Scots wha hae!

August 4 & 5
Dunedin

Dunedin prides itself on being the Scottish town on the South Island and indeed it does have the look and feel of Scotland about it. Unfortunately we didn't explore that much of it as we got in late on the 4th and stayed slightly out of town, in St. Kilda. It was quite pretty though, with the houses all up the hillsides. It is home to the most photographed train station in the southern hemisphere. I have to say the station and the trains also reminded me a lot of Scotland. The station was much more ornate however with Wedgwood tiles and mosaics. They also had quite a few Scottish themed restaurants which unfortunately we didn't get to - a spot of haggis and a whiskey might have been nice- but maybe it was good we saved some money by eating at home.

We toured the Cadbury factory - it was sweet! Interesting to see and lots of free samples! There are so many types of chocolates that we just don't get in Canada. Its not fair! It was nice cause if you took the tour you got a discount on the gift shop and the cafe afterword. We did stock up with some provisions and gifts (we'll see if they make it back, hee, hee) but opted against having any more chocolate at the cafe. No photos allowed on the tour of course but they did have the old trucks to pose with.

After touring around a bit, we did some shopping and had a couple large bags with us when we met up with our wildlife tour. Now in the past, there were always empty seats or a cargo hold. Not this time. The small bus was completely full; Geoff had his camera bag, I had a backpack and we had two shopping bags, Plus I had to seat over the wheels so there was no leg room. Oh well, A bit cramped but still a good tour. We stopped first at the Royal Albatross Centre and climbed a hill to a camouflaged hide to view the young albatross. They were around adult size but still not ready to fly yet. We did see a couple of the girls "practising" though. They flap their wings in the wind and some of them even do a little hop to get air born. When they do leave the breeding grounds, they are gone for 5 whole years before returning to look for a mate and raise their own chicks

They had some dummies to show the weight of the birds at different stages. They are really heavy!

Wing span of the Royal Albatross

Our next stop was to see fur seals.We continued our drive along the peninsula while our guide pointed out some birds along the way. We didn't see anything that rare, but it was neat to see some kingfishers, and a spoonbill as well as many white faced herons. She also told us a bit about the area we went through and the efforts at conservation being made. Apparently although New Zealand has a reputation as a conservationist country, some Kiwi's are reluctant to lock up their cats which are having a detrimental effect on many of the native bird species. There are also many who are against the culling of feral cats too. The problem for many of New Zealand's birds is that there were no native ground predators before the arrival of man. The main threats would have come from the air and their defence was to stand still. Of course this doesn't work with predators who hunt by scent! Some of the same problems as in Australia with settlers bringing plants and animals from back home and having them edge out the native species.

The fur seals we saw are not endangered, but there is a bit of a sad story about them. Several weeks ago they had a big storm where waves came up way higher than anyone we talked to can remember seeing. Many of the baby fur seals were swept out to sea. Some of the ones that did make it back, were not where their mothers left them so they didn't get reunited. Those seals will eventually die if they don't meet up with their mothers again. Seals will only feed their own pups. 

Next stop penguins which is what I was waiting for! We made the trek back up a hill (in the roaring wind, I might add) and down to the beach past snoozing sea lions. Our guide warned us to be careful around them and if he told us to back away to do so and not keep taking pictures. Sea Lions aren't afraid of people. They are big and they can move up to 20k an hour too. Most of the time they don't bother anyone though. Just try not to get between them and one of their boyfriends or the sea. 

A Little Blue Penguin  in its burrow.

snoozing sea lions

The Yellow Eyed Penguins are one of the rarest breeds of Penguins. They are only found in the southeast part of NZ. We saw one hiding in the bushes on our way to the beach calling out to see if any other penguins were around . When we got to the beach hide, we saw several of them on the hillside. They are a mainly solitary bird and like the privacy of the brush along shore. The ones we saw didn't seem to quick to hide however.

The colony here was doing very well until a few years ago when a series of unfortunate events occurred. Since then, their population has declined. One year they had problem with disease, another with a sea lion that developed a taste for penguin and lately both the sea lion and the penguin population has suffered and they have been spending more time at sea. This may be due to storms causing a shifty food source or other factors not yet known.

We were lucky to see 2 penguins come ashore when we were at the hide. That was definitely the highlight of the trip for me. The landing on shore then the waddle up the beach to the rocks with some great penguin hops!

And lastly: sea lions awake