Friday 3rd to Sunday 5th April 2026
A bit of a backlog of posts, due to a lack of internet access. We are travelling south, following the south east coast roads.
Friday – The Royal Albatross Centre:
On Good Friday we visited the Royal Albatross Centre at Taiaroa Head, on the peninsular just south of Dunedin.
We took the guided tour and saw some chicks as well as some adults returning with food. Although a good distance away, we could see that the chicks were adorable. There are a good number, but only three were visible from the viewing cabin:
The coastline here is quite dramatic:
…and we also saw some Sea lions and some kelp:
We also saw some passing shipping:
Saturday – Dunedin:
We stayed overnight on a Freedom Campsite, at Harwood Domain, on the peninsula, which was excellent and free. Saturday morning saw us visiting Dunedin, which is known for its Victorian architecture.
The railway station was definitely built to impress with all the ornate brickwork and tiles inside:
The city styles itself to be the “Edinburgh of the South”. We visited St Paul’s Cathedral:
The chancel end of the church has been rebuilt and is very modern, a contrast to the more traditional Victorian building.
The city centre was very quiet and some repairs / reconstruction work was being undertaken.
There are many artworks and murals around the city.
The highlight for us was the Toitū Otago Settlers Museum, which really showed how difficult things were for those pioneers. In the entrance hall, there is a steam engine which was built in Lancashire!
There is a huge gallery of settler portraits, which fills all four walls:
Some photographs taken in the 1800s show the city to be thriving:
Sunday – Nugget Point:
Leaving Dunedin and heading south, we stayed overnight at Thomas’s Catlins Lodge and Holiday Park, Owaka, which was quirky and interesting. It is an old converted hospital where we were able to park-up. Other guests were accommodated, hostel / self catering style, inside. The Catlins is an area of South East New Zealand which is characterised by lovely rolling hills, reminiscent of North Yorkshire, but without all the dry-stone walls and barns.
Sunday morning saw us head to visit the iconic Nugget Point Lighthouse:
We were able to drive up to within about a Km of the lighthouse, then walk up the rest of the way:
Along the way, we saw some more sea lions:
That is your lot for today. TTFN and see-u-later.
"See-u-Later" 