Dunedin: Otago Peninsula

We began our week-long road trip of the South Island by driving from Christchurch to Dunedin, stopping at the Moeraki Boulders along the way. Unfortunately the tide was in so some of the rocks were harder to look at and access, but this made for some fun runs to take photos before getting too wet.

Coming into Dunedin, we headed straight out onto the Otago Peninsula to look for albatross. The breeding colonies are closed off unless you pay the exorbitant fee for the tour, so we had to settle for a view of a soaring albatross overhead and lots of seagulls and some fur seals, who were snoozing on a pathway looking adorable.

seaweed looks like hair

he had rolled over by the time we walked back around!

this guy was a little suspicious of me photographing him

Then I took the Highcliff Drive on the drive back for great views on top of the peninsula. The weather was gorgeous, and the lambs were bleating -- it was a nice experience.

We walked around downtown Dunedin for a bit and checked out the big church and grounds.

Baby Fur Seals at Ohau and Kaikoura

It was a long drive from Picton to Christchurch, with rain for the last half. We stopped to see the baby fur seals in the waterfall of the Ohau Stream Walk and on the shore of Ohau Point. Everyone's been recommending this to us, and it was definitely worth checking out. After an easy 7-minute walk up to a waterfall, we enjoyed seeing a bunch of baby fur seals playing and leaping around in the pool. They jumped out of the water like dolphins and stuck their heads under the waterfall. Very cute!

We also got close to a baby fur seal with huge brown eyes on the peninsula outside of Kaikoura. Adult seals were totally crashed nearby, enjoying a snooze despite the rain. It was a nice wildlife end to the trip.

It had recently snowed on the Southern Alps. Love these!