A friend visiting New Zealand next week, called me and suddenly reminded me of the unfinished travelogue. I have to finish this, so going to dump the photos at the tail end of the account..... here goes.
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Visiting the Cadbury Factory is a fun thing to do, we had time to kill that morning, our next visits were are post lunch. If you are the chocolaty kind of person and want to see how this is made, visiting the factory is ‘the thinkg’ to do. There’s an entrance fee, 16$, which gives you a packet of different bars made there and a conducted tour
https://www.cadbury.co.nz/en/cadbury-world.aspx
We were the only Asians who have been there for a long time said the lady tour guide, the rest of couples were from Australia, they turned out to be more curious about India and us then the Chocolate by the time the tour ended! Guess they don’t see many Indian tourist at all there.
The tour guide takes you through the history, procurement, manufacturing, automation and marketing of the products made there. The most impressive part was in the end when one ton of liquid chocolate pours down in front of you down to a funnel and a machine, this is not used for manufacture but to show on tours. The show is impressive, they put the lights out, the guide tips a button, flashes of light, viola.. with a huge sound a deluge of chocolate pours down while the cameras snaps pictures of the tourists staring in amazement at the spectacle! They sell the photos when you finish, nice way to make some extra cash. We were done by 0100 PM and had time to grab lunch and do the wonderful drive to the Otago Peninsula.
This is a must do drive if you are there, the drive from Dunedin of about 20-25 kms is one of the most beautiful in the region, road runs on top of the mountain and you can see the harbour and sea down below for miles, on a clear day this would be awesome for landscape. We were not so lucky, there was a drizzle on but we did get glimpses of the cobalt and green beauty below. The peninsula is famous for the wildlife of the region.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otago_Peninsula
We grabbed a packed lunch from a Chinese restaurant, got us plenty of food for 20$ in the takeaway. The GPS steered us to Monarch wildlife cruises. We had called in early in the morning and did a booking on the phone for a 315PM cruise, the lady on the phone was patient and explained the route and directions, a professional outfit form start to finish. I would highly recommend one to take a cruise to see the wide variety of wildlife, birds and marine life in the peninsula which may be missed from land, well worth the 49$ per head tab. The cruise give you a windbreaker, a rain coat and also binoculars to see up close. There’s a megaphone commentary form a naturalist on the boat to explain all that you see around you, patiently explaining the birds, animals, marine life etc., without that the trip would loose much of its charm, the guy who explained was a pro and appeared to be loving his job. The temperature was near 0 with wind chill a blade, we were glad for the extra protection and guidance from the boat. By the time we the boat hit the open waters, the wind picked up, temp was down to -3! Very cold for us.
http://www.wildlife.co.nz/WildlifeCruise
With the trip done around 0430, our next move was to the penguin place, you need to reserve early as they take in only a limited number daily. We booked in for 0430 PM. This is an innovative project for the yellow eyed penguins established way back in the 80’s in a small way, but grew to a collaborative and successful breeding place for the rare penguins. You reach the reception, they take in people in batches of 15 people on a bus, bus grinds up the mountain towards the beach and you have to walk through hedges, bushes, trenches and tunnels to where the penguins nest with a guide. We are hidden away from the penguins so as not to disturb them, yet we can observe what they do. Clever idea this, a great experience for us to get up close and personal with them. The charge, can we live without that.... 52$ per person.
http://www.penguinplace.co.nz/
We were glad we took the tour, we could see lots of them and also some seals on the beach, some of the penguins walked across our path while we waited patiently for them to cross on their way back from the sea below, hopped up the beach the steep mountains to their dens near up, quiet a sight to see.
We were done about 0600, went up to the Royal Albatross Center, on the top of the mountain. We drove up there, there’s an entry charge or you need to buy something there, light was fading and we wanted to see the Albatross flying overhead and around rather than go inside and miss the light. It was getting colder, yet we walked out and watched the magnificent birds launching, circling, drifting and landing, another highlight of the tour. You can catch a glimpse on the video on the link below.
http://albatross.org.nz/
We hit back the motel, made ourselves and knock out dinner with some wine to follow. Another eventful day, we were happy we decided to spend a day in Dunedin. The drizzle was on, the room heater made it comfortable and we got an old Hindi Movie on the telly, a rarity again.
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