Dunedin, New Zealand: Penguin love and the world's largest ice cream cone!

South Island: Dunedin and surrounds.
Chillin' with penguins, seals and albatross

So here I was after nearly 6 months of non stop travel... finally getting to the abode of the penguins. My brother Attila and I have often joked about buying property in New Zealand and instead of dogs, having sheep in the yard and penguins in the tub. The `tub` being outside in the yard of course. lol.

From the streets and back alleys of Old Edinburgh. AKA: Dunedin.

I fley in to Dunedin, which is the Scottish capital of New Zealand. Yep, you could definitely tell there was a Scottish influence. The way the city was laid out amongst quite steep "rolling" hills and roads reminded me a bit of Halifax in Canada. It also has a lot of meandering "up and down" style roads.  The steepest known road in the world is found here. I WISH I had a bike with me!

Dunedin boasts the steepest street in the world.

They certainly have some hilly roads!

There were many churches with gorgeous carvings and architecture. I sat in one on my way to a meeting one day.  The organist happened to be practicing. Well, he was most excellent and I was grateful to have had the good fortune of stepping in at just that moment.  Besides the organ player, I was totally alone, having the entire place to myself with incredibly uplifting and devotional music being played. Light was streaming in through the stained glass windows and the serenity of the atmosphere did my travel weary soul a lot of good.

I just love symmetrically aligned architecture. It "feels good" to me.
I also enjoy "chaotic symmetry" - as long as I can discern a pattern.

200 year old hymn and psalm books, which, for Europe, really is but a drop in the bucket of time, for Canada, it's older than the country itself!

You call this a small?!! Seriously?

How am I going to eat all of this?!

New Zealanders take their sweets very seriously. The kiddie cone for children was two LARGE scoops. This was four. That`s what I got when I asked for their smallest size. Their medium and large were... well.. kind of unbelievable.

This was the only time I actually paid for lodging as I needed a break and some quite time to myself. So, I booked in at one of the downtown hostels which was right around the corner to a Bikram Yoga studio.  If you think I book my lodgings haphazardly, think again! lol.  I got a one week unlimited pass and went every day. I chatted up the local yogi's and enjoyed getting the kinks out of my body. I did NOT however, enjoy the challenging "class part", only the "feel good" after affects. lol.

By the ocean watching the albatross flying around and the seaweed swirling about.

Met some lovely folks at the hostel, did the usual "where are you from what are you doing here" etc. found the local grocery shops, cooked a lot, walked a lot, spent much quiet time alone and then I prepared for my return to Canada. Happily, I was booked to visit my friends Katrina and Derek in British Columbia before a stopover in Toronto to see family and other friends, and only THEN find my way back to New Brunswick.  Wheh! Just thinking about that and writing it out seems like a lot of energy. Seeing Katy and Derek will be amazing though as it's been a while and a visit is definitely due. Yay for awesome friends!

The rare yellow eyed penguin making his move. The female was a few meters away.

Ahh... it`s always the way with love, isn`t it?

Actually, I saw this penguin across the rocky shore looking at a female penguin sitting on a rock looking out to sea. She looked back at him, then turned a bit. He started to hobble towards her. There was s seal in between. As soon as he got too close, the seal rose up and made ready to have him for dinner. The penguin looked to the female again, she flapped her flippers as if to encourage him. He made the bold decision to continue and circle around the seal. Unfortunately the turf was very difficult for him to maneouvre... as you can see in the top photo. It took him a long time to get around the seal and back to the smooth sandy part of the shore. As he hobbled up to the large rock the female penguin was waiting on, and hopped up, she hobbled over to him and the put opposite flippers on each other while both looking out to the sea. It was an epic penguin love story. Only in New Zealand my friends.

The penguin trenches. You could (sort of) sneak up very close to the penguins when disguised behind these enclosed trenches. The lookouts allowed you to see all around the area at penguin level.

The colours during "golden hour" were just spectacular.

I could watch this scene for hours.

The lone penguin watching the tide go out.

Does he feel melancholy in his little soul I wonder... it kind

of looks that way to me... then again, he could just be watching out for dinner.