From Grads to Nomads

Yesterday Rob and I headed about 25 minutes out of Dunedin to spend the night at a small hostel called Billy Browns, which was absolutly charming, had great views of the bay, and very friendly owners. After settling in, we headed down the the beach where penguins have nests, and we walked down to a rocky area and sat down to begin the wait. We only had to wait about 25 minutes.....it is important that the penguins don't notice any people for they are very shy, the rare yellow eyed penguin. We finally saw one pop out of the water and begin walking around, and it was a very fantastic moment for me! Then another popped up and they both waddled across the beach to their nests!! we have some great video footage of it all! Following, we walked to a peninsula, a man made spit, and we saw the Royal Albatross breeding site in the far distance. That was very cool, as they have about a 6 foot wingspan and are huge, rare birds. Then, to complete our wildlife viewing experience, we saw about 8 sea lions on the rocks, and we got their attention by making some loud noises!! Apparantly, seeing sea lions is rare unless you are on a paid tour, so guess we got lucky!!! We saw all the animals that you see on a tour, only ours was for free!

Later today, on our way into town, we stopped at Baldwin Street, which is the world's steepest street, according to the guinness book of world records!! We walked to the top and I can assure you all, it certainly is a climb straight up. They have stairs instead of sidewalk going up due to the steep grade of the road.

Today, we are off to Larnach castle!