Dunedin

Dunedin (pronounced Duh-nee-din) is a nice Scottish town, of course we haven't just physically moved across the globe to Scotland but we are there in spirit. It is refreshing to wander around a town with old looking buildings.

On the road to Dunedin we first stopped to see the Moeraki boulders. The pictures don't do them justice but when we walked from one end of the beach to the other and stumbled upon those in the middle it felt utterly out of place. These boulders are massive and we still wonder how or why they're there. After having a good coffee while looking at them we continue along the road to see some fur seals. There is a whole colony living by a lighthouse. It was nice to see some more of them lazily enjoying the sunny day.

The next day, we didn't mimic the lazy seals but instead we had a busy day in the town of Dunedin. Starting with a tasty breakfast we then follow by visiting the Chinese gardens. We weren't expecting much and we found ourselves within a very peaceful complex even if it was just by the main road. New Zealand and in particular the Otago region where we are have a big history with Chinese communities coming here to work on finding gold. They in fact sent out official invitations for groups to come and take up the pick axe. This gardens here are a reminder of this link.

Next, we visit the settlers museum. As its name suggests it is about all settlers in the Otago region. Starting with the Maori and finishing with the Scottish. It was interesting if a little repetitive given we have learnt a fair bit in the other New Zealand museums, but they had a couple historic features that where fun to take a picture of.

That was our morning and now on to our afternoon! We start with the botanical gardens (Armelle can't miss any botanical garden) to see some flowers and some trees. Then onto the Otago peninsula with our little car. This is a little bit outside Dunedin and we a very much back into country side roads and villages even so close to town. We stop at New Zealand's only castle. We had to see it! We actually visited only the castle gardens and they were amazing. Full of native flora and a lot of explanations on them.

Arriving at the end of the peninsula we stopped to try to see some albatrosses. There are tours to see them but they were fully booked so we thought we'd take our chances and have a glimpse from an observation deck. To our surprise the royal albatrosses did put on quite a show! They kept flying by quite close and then turning around so we could see them perfectly! It is impressive to see these big birds in the air. In photos it is difficult to understand the scale of it but we tried to give you a couple of hints. We tried again to see some penguins but it is not the season to see them and they were either very well hidden or not there. We managed to spot a couple of seals again though!

After this eventful day we enjoyed a tasty Turkish dinner followed by an amazing ice cream, we didn't fancy any traditional scottish food 😝Read more