Dunedin, New Zealand

Dunedin is a small university town on the Otago peninsula of the South Island of New Zealand.  We opted for a tour of the wildlife here, which is truly remarkable.  Our bus picked us up, and right away the guy started complaining that we were late (we were not, even Beth was on time, but only because I told her we had a 10:30 pick up time.  We really had a 10:50 pick up time).   Then he took us on the winding road surrounding the harbor.  As we climbed the hills surrounding the harbor, the roads got extremely narrow and precarious.   Naturally, our driver broadsided a taxi cab.  The woman next to us, who was privy to the view of the 300 foot drop 2 feet to her left pretty much flipped out and started screaming.  Our driver cursed the taxi driver over the speaker system.  Even after this delay we somehow ended up to our destination 20 minutes early.

From here we went on a Natures Wonders tour and got onto Argos, which are 8 wheel drive vehicles. 

We took these down to see a protected seal colony, and apparently is seal baby time.  You can pretty much guess who really really likes seal babies (Beth).  We saw a seal that was less than 1 hour old.   How can you tell?  Because the afterbirth is still visible and birds are picking at it. This is just as gross as it sounds. 

After that we argoed up to see a penguin colony.  Colony means 1 penguin in New Zealand, but still.  We then saw two small blue penguins under some rocks.  Pretty cool. 

After penguins, we went to see some other local wildlife:

From there, the bus took us to an "aquarium".  It's about 200 sq. feet and...has a touch pool!  So we touched a starfish!!!  Only in New Zealand. Ha. Interesting fact:   Dunedin has 27 gun stations guarding the harbor.  Look at a map of Dunedin.  The first gun stations were built in 1880 in case Russia invaded.  Check the map again.  Its a 20 hour plane flight to Russia.  The next set were to protect against the Japanese.  Dunedin is at the bottom right corner of NZ.  In a related story, Fox News started broadcasting here in 1879.  

New Zealand is really beautiful.  Beth had high expectations of rolling green hills, picturesque coastlines and an 8-to-1 sheep ratio.  New Zealand did not disappoint.  The hills go on for miles, and we even met a cute little sheep named Lenny who bahhed at us - video you don't want to miss to come later.   We watched the gorgeous coastline as we sailed out of the harbor later that day.