THE OTAGO PENNINSULA

MONDAY 2nd MAY

  I washed some socks and underwear and left them drying when I set off to eplore Dunedin and the Otago Penninsula around 11.30am.  I set the satnav for Portobello Road, which is the road running along the coast line of the penninsula.  However the satnav had me heading in the opposite direct up route 1 towards Timaru.  After climbing into low flying cloud, I was finally convinced that something was awry and did a U-turn and headed back into Dunedin.  With the aid of a map and street signs I managed to find my way onto Portobello Road.  It does indeed run right along the coastline, generally about 18 inches from a drop into the sea!

  I continued all the way to the end of the road at Taiaroa Head (Pukekura in Maori), and got there just in time to enroll on the last tour to the Albatross observatory.  The observatory is placed right on the top of the

head, and we could see the chicks in their nests.  They grow to a weight of 10-12Kg, whilst the adults weigh only 8-9Kg.  The chicks are certainly fluffy!  The parents fly back with found for the chicks, their favourite being squid, which have a short life span and float to the surface when they die, which makes it easy for the parents to pick up food for their off spring.  The birds are about a metre long, but their wing span is 3 metres. The birds can fly up to 120 mph. The first egg was laid on the Head in 1920 but it wasn't until 1938 that the first chick was successfully hatched.  From 1951 there has been a full-time field officer to protect the albatross.  They are all colour banded for identification purposes, and the colony is intensively managed to ensure its survival.  The birds are quite used to the keepers and will lift up to enable their eggs to be taken out, weighed and checked by the keepers, before lifting up again when the eggs are returned.

  There was also a colony of Shag Cormorants that were perched on the rocks just above the sea.  (Unfortunately the tinted windows of the observatory made it difficult to focus the camera).

  From that vantage point of the Head there was a very good view all round, and I took the opportunity to take some pictures of the coast line.  The Head was also a military stronghold in days gone by, and the local prison was preserved for posterity.

  There are also seal and penguin colonies in the area, although the afternoon was wearing on so I didn't have too much time to go to other spots in the area to see the seals.  (However I bought postcards of the albatrosses, penguins and seals to send to Shauna, James and Leia - I'm looking for a postcard of Benji Marshall for Nick!).

I stopped on the way back to take the odd picture or two, but the weather was overcast and the clouds were low, although it wasn't actually raining.

  I found my way back into Dunedin town centre by about 5.30pm by which time the bulk of the shops were closing.  I went to the indoor shopping preccinct, and just managed to get a curry in the food hall before they closed.  Then it was home, a cup of tea and tonight's Rugby League match on Foxsport.  The tour starts in ernest tomorrow.