Dunedin is the South Islands second largest city and home to rare wildlife on the Otago Peninsula. We started our day learning about how rich people lived in the 1800 in New Zealand’s only castle… which was very exciting (Not! But it makes Danielle happy so its good with me). We then set out to explore the peninsula and bounced around to several places.
First, we explored Tunnel Beach then road along the coast in 50mph winds. We took another amazing recommendation from the Waldron’s and visited Alan’s beach to see some sea lions. The directions took us down a dirt road next to the ocean and then slightly inland before reaching a parking lot with one other car. After climbing over a small fence (legally), we almost made to to the beach when our path was blocked by a 1000lb sea lion. We had been warned that the sea lions were very territorial and we needed to keep our distance. I wore Bryce in case we needed to make a run for it. All of a sudden the sea lion barked and moved slightly in our direction and stopped… I looked back to make a comment to Danielle and there she was in a full sprint back to the car. No warning or anything. Danielle realized that the situation was safe and she walked back to where her husband and son were watching 5 sea lions run around the beach barking at each other, Bryce loved it and now has a new animal sound in his repertoire.
The next morning, we explore the north coastal area. The Moeraki bolder are a group of round rocks located on the beach that made for some cool pictures. We continued our journey to the Katiki Point Lighthouse where we got close to dozens of seals lying around. Bryce practiced his new sea lion bark hoping the seal would respond. We spend the rest of the afternoon at one of Dunedin’s many playgrounds before heading back into the mountains.
