Dunedin, New Zealand

We arrived in Dunedin this morning and had not booked a formal excursion. We had a couple of things we really wanted to do: first, to go visit the yellow-eyed penguins and second, to go to the steepest street in the world. We had done some research and knew that the penguins were at the end of the peninsula and it was quite a distance from the port. There is Uber here but we quickly discovered that it wasn’t so easy to actually get a driver even though the fare was a whopping $110 NZ.

We went to Plan B and negotiated with a cab driver and hired him to take us to the penguins and back for $200 NZ. Off we went. He was a simply wonderful man with the nickname Mr. Happy which he did indeed personify. He was keen to take us to the steepest street, as well as a number of lookouts along the way, and happily waited for us while we visited the penguin site. (I will do a subsequent post about the penguins.)

The landscape in New Zealand is simply gorgeous. It’s not quite like anywhere else we’ve been and no matter which way you turn there’s a breathtaking view. We would certainly consider coming back here for an escape-the-winter trip.

We were interested in having local blue cod for lunch so Mr. Happy suggested we go to the Best Café, a Dunedin institution since 1932. It was classic and probably hadn’t seen a renovation in 40 years. We loved it and lunch was delicious.

We had time to meander around the city for a couple of hours before catching the shuttle back to the ship.Read more