Dunedin

There were quite a variety of places to see in Dunedin.

Here is Baldwin Street, called the world’s steepest residential street, as labeled in Guinness World Records.

It’s difficult to convey in photos the street’s steep angle. Supposedly, this is steeper than Lombard St. in San Francisco.

https://www.newzealand.com/us/article/steepest-street-in-the-world/
http://www.dunedin.nz.com/baldwin-street.aspx

Next stop was Dunedin’s Railway Station, a working train station that dates back to the early 1900s. Its ornate architecture includes marble-like ticket booths.

The mosaic floor has almost 750,000 Minton tiles.

Across the street from the station is the former location of Cadbury candies.

They have now re-located their operations to Australia.

 

The Penguin Place is a rehab facility for the world’s rarest penguin species — the yellow-eyed penguin. The sick, starving, or injured are brought here.

This one had a back injury and was pulling out his feathers, so he’s wearing a rehab vest over his built-in tuxedo. 

https://penguinplace.co.nz/
https://www.yelp.com/biz/penguin-place-dunedin
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g255119-d256973-Reviews-Penguin_Place-Dunedin_Otago_Region_South_Island.html

 

The next place was a remarkable sight. You cannot believe how many nesting seagulls were concentrated in multiple areas, and the sky was filled with birds. Scores of seagulls were hovering up and down in the gusty winds.

It’s as close as you can get to being in Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds”. But the fear was not of being pecked, but of getting impudently splattered upon.

While hiking along a trail to see fur seals, we saw several of these boxes, housing blue penguins.

 

We came upon some docile-looking seals…

…but as you can see in the following photo, there’s nothing separating our group from their group: no windows, no fence, no moat. 

I was somewhat squeamish about walking near the home turf of wild fur seals. There was nothing to separate their teeth from fastening onto our limbs, if they just so happen to feel unwelcoming.

These crazy picture-takers were within three yards of a seal (centered in the red circle).

We escaped that encounter with all limbs intact.

Our last stop was at a park. Imagine stopping at a park and getting surrounded by cockatoos? Pretty exotic if you ask me, but there they were.

https://www.yelp.com/search?find_desc=Things%20to%20Do&find_loc=dunedin%2C%20New%20Zealand

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attractions-g255119-Activities-Dunedin_Otago_Region_South_Island.html