Penguins in the Grass

I woke up my last morning in Queenstown to discover the mattress from the bed across from mine had gone missing while I had slept. It turned out one of the girls we had been hanging out with the night before, Cindy was actually one of my hostel roommates.

The three of them had decided to just stay up all night and Cindy had taken her mattress out to the common area so they would have a place to kick back. I must have been dead on my feet because I was the only one in the room she didn't wake.

Maria Mink the dutch painter girl who I had had a great time talking to the night before was still with them and it was nice to have another chance to chat while we awaited my early bus out of town. The third girl, Sonja who hailed from Melbourne was catching the bus with me. Lucky for her we weren't due to arrive in Dunedin until 2pm so she got to catch up on her sleep. I caught a good catch-up nap myself.

We stopped for morning tea in Alexandra. The town's clock was built into the face of the cliff that towers over the little mining village. The ride was mostly taken up with reading, napping and conversations with fellow travellers.

Dunedin is just big enough to be a city but barely. Still it was the first time I had seen a real indoor mall since I'd left Canada and after I got settled in my hostel room I headed straight there. I'm not excited by malls but a food court and the options that came with it were quite welcome. The road food in New Zealand had so far failed to impress and I need something filing before I headed out on my big activity for the day, a late day trip with Elm Wildlife Tours.

Not far outside the city are some fantastic pockets of nature. Just on the drive out there we saw an amazing number of wild birds unique to the country.

(This bird has two legs but they are so thin that he'll stand on one while tucking the other under his body for warmth and circulation)

The first proper stop was at an albatross preserve. I must admit I had not been that enthusiastic about the albatross stop. I mean they're just big seagulls and I had signed up to see the penguins and sea lions. You know, real wildlife, but when you see a bird with a wingspan that is as wide as you are tall and it's gliding like no other thing you've ever seen, you can't help but be impressed.

(an Albatross with a 2 meter wing span, that's over 6 feet)
There was a quick dinner stop where one of my fellow travellers Martin horrified us me and some other companions with a British invention called a Chip Butty. It's just chips (french fries) in a buttered bread sandwich. How these people survived food like that long enough to build an empire is beyond me.

The next stop was a spot at the shoreline where we had to cross through a sheep field to reach the beaches.


(Sheep)
The tour had been timed for late in the day which is when the sea lions wake to feed and the penguins come in from the ocean to nest, so the whole thing was perfect. Not surprisingly there was a seal colony which I quiet enjoyed despite having seen so many already but the next beach over had the colony of sea lions.


(another seal colony)
Sea lions are the seals' much larger and more aggressive cousin. They were right on the beach and we could walk right up to them within a few meters. Beyond that you risked provoking their territorial instincts. As lethargic as sea lions tend to be they are very strong and can be dangerously fast for short spurts on land so it was kind of wild to be standing so close with only a respectful distance keeping us safe.


(sea lions waking up for dinner)
This was also the time that the penguins started waddling in. When I think of penguins I think of the blank white of the antarctic but here they were, slowly making there way across the sand to set up their nests for the evening in the tall grass of hills that slopped toward the sea.

The yellow eyed penguin is as slow and clumsy on it's feet as any bird could be but that didn't stop a single one from climbing the steep hills into their nesting grounds.


They were of course far mores skittish about humans than the sea lions so we kept our distance and even spent some time watching from viewing shelters set up on the hillside. I was amazed at how far up the steep slopes they went.



(A father and son nesting)
It was a good steep hike back up the hills and through the sheep fields and the sun was setting by the time we reached the little tour bus that took us back home to the hostel. I napped a little more on the drive back.

(A sea lion making a quick pace toward the surf)
As much as I loved the wildlife tour I was a little sad that between the mid afternoon arrival, the length of time we had just spent on the beach and the planned early departure the next day, I wouldn't really get to see the city of Dunedin. So I decided to go for a walk around and see what I could see before it got too late.

(napping sea lions and me ... I'm in the foreground)

I'm glad I did because I soon realized I wasn't missing much. Dunedin is pretty and the city center (known as the Octagon for obvious shape related reasons) has some real character, but by 9:30 only a few coffee shops and bars were open. So I grabbed a snack from the only 24 hour variety store around and called it a good day.