Chocolates, Castles and Lots of Little Penguins!

            For part of this week we were in the college town of Dunedin, boasting a history and culture more Irish inspired than any of the other New Zealand cities.  So, seeing as we are also traveling with our fellow Kiwi Experience trekker, Karen, who happens to be Irish, this week will have a few Irish terms/phrases of the day!

"You're laughing" or in Irish "Tá tu ág gáire" - means "everything's good" or "you're set!"

"Let's make like a shepherd and get the flock out of here!" - A very Irish phrase I am told and my guess is that this phrase is pretty darn self explanatory.  Kind of like "Let's make like a baby and head out!" or "Let's make like a tree and leaf!" You get the picture.

Looking down the coast on the outskirts of Dunedin towards Otakou Point

             We got up early after our first night in Queenstown, the rainy and dreary weather clinging to the city.  We packed our bags to leave to town, our Irish friend Karen leaving behind another “It’s not poo!” sign.  Our last night in Franz Josef she had unknowingly sat on a rather fair sized hunk of chocolate, the result when she stood up being a long brown stain smeared into the starkly white sheets of the bed.  Whoops! We felt the need to clarify that morning as we were checking out that it was NOT poo on the sheets and was in fact chocolate. So in Queenstown, we seemed destined to repeat a similar fate though this time with a bit of left over chocolate ice cream on a towel.

            So off to more southern parts it was, our destination after hours of driving being the college town of Dunedin.  Three hours later and we were there weaving our way through the lovely city, past the old chapels, small cathedrals, and beautiful stonework buildings…

Cool building in downtown Dunedin

…by the most photographed train station in the Southern Hemisphere….

The Dunedin Railway Station

….and finally to the information center. 

            With our bearings finally found and directions and a rough plan acquired, it was off to our first activity for the day; a tour of the Cadbury Chocolate Factory! I know, fantastic right? We got to learn how tons of different chocolates are made, see a number of the machines in motion, watch a chocolate fountain drop one ton of milk chocolate in under 60 seconds, and were given more chocolate than I can probably finish on this trip.  That may be hard to believe but seriously, it was a lot; all the while wearing the most attractive looking hair nets you can imagine.  Sorry, no pictures of that one though… ;)

Mom and I by the old Cadbury milk truck

            Heading out of the town of Dunedin, we made our way into the country hillside of the outer city, winding up through fields dotted with countless sheep and to the site of Larnach Castle.  The castle is one of the oldest buildings in New Zealand, its history definitely a sad and rather tragic one.  The castle has been restored in recent years, it’s beautiful stonework falling into significant disrepair in the mid 1900’s.

             Much of it’s original furniture has been returned in the past years, the indoors being beautifully styled in the Victorian era.

I think this may be the drawing room (?)

            The grounds are a gorgeous walk as well, boasting one of only five gardens nationwide with the title of “Garden of International Significance” by the New Zealand Gardens Trust.

            The skies beginning to show a twinge of evening light, we headed off from the beautiful castle, making our way further down the coast and out to Otakou Point and the Royal Albatross Center.  Beginning shortly after sunset, the center runs a little blue penguin spotting tour, a platform having been built directly below the center and right off the water where visitors can watch the penguins come ashore after a day out to sea.  While we waited for the skies to get dark enough, we walked to the lighthouse lookout, hoping for the chance to see the famed Royal Albatross.  And lucky us, we did!

The sun setting off Otakou Point

            I hadn’t quite realized how big they were until I saw one, boasting a 3 meterish wingspan landing it at the second largest albatross behind the wandering albatross.

Catching a royal albatross fly by

            Then it was finally time to see the penguins, the skies sufficiently dark and the guides leading us down the pathway and to the platform.  I couldn’t seem to get a good picture of a penguin for the lighting and the understandable “no flash allowed” policy, but I did get some good video footage of a number of rafts (as the swimming groups are called) coming ashore! And we were there for the July’s record breaking number of over 150 penguins coming ashore that night!

            Leaving behind the lovely city of Dunedin the next morning, it was off to explore the famed Catlins drive, the long coastal road composing the Southern Scenic Route of New Zealand between the towns of Balclutha and Invercargill. But first, we had to of course take a short hike up Baldwin Street, the steepest street in the world! The distance of the short 161 meter street climbs a total of 47.22 meters vertically and averages at a gradient of 1 in 3.4 with the steepest section being 1 in 2.9.

             Checking the short and steep climb off the list and taking a short stroll through the Otago University campus, we began the long drive through the Catlins.  First stop was Kaka Point, the beautiful beach sporting some intense blue water and a walkway lined with colorful abalone shells. 

            A short coastal walk later and with sand still between our toes it was off a little ways down the road to Nugget Point.  We took a couple really short walks there, one to a yellow penguin view blind (of which we didn’t see any since it was only 3:00pm and they usually don’t come ashore until after 4:00pm) and then off to a little lookout point where we sat and ate our rather late lunch.

             The lateness in the day coupled with our slow progress through our scheduled drive made us realize we were unlikely to reach our intended destination at Invercargal.  Not wanting to drive the two hours in the dark and miss much of the Catlins in the process, we made our way into the visitors center of Owaka for some advice on accommodation in the Catlins.

             A room was booked at Hilltop Backpackers for us in the tiny town of Papatowai and we were off again to hit a few waterfalls before the darkness settled in for the night.  We made the 20 minute walk to Purakuanui Falls in under 10 minutes, stopping briefly to admire to beautiful falls and take a number of photos and then back to the car!

Mom and I in front of the Purakuanui Falls

            The darkness beginning to consume the skies, we arrived at the McLean Falls carpark right at dusk, speed walking down the path and 20 minutes later arriving just in time to see the falls in the fading light.  But then again, we had sort of planned to be there at dark, the creeping tendrals of night pulling out the last of the suns light and bringing forth the pinpoint green spotlights of glow worms. There were hundreds! Covering the damp stone walls and dotting their green light throughout the vegetation, that was definitely worth the 40 minute walk into darkness!