Our tour today took us along the beautiful shore line of South Island to a Penguin Reserve which is about a half hour drive from the city of Dunedin. Apparently the penguin populations is decreasing and here they are attempting to help them so that they won’t become extinct. After the babies are born, the mothers and fathers spend all day in the ocean fishing and eating the fish which they will later regurgitate into the mouths of their babies. If they cannot find sufficient fish, or cannot fish because of weather conditions, the babies do not gain sufficient weight in time for them to migrate and they die. At the reserve there is a hospital where the underweight babies are taken and fed. We got to see these cute little creatures from very close up. After we left the hospital, we walked to the cliffs where the nests are and we were able to photograph them in their nests. At one point, one of them was standing in the path where we were walking. We stopped to look at him. He just stood there and looked at us as we looked at him. When we resumed walking, he just backed up a few steps off the path and let us pass, all the time observing us very carefully. He was so cute ! ! !
Along the walk, we also came upon a colony of brown seals. We didn’t get as close to them as we did to the penguins, but were close enough to get some good pictures.
After the tour of the penguin sanctuary, our bus driver took the high road, through the hills on a lovely scenic route, back to the city. Dunedin is a lovely city which was build by people who came from Scotland. In area (but not in population) it is the largest city in New Zealand. It is beautifully located along a shallow bay. Large ships cannot go to anchor there. We were anchored about a half hour’s drive away from the city. Even where we anchored, the waters are shallow. It is necessary to continuously dredge a narrow channel in order for larger ships to dock. Navigating through there was almost like going through the Welland Canal. The route was well marked with buoys and flags and we could see sandbars on each side.
As we were preparing to leave the port, 2 young ladies wearing kilts came to see us off with a bagpipe concert. It had commenced to rain a bit but that didn’t deter them. We have really been very fortunate with the weather so far. The only rain we have had during our shore days, was a short shower in Haiti. Occasionally there has been rain at night and on sea days, but not much really.
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