Lily Hislop, 2012 New Zealand Adventure Tourism student blogger, writes:

So I’m writing this post in the rain, at six o’clock in the morning, in the middle of Dunedin, New Zealand‘s town square. This blog post probably could have waited for a more suitable time and place, but I really wanted to get my thoughts down as soon as I could.

Yesterday, we began our day with breakfast at the hotel. We then took our bus to the local university where we listened to a very interesting lecture about the history of New Zealand tourism and what the best path for its future would be.

Then it was back to the hotel for a quick lunch on our own. A group of girls sat in our room, and we passed around a jar of Vegemite and some bread. Vegemite is disgusting. I didn’t actually think it would be that bad, but it has this weird trait where the longer it’s in your mouth, the worse it gets.

Elm Wildlife Tours

Then we were toured around the Otago Peninsula through just lovely scenery. Our bus drove us to one end of the peninsula. It was supposedly the only spot in the world where albatrosses nest on the mainland. In all other spots they nest in offshore islands. We couldn’t see the nests though. The only non-scientist ever allowed near the nests was Prince Charles when he came to visit. And we weren’t considered as important as Prince Charles. But we could stand on the cliffs and look over the ocean, and we were told if we were lucky we would see one flying out to sea. And we did. I saw four albatrosses in total, one royal and three lesser species. And let me tell you, they are magnificent. Great wide wings, gliding just above the water. All too soon we were ushered back on the bus and shuttled off to the other end of the peninsula. We climbed down a steep trail and reached a nice secluded beach, right before sunset.

Hooker’s sea lions

There were probably a dozen large Hooker’s sea lions lounging on the beach. They are the rarest species of sea lion in the world. We were able to get right up close to them. One of them was a little peeved at our presence and chased us. And by chased I mean took an aggressive step toward us, and I ran away like a little girl. The sea lions were very content to lounge around, occasionally getting up to pick on one another.

Also on the beach were yellow-eyed penguins. Let me tell you about these little guys. Dunedin used to be covered in forests that the penguins would nest in. Yes, that’s right, these penguins are forest-dwelling creatures. The penguins are very shy so we had to hide in little huts. They would swim to shore, walk across the beach, and then hop their way up the steep grass hillside and scuttle into the bushes where they kept their nests. The penguins would walk right past the sheep and not even be phased. I really wish I could have taken a better photograph of them. They were really very cute.

Yellow-eyed penguins, as seen from viewing hut

We then climbed back up the hill that somehow became impossibly steep while we were on the beach. And then we walked down the other side. On the other side of the hill were tide pools with New Zealand fur seals. Oh boy, these were cute. There were seal pups everywhere. Itty bitty things that played and splashed about in the tide pools and looked at us with just the cutest eyes. And there were a hundred of them! It was very neat to see. As the sun set, we took a couple group photos and returned to the bus. The day was completed by a long drive home through the darkening countryside with the Dunedin lit up in the distance. It was a truly amazing day!

Lily on Otago Peninsula