Onwards from Christchurch...

From Christchurch we headed south to Dunedin which has one of the oldest universities in New Zealand. Now, normally this is a busy college down with a lot going on. Good music and bar scene, restaurants, people in the parks, etc. etc. but apparently for two weeks during the end of december into the new year, all of NZ shuts down. Literally every store on every block was closed with signs saying back Jan. 5th, it was Dec. 22nd. This isn't just in Dunedin, it's every where. So, the place was quite dead and much like a ghost town so we did not spend much time here.

We also stayed in a town called Omaru, where we spent New Year's Eve (HAPPY 2011!) and everybody is obsessed with penguins. There is a colony of Yellow Eyed Penguins and Blue Penguins here, which are both quite cool! We didn't get to see the Blue penguins because they bogart them and make you pay $30 to see them run over the wharf at night into their nesting areas. But, you can go spy on the yellow eyed penguins for free from a distance, which we did! It was great. You go two hours before dusk when they come up on the shore back to their nests after a day of searching for food for the newborn pups. We got some great photos and video.

There is a similar bogarting of birds on the Otago penninsula near dunedin where one of the few Albatross colonies are. The big ones with a 9 foot wing span. They are impressive birds and they are unable to bogart them entirely because they can fly, so we were able to spot them amoung the seagulls from the parking lot instead of paying the $46 to walk through the gate and do basically the same thing.

Penguinos and Albatross