Getting up close with sea lions in Dunedin

Dunedin....Dunedin....Danieden? We had to try a bit to figure out exactly how to pronounce this city and finally decided to go with the simple German reading. Decently wrong, as we had to find out, when a confused cashier, who politely asked us about our next destination, couldn't make sense of this place. We were quickly informed: It would be pronounced Dunedin. Ahhh...you never stop learning.

But what we did know was what we wanted to do in Dunedin. Besides a beautiful downtown area and a great old train station, this area is known above all for one thing: the chance to observe penguins and sea lions in the wild and get up close. We quickly found out and decided to try our luck at the nearby beach, at Sandfly Bay. The name itself promises a lot of trouble with the unpleasant sandflies, which bite everyone and everything that is not doused in anti-sandfly spray by the count of three. But since we hadn't seen (or felt) any of these insects yet, we cheerfully set off.

When we arrived there, we were greeted by a fairly steep path down the dunes and some information signs that explained the general rules of conduct and more information about the sea lions and penguins. Rule number 1? Don't get too close! You should please leave at least 20 meters between yourself and the animals and especially not stand between the animal and the sea. Otherwise, there could be defensive behavior. Sure, no problem...so let's go.

As skeptical as we were at first, we were now amazed. Because, in fact, right at the beach access, the first sea lion was already frolicking. Lying lazily on its side, this giant animal enjoyed the sun...and let nobody disturb it. We approached cautiously and took the first photos. Further down the beach, we already saw more dark blobs lying on the beach and maybe half a dozen people walking around the beach. We slowly strolled along the beach and saw even more sea lions. Contrary to expectations, the little animals are also very agile and fast on land, as we found out when three males played "catch" with a female. The subsequent courtship behavior between the female and the fastest male was then admired by all onlookers with a smile.

The beach stretches for about a kilometer with beautiful dunes and ends at a cliff with many ledges and individual larger rocks at its foot. It was only when we were almost right in front of the wall that we saw dozens of sea lions lying on these ledges and rocks. We had never seen so many of these gray-brown giants in one place before. Sunning, sleeping, and lounging, they were very well camouflaged on the gray stone and we could always discover a new one. Simply unique! It's a pity that our camera couldn't capture it so well.

After about an hour, we made our way back to the car. Suddenly, in the middle of the path, a particularly stately sea lion came out of the water and slowly moved towards the dunes. Tobi, of course, wanted to take the perfect picture and approached the animal steadily. The recommended 20 meters were quickly forgotten and so the safety distance was quickly reduced to 10. Then to 8...5...3...but that obviously was enough for the sea lion and one could observe a quickly retreating Tobi, accompanied by an eloquent "Oh shit!". But hey, the photos turned out really great and you don't really need your left arm as a right-handed person anyway :P

After a successful afternoon, we happily got back into our car. We were a little disappointed that we didn't see any penguins, but we were later informed that it just wasn't the right time of day. You apparently need early risers for that.

Back in Dunedin, we set off to visit one of the landmarks of Dunedin: the old railway station, which was built in the Flemish Renaissance style in 1906 (thanks to Wikipedia at this point). We were a little surprised that a train station should be a landmark, as we hadn't seen a single train until then. But we were really positively surprised. The building stands out from a distance and is really worth a detour. Above, you can see some photos of the train station.

We spent most of our remaining time in Dunedin planning. We wanted to spend the coming week in Queenstown, as the annual Winter Festival was taking place at that time... and according to the festival schedule, it was going to be something special!