New Zealand Day 3

Tunnel Beach was beautiful.

We woke up early because we wanted to get out to Tunnel Beach by sunrise, which comes around eight o'clock. Dad decided to take a turn behind the wheel and see if he could drive on the left side of the road. Mostly he did okay, though he did turn on the windshield wipers every time he wanted to signal, and shifting, even the automatic was tough to get used to with the left hand. Every time we stopped, he had to think about how to get the car in Park.

We made it out to Tunnel Beach and started down the trail. It was dropping steeply and we knew we'd have a tough climb up. There was a nice overlook at the arch, which had been carved out by the ocean, and it really did look like a tunnel. We certainly weren't on the beach, though. Then Dax and Seth, who were poking around said, "Hey, there really is a tunnel over here!" The tunnel was narrow and tight and led about forty yards down steep steps to the actual beach. The tide was mostly out and we enjoyed watching the waves crash against the beach for a little while. The climb back out didn't even seem too bad, until we got to the top. Our relatives had received a call from their security company that the front door of their house was wide open. We felt really bad, because it was likely the boys that left it unlocked. Security said nothing appeared to be disturbed, so we hope to find that to be true, but there was nothing we caould do about it for a week until we got back to Christchurch. We found out later that nothing in the house had been disturbed.

The hike had beautiful views the entire way. 

The arch carved out by the waves crashing through was so pretty.

This was the real tunnel though!

That's Mark at the top after Mom climbed down. 

We loved Tunnel Beach. It was a gorgeous spot.

Mark liked exploring all over the rocks, even in his hat and gloves.

Seth was so excited to be by the ocean.

We had this beautiful place all to ourselves. 

The white cliffs were shear and dropped around a hundred feet.

There was a waterfall on the cliffs behind us.

It was a great way too start the day!

Mark and Mom waited by the rocks for 10 minutes trying to get great pictures of the waves crashing.

These were our best ones. 

After Tunnel Beach we headed back into Dunedin to check out the steepest street in the world, which is called Baldwin Street. Not only was it steep, it was perfectly straight. Dad's brother decided to drive up it with Dad following in the other car (he'd earned full driving privileges by that point), but Dax and Seth wanted to walk up the hill. We had to dodge tourists, but we made it to the top, as did the boys, huffing and puffing with big smiles on their faces. It was a short adventure, but still a fun one.

Baldwin Street was super steep. 

It's hard to show in pictures.

Dax and Seth were dragging by the end of their climb.

Next we stopped at the railway station, which was very beautifully built. There was an art museum inside, and we walked through to look at the sculptures and paintings. The boys did really well with this, and the adults particularly enjoyed it.

The train station was beautiful.

Stained glass windows are always worth a look.

Seth especially loved the windows and the artwork at the train station.

Very nearby we went to the Otago Settler Museum. While Randy's brother and sister-in-law graded papers in the small cafe, we learned the history of the Otago Peninsula, which is where Dunedin is built. The museum was really well organized, starting with the ancient settlers and moving right up through the digital age. We were especially interested in how similar the history from home and the history in New Zealand seemed to be. They even had a gold rush in the 1860s. The boys liked the interactive exhibits, and they played games of chess with the foot-high pieces for quite awhile. They also loved the 1970s computer game that was similar to Chopper Command. There was also the sleeping quarters of a ship, and they picked out their favorite bunks. It was a really fun museum.

The boys had a great tine exploring the displays.

They especially loved this huge room with paintings of all the original settlers. 

Seth wants to sleep on a ship.

Mark liked this first motorcycle. 

Dad was the only one who could really play the old video game.

We drove out to the very end of the peninsula where the Royal Albatross Colony was located. We ate lunch in our cars because the wind was ice cold. Our tour started at two o'clock, and Randy's brother bought Mark a bird book while we waited, so Mark began writing down all the birds he'd seen on this trip. Then we watched a short video, which told us a lot about the albatrosses (they weigh 25 pounds and have a ten foot wingspan!) Then we took a short walk to the top of the hill to see the albatrosses. There were five nesting chicks, which were sitting pretty close by. The chicks remain on the nest for nearly a year before jumping off a cliff and learning to fly. There is no practice period, no short flights, or any other preparation. So these five just sort of sat there while we watched. Finally a few adults came in, and they were really massive. We saw one land, and his massive feet were hilarious when we spread them out to touch down. We also watched a colony of shags (cormorants) that lived just down the hill. It was an awesome experience, especially for Mark, who was in heaven the entire time.

We spotted oystercatchers on our drive out to see the albatrosses. We would to see these birds again.

The drive was beautiful following along the bay. 

Eating in the car is always an adventure. We probably should have paid for the cleaning!

We looked out over the ocean while we waited for the albatross tour.

Mom was constantly amazed at the beautiful color of the water.

We also had some fun in the gift shop where a bird nested on Seth's head.

This shows the size of an albatross next to Dad. Pretty huge!!

The Dunedin area was beautiful.

There is a small viewing area that looks out over where the chicks are nesting.

This chick was the closest to us.

Only one parent flew by.

We were so excited to see these amazing birds.

We also enjoyed watching the shags (cormorants) and looking at their nests.

This was a Buller's albatross that flew by while we were looking at the Royal Albatrosses.

The babies are so fluffy.

Randy really loved the feet sticking out as they land. He thought it was so funny!

At three-thirty we headed over to the yellow-eyed penguin tour. It ran from 3:45 until five o'clock, but it was entirely sold out. This was surprising since we really haven't seen very many tourists on this trip. We only saw one tour bus in the parking lot, but that was enough. The boys were pretty disappointed, but it worked out for the best. The drive to the house we were staying in was three hours away, and some of that was over dirt roads. We made a stop for dinner at a little restaurant in Balclutha, which had poutine. The boys wanted bacon, so we put them at another table and ate at the adult table. By the time we finished eating and the GPS took us the long way to our vacation house, it was ten o'clock. It was so dark we could barely get inside. We actually felt a little lucky we hadn't spent an extra hour and a half with the penguins!