Lying east of Dunedin city is the Otago Peninsula which is where the wildlife we wanted to see is located. It is a heart-stopping drive from Dunedin to out near the Royal Albatross Centre at the tip of the peninsula.
The drive was made doubly difficult by the driving rain that was blowing in off the Pacific in waves and sheets. But the scenery was stunning through the rain slicked windows of our hired van.
It started out innocently enough but quickly turned frightening as the road rose to the ridge of a mountain with sheer drops.
In places the road had washed out from a previous storm and had been temporarily repaired.
And then as we went along it narrowed to one lane where you had to negotiate passage with oncoming traffic.
After 45 nail biting minutes we arrived at the penguin sanctuary where we donned every jacket and hoodie we brought with us to stay warm. Fortunately they provided green rain slickers to keep us dry.
We then switched from our van to a mini-bus and took off over the hill to the beach where we’d (hopefully) find yellow-eyed penguins and fur seals.
See you in the next post with pics of that adventure.
