What a perfect sleep.
The sun was up when we woke up, and upon looking out the window we discovered that we had indeed parked beside an extremely gorgeous beach. I woke up a few times throughout the night, and all you could hear was the waves. No cars, no people, no sign of humanity at all – even though we were in the middle of a small town. I found this incredibly cool, and made me realize that I was somewhere incredibly unique.
We got dressed quickly and went and took a few pictures. It was the first time that I had ever seen frost on a beach before, and it was kind of fascinating to see frost in a place where you normally don’t expect it. Much to our luck, we had also parked close to a rugby field that had toilets and running water… very much like camping for free! I managed to sustain my first injury of the day by slipping and falling into a semi-frozen puddle as I got out of the van. Perhaps it was because there were palm trees only meters from me, and it would never occur to me to look for ice on the ground when palm trees are visible… proving that New Zealand continues to amaze me.
After cooking a delicious cheese omelet for breakfast (or rather, I should say Brandon cooked that one. Me and eggs just don’t get along), we headed out towards Dunedin. The city itself reminded me a lot of Paris for some reason.. only with nicer people. We drove around a while before parking for an hour and going to pick up a few more groceries and a quick visit to the I-site to find the location of Tunnel Beach. Upon arriving at the I-site, we discovered some information on the Otago Peninsula which is located extremely close to Dunedin and decided to alter our itinerary slightly and take a day to tour around the Peninsula. Definitely a great spur of the moment decision.
We started up the coast of the peninsula with clear blue skies with a few clouds, and made our first stop at MacAndrew Bay, approximately 15 minutes into the drive for lunch. Brandon ate leftover Satay Chicken from the night previous, and I ate a PB and J. The beach area was covered in shells – the most that I had ever seen in my life. Also millions of snails were clinging to the shells, which I had also never seen before. I also experienced first hand just how aggressive (and semi annoying) seagulls are in New Zealand, it was almost comedic to watch.
After picking up another bag of ice for our makeshift fridge/freezer at a corner store near by, we continued down the peninsula stopping at various points along the way including Broad Bay, which had the highest abundance of mussels and clam shells that I had ever seen. There was one area of the ground that was literally white with shells… so cool! We decided to try heading to Penguin Beach on the tip of the peninsula. After a 15 minute drive up hill on a windy, gravel road, we realised that it was a guided tour that you had to pay for, and the woman said that there was no guarantee that any penguins would be seen…so we opted out. However, the view from the top of this giant hill overlooking the water was incredible. Bright green rolling hills with the Pacific ocean in the background. It was worth the drive (and Brandon’s extremely muddy shoe) to see this alone.
We made our way back down the hill and parked in the car park near the tip of the peninsula and wandered down to Pilot’s Beach. The path down was lined with “penguin condos” for the penguins that frequent the area at dusk every night. We didn’t see any penguins as it was mid afternoon… except one that had died. It made me upset that my first penguin I see in the wild is dead AND had a piece of plastic around it’s neck =(.
We continued down to the beach and saw there was a conservation area set aside on some of the rocks separated by a fence. We looked over, and there was a few sea lions enjoying the sunshine in the distance. We kept our distance, as there was warning signs posted indicating that they are extremely aggressive and territorial, and I really wasn’t in the mood to get slapped by a sea lion.
The rocks on this beach were covered in tide pools, and the sand on the beach housed a few interesting organisms that I had never seen before. We debated shortly about staying until dusk to see the penguins that come ashore, but decided to continue on – this time taking Highcliff Road. This road was more inland on the peninsula, and as the name suggests was much higher than the coastal road. It was like a completely different place from the one we had traveled in on. The scenery changed from outlooking the ocean, to rolling hills scattered with sheep. The road was narrow and winding, with trees overhanging from the steep embankments beside the road, creating almost a canopy.
A few clouds had rolled in by this point, and with the view around us, it was promising to to be a prime location for a sunset, so we managed to pull over on a small inlet on the road. Brandon studied biology and I took a nap… only to wake up and discover that the clouds had rolled in quicker than we expected, and the sun was blocked. Slightly disappointed, we continued our way back towards Dunedin. We stopped near the edge of the city and used Brandon’s tripod to take a few pictures of the city lights in the dark. My first shot with a tripod turned out all right! =)
After getting lost a few times in Dunedin (entirely due to my proclaimed inability to read a map), we managed to find Tunnel Beach Road in the dark, and decided to stay there for the night after we cooked dinner.
The Otago Peninsula was gorgeous, to say the very least. The pictures really captivate it more than words can. It felt like we were somewhere tropical with the sun and the palm trees and the beaches, but the fact that we are in fact so close to Antarctica makes it even that more amazing. I love it here.
New Zealand 2010 