Published: 20.02.2024
It was probably nothing with the penguins, a fat sea lion blocked the only access to Sandfly Beach, where a colony of yellow-eyed penguins is said to live - but we probably wouldn't have seen them, as these penguins usually hunt in the sea during the day and only at night Come back to the beach in the evening. Be that as it may: the thing with the lion was funny.
Protecting Dunedin's natural harbor, the Otago Peninsula is a true natural paradise on its doorstep. It only took us 20 minutes from the hotel into the wilderness, past Portobello to the Taiaroa Head Lighthouse at the tip of the peninsula. There is also the Albatros Center, home to the world's only breeding colony of royal albatross on the mainland. Unfortunately, none of these huge birds came in front of our lens. They could be spotted on the sea at some distance due to their huge wingspan, but that didn't provide a motif.
But we saw black swans. My theory: were originally white and come from Munich, were annoyed because of Bochum vs. Bayern 3:2 and emigrated or flew to New Zealand.
In fact, black swans are found almost exclusively in New Zealand and Australia, very rarely, in fact you almost never see them in Europe, they are also called "mourning swans".
Back to Dunedin in the afternoon, filled up the car...for NZ$1.99 per liter - that's the equivalent of €1.13...diesel is the cheapest fuel here too.
And then we drove to the steepest street in the world, "Baldwin Street" in the North East Valley, about 4 km from Dundedin city center. The steepest ramp on the road is approximately 350 meters long but has a gradient of 35% or 19.3 degrees. In comparison, the world-famous Lombard Street in San Francisco actually only has a 27 (!) percent gradient.
Tomorrow we continue to Christchurch, which is our last stop in New Zealand before we get on the plane back to Frankfurt via Singapore.
Summary of the trip will be drawn later!
Windshield wiper instead of indicator counter: 102
coming soon
PIDISI