After a restful night in a excellent B&B, even thou the builders started at 8am on the new drive at the side of the house, we were ready to explore. Whilst loading the car, Rees (a builder who thought I was the house owner and told me how they were going to have to divert my down pipe as it ran under where the drive was to be laid) gave me some great spots to see the local wildlife and a very picturesque run along the coast. But we start with the iconic railway station in Dunedin..

We visited the art gallery in the Station and I had a nice chat with Belinda Mason, local artist, who not only paints great pictures (art is in the eye of the beholder) but enjoys stargazing. We had a great chat about Dark Skies at Lake Tekapo and she put on on the a Facebook group with information about the southern aroura. Check out her work on line – here’s some of her stuff. Lovely to meet you Belinda.

After a refreshment stop at Maggie’s (good cake!) ….

We were off to explore the Dunedin Botanical Gardens…

Then we headed for the wildlife along the coast round to Harrington Point where we didn’t actually see any penguins or an albatross but we did see Rabbits and seals, lots of seals.

and on the way back we stopped off at Te Rauone Beach where this chap was having a snooze in the afternoon sun.

I’ll let my good friend Jess name him as she loves seals! – text me with a name Jess and I’ll tag him. We also had a paddle. Well, be rude not to.