Wednesday 13 January

Today we arrived in Dunedin to mixed weather. It looked quite grey, but the hardest thing for those unaware of the changeable weather in NZ, it was blowing strongly from the south! It was very cold. However, this was good for us as we were off on a boat trip to Tairoa Head to view the resident albatross colony. Good for us because the albatross need the strong winds to take off and soar.

We saw lots of cormorants and NZ fur seals and pups and there were the albatross soaring off the headland! Such an amazing sight. There were many visible on the headland as well, nesting.

Back in the city we headed down to the Chinese Gardens which we had passed on our way out in the morning. The gardens are quite small. Nothing in comparison with the Chinese Gardens in Sydney. However, the history behind the gardens is very interesting as is the information on the struggle to have the structures built as all the stone was imported from China from a particular region.

All in all it was a most enjoyable day.

A lovely example of Victorian terraces

An unusual bell tower

Typical of many significant buildings in Dunedin, the local volcanic rock which is used

Views across Port Chalmers on our way out to Tairoa Head

Known as the 'House of Pain' where many an Australian rugby side has fallen victim to New Zealand

Because it is nesting season for the endangered yellow-eyed penguins, this popular surf beach has been closed

New Zealand Paradise ducks

The Solstice docked in Port Chalmers

Enjoying our ride out of the harbour

It's big, but this is not an albatross

Lots of New Zealand fur seals were keeping an eye on us

Others were more laid back

Very large colonies of different cormorants also nest on this headland

But the biggest sea bird in the world is the reason we are here

Very hard to spot the seals and there are also many pups

This chap put on a show for us ....

Just up here .....

Still going ....

Made it!

This is an albatross. So hard to capture in the air

Having a nap

You can just see two or three soaring above the headland, catching the thermals to give them lift

Entrance to the Chinese Gardens

Then as we sailed out of the harbour the birds were back at their nests for the night

Thursday 14 January

The weather calmed on leaving Dunedin and we had an easy passage up the coast to Akaroa. We arrived in calm sunny weather. Here was the warm, summer weather, so many on board had been expecting!

We took our time getting off as we had very flexible plans having been here a couple of times before. We took a walk around the back blocks and saw some lovely timber cottages with well tended gardens in full bloom. Then we found the track which would take us up a guided walk behind the town. The views were gorgeous.

With no particular timetable, we headed to the Giant’s House only to find it did not open until 12pm. So we waited. It was definitely worth the wait! What an amazing labour of love by a local artist.