We stayed in Sawer’s Bay Air B&B for 4 nights. The ownersￂﾠAnita and Steve areￂﾠvery friendly, their little daughter Akvile brought us plums :-). here is she and her dad, the new yellow shoes being the most important detail in this picture:
Anita is a Steampunk artist ￂﾠ- this is her creation – the coat and hat from recycled or up-cycled materials that she dressed on me:
The place is clean and the bedding was very comfortable. We had good desks for working on PC’s, good internet, just not enough time for that. The place is very quiet at night, just amazingly quiet. You can see the unusual stars and constellations if you are lucky to get clear skies. The only discomfort for those who like comfort are the toilet and the shower- they are outside. Other than that – the water is warm, the facilities are well established. You would think that 3 days in Dunedin area are enough. But it was not…It is really an amazing place! So many things to do and visit. The last day of our stay there was especially busy – we walked around a part of Port Chalmers peninsular, then drove up the hill to the highest point for the views of the harbor:
This bush looks to me like chicken-wire, doesn’t it?:
The very first thing that strikes you once you get to New Zealand and that doesn’t leave me since – is that the country is especially neat and tidy. ￂﾠEverywhere, even the docks by the ports. They have a nature path by the Charmers port which is planted on both sides by native bushes and plants, so that you walk and look at the waters and don’t even notice the warehouses, etc. I guess it comes from their English heritage. Then we rushed up the mountain on top of where we stayed – to an Orokonui ￂﾠEco-sanctuary. And that was amazing! The views are good as always from a top of a hill, but the walks…Through bush and forest and rain forest with those super tall and big trees of different kinds…with birds singing around and big Kea parrots eating and making noisy sounds and also three very special and rare ￂﾠwild hens called Takahe ￂﾠeating from their feeder. This is the very hardly gotten or raised baby, his beak is till not red, therefore- ￂﾠbaby. The other is adult:
They lay only 1 egg a year, and if it is not a fertile egg – no offspring. Therefore very endangered. ￂﾠThey are close relatives to Pukeko hens, but much bigger.
This is the oldest reptile in the world- dates to dinosaur times. Tuatara, and he lives up to 200 years, but is also endangered:
This is local Otago Skink:
Kea parrot:
The tallest tree of New Zealand grows in this Ecosanctuary, but not this tree, this is Miro tree. They said the tallest tree is Eucalyptus. We didn’t see it, no time to walk some 2 km to it :-). There are lots of tracks in that park. Some more views:
From there we rushed to the city again, walked a little in the South part of it known for the big murals on some empty walls:
One more Victorian house typical to Dunedin:
Dunedin train station ()didn’t have a chance to walk by it, took picture from car window…):
We watched a show in a new Planetarium. in Otago museum, which is considered the only one so advanced the the Southern hemisphere. They explined us about all Solar system planets, about the constellations we can see here and what Southerns Cross constellation meant to sailors. It was good. And still our program was not over – ice cream eating in the park and then again driving to a beach past Sawer’s Bat, past Port Chalmers ￂﾠ-Aramoana beach -right across from the end of Otago peninsular, and it was just super beautiful…I would call it ￂﾠ- sea, sands and lava, where they meet and mingle:
This looks like some abstract art, but it is a sea weed:
A lone seal, probably wondering – what are we doing here, why don’t we just lie down and rest…
And while we sat on the sunny part of the beach with a hope to see some penguins – the cruise ship left the bay in a very elegant way:
Going back, enjoying the sunny evening: