Unfortunately check out was at 10am this morning, so no chance to lay in and enjoy a proper bed. Instead we were up and cooking eggs benedict in the hotel guest kitchen – yum!
As we walked back to retrieve the van we noticed a familiar place mentioned on one of the street signs!
Don’t worry Tracy, Christchurch is nearer to you than Dunedin, so it will be less than the 14,502km (or 9011 miles) ;-)!
We hopped in the van and drove to the North East Valley in Dunedin’s suburbs to visit what is reputed to be the world’s steepest street – Baldwin Street. Ben obviously wanted to go and check out whether it was steeper than New Earth Street!
The true test would be walking up it, so off we went, all the way to the top!
At the top we came to the conclusion, that yes, it was steeper than New Earth Street…after all, at it’s steepest point it is at a grade of 1 in 2.86.
With our legs exercised we jumped in the van and joined the SH1 heading North, next stop Moeraki Boulders. What looks like giant marbles on the beach are actually on closer inspection huge, round, perfectly smooth gray boulders.
Formed by chemistry on the seafloor about 65 million years ago they were fascinating to look at.
A cup of coffee in the van set us up for the final leg of today's drive into Oamaru, a town famous for it’s historic precinct and colony of little blue penguins. On arrival we parked up in town and went for a wander, admiring the stunning architecture in the historic district…
…and it is the only place in NZ where you can hire a penny farthing from the information centre!
We however didn’t have time for cycling, instead we were on the hunt for the little blue penguin…and once we were following the correct sign…and not the one to a bar,
we knew we were on the right track.
We returned later that night and got tickets to sit in the Little Blue Penguin Colony Centre viewing area to watch these small creatures come ashore. We were apprehensive about how many we would see, as in Winter they are not as nocturnally active and numbers seen are reported to be lower.
Our guide told us that they leave the colony before sunrise each morning, and return at dusk each night. They hunt and eat throughout the day at sea, swimming for up to 50kms along the coast and then before returning to land re-group about 5 km out and swim in together. As we watched the first group arrive it was an amazing experience, we looked on as they hopped up the rocky bank to find their burrows in the abandoned quarry.
Within an hour well over 100 had arrived back and were making their way home, we even had a few walk right past our feet! As no cameras were allowed we have no footage of this fascinating experience, however on leaving we saw a couple in the car park…as they have a habit of hiding under cars.
At 43cm tall and weighing only 1kg you can see how tiny this little fella really is. As we drove down the road alongside the harbour you could make out penguins along the banks, and hear their piercing call.
A great night!
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