Dunedin New Zealand was settled 150 years ago this year by the Scottish. The architecture was spectacular. This was the railway station. Obviously not only was the building beautiful but the grounds had flowers and shrubs laid out as well as in Versailles. We went inside and looked at the stained glass.
Obvious theme for a train station.
We walked around the downtown area which was very crowded for a city of only 150,000. There were 2 cruise ships docked. Our ship has 930 passengers plus the crew. The other one was a big ship with over 4,000 passengers. So lots of tourists walking around. But even worse, the Eagles were in town and had a concert this evening in the large sports arena. We found a table at one of the outdoor cafes ( which took quite some time to find) and talked with the 2 couples near us. They were not locals but had travelled here just for the concert. Many had, or so they said. The fun part of our late lunch was figuring out what to order. We got menus and then Kathy counted out our New Zealand currency very carefully. We had NZ$69. And we did want to use all of it but nothing more. Why come back to the US with a couple NZ dollars. So we found a bottle of New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc and an appetizer portion of fish & chips for NZ$64. Tipping in New Zealand is discretionary. And then never more than 10%. So we had just enough money. The waitress took our order and suggested the entre size for the fish & chips would be easier to split for 2 people. We told her we didn’t have enough money to buy that for cash. She laughed at our logic for placing the order.
Our excursion in the morning was a bit underwhelming. It was to be focused on seeing the Yellow-eyed Penguins. These are the largest penguins in the world and are being threatened with extinction. So we hoped to see a colony of them. We had been told that we would not be right near them but I thought my telephoto on my camera could help. Boy was I wrong. I couldn’t even see one of them. Eventually the guide from the conservation center found one using binoculars. I saw that in his binoculars and could tell the area. So I took my camera still not finding it at all and just shot photos of the general area. I think I took about 20 pictures. Once back on ship I could look at them on my computer. This was the only shot with a penguin and this is the best I could make it. The guide did tell us that they always hide to avoid being found by predators.
On towards Australia with 2 full days at sea.
Johnson's Travel 