Greetings from Dunedin!

First off, it’s said: dune-EDEN’. I have a hard time keeping that in my head. I’m working on it.

Last night we squeaked into the last penguin tour. Our lodge-mates, which included some folks originally from South Africa, a young guy from Spain and a lovely young woman from Finland, indicated that Royal Albatross tours didn’t start until 11:30 and they might be booked up.

We headed up there though and someone went through the front door, and when we went up, the woman inside asked “are you with the cruise? would you like to go on the tour here now?” which was before they even opened! Score! After an orientation, we hiked up to an observation area and there, for all to see: baby albatrosses! They were fuzzy and cute and occasionally flapped their little fuzzy wings. Our guide gave us more information about the birds in general and how they band the birds for identification so they know they can live very long lives. One female lived 62 years and had four mates. They lay one egg per year and spend their first five years flying.

Coming back from there we saw Royal Spoonbills, which had been mentioned in the Centre – Life Bird! (We also stopped at a place called “Happy Hens” – more about this another time.)

Now we’re holed up in the Leviathan Hotel in downtown Dunedin and resting up for a nice dinner.