Dunedin

Today at Dunedin we visited the Royal Albatross Centre -Click here for their website and Lanarch Castle-click for their website . The picture is of the Alatross nesting area high on the cliff tops. click on the photo to enlarge.

The Albatross Centre is managed by the local Conservation Dept who have undertaken 60 years of research, builing up a colony of 160 breeding birds. These magnificient birds can cruise at 140 kph and spend most of their time circumnavigating the globe, returning to their nesting grounds after reaching breeding maturity after 5 -7 years.The colony is unique as its only a few KM from the city centre. The birds are like humans, mating for life, but divorce at 10 years is not uncommon and causes ugly scenes.

We explored an area to day on the southern edge of the Harbour passing lush pastures, small bays, sandy beaches, rugged hills and volcanic landforms. Wildlife abounds with the Royal albatross, yellow eyed penguins, seals and wading birds.

Larnach castles is the only one of its type in NZ , commanding a beautiful view from its tower and set amongst dazzling native fauna.