Otago Peninsula & Dunedin

We CouchSurfed in Dunedin with a nice but very busy girl named Annabelle. She wouldn't be able to let us in at night until 10 or 11 pm, so we found other CouchSurfers to hang out with in the meantime. A sweet girl named Tarsh invited us over for dinner when we arrived, and we made veggie burgers with her and a few of her friends. 

Our first full day in Dunedin was rained out, so we spent the day exploring antique shops, trying to stay dry. The second day was a bit better, though still overcast and drizzly, so we decided to drive out to the tip of the Otago Peninsula to see some albatrosses. We didn't have a place to stay, but Tarsh told us if we got in a bind we could stay on her living room floor.

Shags preening

The albatross colony is commercial, and I was unwilling to shell out $40 for what some online reviews called a disappointing tour. We still got to see some albatrosses flying overhead, as well as shags and some lovely landscapes.



Eventually, the sun came out. Beautiful! We decided to head back to town and see if the weather was better there too.





Along the way, we saw our first baby pukeko. Its feet were so huge! I also got to see its mother feeding it from her beak.





There's a castle on the Otago Peninsula, which I was interested to see. Like everything that could possibly be of interest to tourists, the kiwis have placed a high price on seeing it. We saved our $27 (each!) and took a scenic drive of the peninsula instead. At a farm stand we found trays of 20 jumbo eggs for $5. Finally, a deal!



Back in Dunedin, the sun was indeed shining. We drove up a hill overlooking the city and wandered around a park drinking a beer and looking at cartoonish mushrooms.









After some exploring, we wandered to the CouchSurfing drinks at the tiniest bar I've ever seen called Mou Very.  We met up with some really nice people, and when the smell of curry wafted over from a neighboring restaurant, I had to get some. It was my first Indian takeaway in this country, if you can believe it. Just thinking about the garlic naan makes me hungry all over again.

At the bar, we met a cool guy named Richard who invited us all back to his place for an after party. We spent the evening in good company, and when Tarsh decided to crash elsewhere, she invited us to upgrade to her bedroom instead.

Have I mentioned how much I like CouchSurfing lately?