Sea Lions, Sheep and a Very Steep Street

Wednesday 28 June – Saturday 1 July 2000

And so we left Auckland on the day we had planned, but instead of heading for the international departures, we were dropped off at the domestic terminal for a short flight south to Dunedin.  Our plan was to hire a car there and drive south along the east coast then up along the west coast before cutting back across the island to end up in Christchurch, where we would catch a flight back to Auckland.  Knowing that we would be facing an even colder climate on the South Island, we made some emergency purchases prior to our departure, acquiring a couple of new woolly jumpers, scarves and gloves as well as a few pairs of thick socks.  

Dunedin was our entry point onto the South Island and proved to be a beautiful city.  Reminiscent of Scotland’s Edinburgh (indeed Dunedin is Celtic for Edinburgh), it was founded by Scottish settlers and has a statue of Robert Burns guarding its city centre.  It still retains much of its old Victorian architecture and, in true Scottish tradition, even boasts its own whisky distillery.  Finding another fine B&B establishment, we booked in for a couple of days and after a morning of sightseeing around the city centre, spent the rest of our time focusing on some of the scenic highlights on offer around the Otago Peninsular.

First, however, we wanted to check out something that had caught our eye in the guidebook:  Baldwin Street, listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the world’s steepest street.  And steep it is.  Eric can vouch for this first hand having decided to run up (and down) it just to check out the gradient, a mere 1 in 1.266!  Apparently, fit runners can do the return trip in around 2 minutes.  Needless to say Eric took somewhat longer, but thankfully is still with us to tell the tale.

To the east of Dunedin is the Otago Peninsula, a small piece of land jutting out into the Pacific Ocean on which is one of the most accessible wildlife areas on the entire South Island.  At Taiaroa Head at the end of the peninsula is the only northern royal albatross colony in the world close to human habitation.  The birds arrive at the nesting site in September, mate in October, lay their eggs in November and then incubate them until January when the chicks hatch.  Between March and September (we were there in late June), the parents leave their chicks while collecting food, returning only for feeding.  They can spend as little as a tenth of their long life actually on land, being able to stay aloft for days at a time, ranging almost effortlessly on the prevailing winds.

There is no such thing as a guarantee that you will get to see any albatross at the time of year we were there, but we decided to drive up to the visitors center anyway to read up on these fascinating birds and check out the view.  As we stood on the edge of the cliff looking out to sea at the many white birds circling above us, we wondered how we could tell which, if any, were albatross.  We knew we were looking for something with a wide wingspan but even so, the birds we were looking at seemed to us pretty impressive.  With that, the most enormous bird flew over us and it was obviously no seagull.  

As if one bird spotting coup of the day was not enough, we were back down the hill for another, this time penguins.  These were not just any penguins, however.  These were yellow-eyed penguins, one of the rarest penguin species in the world.  The Yellow Eyed Penguin Reserve has won many awards for its conservation efforts and there set up is certainly an impressive one.  The reserve has been set up in the dunes behind a beach in a secluded bay.  Tunnels have been dug and camouflaged to allow visitors to observe the birds in their natural habitat undisturbed. 

Having never seen any kind of penguin in their natural habitat, it was a moving experience watching them come in from the sea in the late afternoon after spending the day out at sea feeding.  As they waddle out of the water up onto the beach, they greet one another, then preen themselves and dry off their feathers before waddling up into the sand dune where their hives are located.  If it were not for the over-zealous people trying to get the ultimate snap shot and pushing you out of their way in the process, this would be a wonderful place to observe the penguins closely and see how they interact with one another.  Nevertheless, it’s a pretty special way to catch your first sighting of them in the wild.

From Dunedin, we drove south, following the road along the east coast.  The tourist guides call this the Southern Scenic Route and the scenery truly is breathtaking.  There was everything from rolling green pastures to native forests and mountainous ranges.  The views down to the coves and beaches from the cliff tops were stunning.  The forests were teeming with spectacular waterfalls and everywhere there seemed to be an abundance of wildlife.

Our first stop was a region known as the Caitlins, and so much was there to see and do here we ended up spending two full days.  One of the two main highlights (among several fantastic treks through forests to see waterfalls) was our encounter with a group of sea lions early one morning as we walked the length of a long, deserted beach.  They were far from friendly, but we were able to get amazingly close to them before they would bark menacingly and threaten to charge, and we sat for hours on the dunes watching them just below us on the beach frolicking in the sand.

The other highlight was Nugget Point.  At the tip of the headland is a lighthouse and leading off from the peninsular a line of tiny islands that seem to fall off the horizon.  Way below at the bottom of the cliff we could make out fur seals basking on the large rocks as well as penguins and a vast array of different species of birds ducking and diving in the coastal breezes.  The views were stunning, particularly as the day began to come to a close and the sun started to set over the wide expanse of sea beyond the lighthouse.  It was a magical place.