ANA AND ANDY DUNEDIN NEW ZEALAND 4 SEPTEMBER

The next day we were back on the road heading for Dunedin. We'd decided to stop half way at Omaru, a pretty small town with a big railway history. We didn't stop for too long as we still had quite a drive. 

Omaru, once had a train station, not sure why they stopped running it?

Leftovers of a bygone era

Stopping again at Shag point was one of the best stops of the trip! Stopping because of it's funny name, we are adults, honest! We managed to stumble on a colony of seals and sea lions, as you do! So we seal spotted for an hour or so and hit the road south to our final destination of the day- Dunedin. 

Right, so this isn't a big rock - it's moving!

Keeping a safe distance!

But he still heard me!

Shag point, named after the birds...

We arrived in the centre of the city which they call the Edinburgh of the South. It's a big university city with lots of history. First impressions were not all that though as we parked the wrong way down a street (you have to face the same direction of traffic!) and got a ticket! Thanks Dunedin City Council... So not a great start! 

This is the train station in the city, I was too livid to take a picture of the parking ticket ;)

We stayed at a holiday park out of the city, by the sea. Next day we headed out to the Otago peninsula which is famous for its seal, sea lion and if you're lucky, penguin colonies. The drive up the peninsula was spectacular, great views and good weather. Andy had read about a hide (a la Bill Oddie) where you could safely observe the seals/sea lions and penguins. 

Andy eagerly awaiting the arrival of penguins - yes that's a thermos cup, another good NZ investment :)

So we made cups if tea and headed across the beach. The only way onto the beach was via massive sand dunes which you gave to slide down before crossing the beach to the hide. Passing a couple of massive sea lions en route we made it safely to he hide to wait for wildlife. It didn't take long! Quite a few seals and sea lions were now on the beach enjoying the last of the days sun. 

So we just walk around this one then...

It's still full even though I've just thrown myself down steep sand dunes

Sea lion, not sea weed

Then we spotted a lone penguin come ashore, walk across the beach and head back into the sea! We are quite far away but with a zoom on the camera we could see it clearly. Then Andy spotted another! This time the penguin climbed out of the sea and started to walk up a really steep cliff! It was brilliant, watching the penguin do it's thing, climbing up the penguin equivalent of Mt Everest to his/her nest. 

Yellow eyed penguin on his ascent up mount massive
Keep going, you've got a long way yet...

He was around half way up this massive hill when we took the photos

Keep it up, as Norsang told us 'slowly, slowly'

Ok, eveyrones allowed a breather

Short footage of the climb

And we finally get to see the back of him :)

This took around 30mins so was great to watch! We then headed back to the van via the sea lions who were now being quite active on the beach! I was pretty nervous about walking through them but they seemed pretty non plussed by our presence. 

From the safety of the hide, watching more sea lions come ashore...

The only way back to the van is through the middle of those, humm....

These guys are massive and don't seem to worry about us sweating to get past!

Almost there... The big hill in the background is where we've walked from

And we are back at the top on the opposite side of the beach! Phew...

Next morning we had an early start and headed out along the seafront for a run. Just a short one to stretch our legs in time for the Dunedin Parkrun the next morning! 

We headed to town to visit the botanic gardens as this is where we needed to find the Parkrun route. Dunedin is pretty hilly and the park has an upper and lower section with all sorts of plantlife and big aviaries filled with exotic birds. 

Colourful birds being looked after in Dunedin Botanical Gardens

Very exotic

After exploring the park we headed down the road to 'the worlds steepest street' that's right Guinness book of records recorded and everything! Of course we walked to the top of said steepest street and agree that neither of us would want to do a hill start up there! 

Baldwin Street - officially the 'Worlds Steepest Street'

And to the top

So we can look down...

That evening we treated ourselves to dinner out and went to a local Italian restaurant, yum yum. 

Next morning we popped our PE kits back on for Parkrun. The crowd at Dunedin were in good spirits and were lead by a strange lady with a horse whip... Humm... Anywho we completed our steepest Parkrun to-date with a route passing through 2 laps of the upper and lower gardens in the park, ouch! Back to the park to shower before driving across country to Milford Sound!

That's parkrun number 3 under our belts and 1 of 2 to complete in NZ

 Finished the Parkrun which is just down the rd from the 'Worlds Steepest Street' so as you can imagine the run was not your average Parkrun pootle around the park.