Moving up the East Coast

We headed up the east coast, with the intention of staying in Dunedin, a university town known for its Scottish background. We were less than enthused about it and decided to drive out the Otago Peninsula and enjoy Dunedin from afar.

On the Peninsula, we navigated insanely narrow and winding roads to find beautiful sandy beaches (perfect for Michiel' s drip sand castles) with seals and penguins (at sunset).




Our hikes never took us far from sheep....in fact, in New Zealand, you are NEVER far from sheep (or dead possums on the road, for that matter).



We left the Otago Peninsula and headed north along the coast, stopping at a place called Shag Point for lunch. We were delighted to discover that we had stumbled upon a huge colony of seals with lots of pups frolicking in the natural pools in the rock formations.

Our next stop was the town of Oamaru, where we saw the march of the blue penguins. An amphitheatre had been constructed to seat a couple of hundred people who come to see the blue penguins swim onto shore after sunset and waddle up the rocky beach to nesting sites that were created by a conservation group. No photos were permitted, so you'll have to go see it for yourselves. We did, however, see hundreds of cormorants on the road to the amphitheatre.