpet sharks, a moray eel & several other native species (we later watched them all being fed!). Then, as a bonus, we watched one of the staff dissect an Oceanic Sunfish that had been found in the bay. She let us get close, and even touch the fish, while answering a lot of questions, and cutting off bits, some for preservation, & some just to make it lighter, and easier to move!

Back inside, we were invited to join a guided tour & listen to the staff talking about, and showing, the creatures on display. We all really enjoyed the "touch pool", where it was possible to touch, stroke, & even pick up various sea creatures (molluscs, star fish, sponges, sea slugs, etc). Then it was feeding time, & J was particularly taken with the octopus, although, being nocturnal, it didn't make any immediate effort to catch the live crab that was dropped into it's tank, for supper!

Great fun, and very informative, so we didn't leave until past 3pm - so a very late lunch sat in the car, in the car park, in the rain!

Drove back to Dunedin, refuelled the car, then an hour or so to Balclutha, for the turning off the main road. Followed the coast road south to Kaka Point (at the kids suggestion!), to find a pleasant, but very basic cabin ($56) at the campsite. Small kids play area just across the road that they enjoyed for a while. Again, needed a few supplies, as we hadn't stopped in Balclutha, & paid $3.20 (£1.60) for a can of beans! D nearly fainted!!