Weekend One: Dunedin, NZ

Our first weekend was a success!  David was gone for a 5 day trip with the high school so us girls decided to have a girls weekend.  We didn't want to travel too far so we went about 2 and a half hours to the city of Dundin.  I'm in love!  I think I'm going to come home kicking and screaming.  Dunedin in the 5th largest city, according to land mass, in the world. Dunedin was founded when English settlers traveled in 1840.  It's a rather young city. We left after school on Friday.  There are no such things as a straight road in New Zealand! Surprisingly it's very easy to get from place to place.  There is often only one road so as long as you stay on it your 'good as gold'. We safely made it and began searching for a place to stay. We soon realized it's important to book ahead.  :/  We found a very nice hotel close to the center of the city.  We decided since it was a college town, we should do what students do best.  We walked to the city center were all the pubs and restaurants are and found a nice pub with live music.  A few locals gave us some tips of the hot spots.  It was a lot of fun!

The next day we spent walking around sight seeing and shopping.  Dunedin was really a beautiful city! We visited a historic railroad station, the first church of Otago, and many historical buildings. After walking all afternoon we went back to the hotel for a much needed nap. We decided to go to dinner at the Spieght's brewery.  Spieght's is the national beer of the south island. The food was delicious as always.  After eating we went back home and crashed for the night.  We planned to go on a cruise the next day.

Sunday we were up bright and early to go on the Monarch Cruise.  A boat that takes you through the Otago peninsula.  Words or pictures can't explain how beautiful it was!  We saw a heap of native birds.  The most amazing was the Albatross bird. It is an endangered specie with only 20,000 left in the world.  They are only found 2 places in the world, one being the Taiaroa head of the peninsula, where they mate and breed. They are beautiful birds with a wing span of over 3 meters!  After a 2 hour tour on a boat we boarded a bus and they took us back down the coast.  The views were outstanding.  We learned a lot of New Zealand history.  

After the tour and had a bite to eat and drove back up the peninsula in search of the aquarium.  It was an old fish hatchery that is now where college students study marine biology.  It was more a learning center than an aquarium.  It was still cool.  We were able to touch and hold different fish native to the area.  Afterwards we were ready and returned home.  

Overall it was an amazing weekend.  The three of us had a great time.  We're already beginning to plan our next weekend.  There is a rival rugby game next Saturday against the Highlanders and the Crusaders back in Dunedin and we have a 3 day long weekend. We figured we can't come to New Zealand without going to a rugby game. We think we may go back to Dunedin and then continue down the eastern coast.  Let's just hope the week goes by fast. :)  

Dunedin Railway Station

Otago First Church

Taiaroa head.  Many Albatross birds have nest on the hill.

An Albatross waiting for lunch.

Just a small amount of the birds we saw.  

One view from our bus down the peninsula.