Yesterday was my last day on the Stray bus. Overall the experience was a positive one and now I felt comfortable being on my own once again. I decided to stay an extra night in Dunedin and take a regular bus to Christchurch rather than travelling a day earlier with the Stray bus. The reason for this was to see the yellow eyed penguins. While New Zealand isn't lacking from scenic beauty the country isn't exactly teeming with animals, so Dunedin along with Kaikoura where the two wildlife destinations on my itinerary.

With no bus to catch in the morning I lazed in the bed and woke up at 9, then after breakfast I set out to explore the city of Dunedin.

[Actual diary text: Dalghodu hadtha easy u qomt xi 9. L-ghagba l-ohra kienet diga qamet qabli u kont diga smajt kull qallut minuskolu u kull bassa twila tal-harja taghha. Nsomma, hadt tazza café mil-kamra biex nuza l-privillegi tal-kamra tal-lukanda u mbaghad tlaqt ghal ghonq it-triq nesplora Dunedin]

The city centre is made of two roads in concentric circles, a good way to find the city centre because you'll inevitably cross these roads when walking towards the centre. A picture of the train/bus station would be a good clue for a trivial pursuit question on the Scottish origins of the word Dunedin. Maybe it had something to do with roads going around in circles but this place stimulated my shopping impulse because I went on a shopping spree. I ended up getting yet another cargo pants, a self inflatable mat and a thermal undervest. The first shop I went into was a cycling shop and I after drooling in the CamelBak section I went to the more approachable thermal underwear section. I convinced myself a black sleek undervest would be more fashionable than the light blue vests I usually wear. I got the medium sized one in the black box and left happy with the bargain – they where ½ the price of the ones I could get in Dublin. When I removed from the box I realised that not only the vest wasn't light blue but it had all the bright colours of the rainbow!

I liked Dunedin as a city. I might say that I think it ended up being my favourite city in the South Island. The small compact centre makes it easy to roam about, the shopping is good and there's a young vibe about the place. There are many students living here because of the University there is which is the only University in the New Zealand where you can study dentistry. As the University Bookshop can easily prove from the loads of shelves full of Medicine books the University's strong point is the medicine section.

After the shopping spree I went back to the hotel and found the Elm's Tour Guide waiting for me at the hotel reception. I rushed upstairs, threw the purchases on the bed, took a piss and hopped on the tour bus. This tour company had a certain professional feel. As I boarded the van, the guide gave me a sheet with the species that we were likely to see on the trip and binoculars. The young guide had a masters degree and he researched the sea lion migration in the area.

After collecting everybody from their respective hotels (while I was reading the Australian M.A.D. magazine) we went to look for the albatross. Even before we walked to the cliff both guides knew that we weren't going to find any albatross. Instead of the albatross I had to content myself with the little shags on their nest. We barely spent two minutes in the wind until everybody walked towards the reception centre. The reception centre had an exhibition on albatross migration however most people preferred to sit in the café section sipping coffee and eating muffins.

The next stop was the fur seal colony. The fur seals like all other seals are always fun to watch, playful and photogenic. I had already watched the seals from a closer distance so I was eager to get on with this part of the tour and spend more time observing the penguins. As we were return back to the van up the hills we had a really hard time walking up because of the very strong wind. The wind was so strong that it made the news, because some places got damaged by the wind in the Otago peninsula. Once again I had to hold my glasses from flying off.

After the seal colony it was time for the long anticipated attraction of the tour – the penguins. We visited the penguins last because dusk is the best time to see these animals. We had to drive for about 45 minutes from the seal place to the penguin. On the way we saw some variable oystercatchers, white faces herons, stilts, shags and paradise ducks.

Before we arrived to the penguins we had to cross the white sandy beach near and pass near a sea lion colony. Their threatening looks didn't scare us, but they were more interested in playing with each other than taking note of our group. At last we came up to the penguin hide and in front of my eyes were the yellow eyed penguins.

There where two courting penguins, a feeble penguin coming up from sea who was being blown away by the wind and there was the movie star penguin. This penguin was staring at the camera in his hide and striking different poses for our pleasure. The guide turned on the TV to oblige.

This was a very poor description of the whole tour and I doubt how much the photos can do give the deserved credit to this activity. All I can say is that if you're even remotely interested in wildlife you should go on the Elms tour. The guides are well informed and knowledgeable and the penguins are just fantastic.

[Actual Diary text Nr. 2] Ahna u sejrin lura d-dar gol-van qadt nisma l-Opeth biex ma nismax il-qroqqa ingliza kerha pesta tiftahar bl-ex boyfriend daniz li kellha.]

When I arrived home I had a short nap and at midnight I went in search for Dunedin nightlife. This was Saturday but for some reason or other I only found 1 bar that had a decent clientele. There were loads of people outside in the streets but whenever I tried to follow a crowd I always ended up in an eatery. I tried to go in a nightclub but after going up an endless flight of stairs I only found 5 underage Chinese girls, probably the only people able to endure the stairs stamina test. The men's toilet was a complete waste of space. At last I ended up in Champions Sports Grill Bar and watched New Zealand lose their only game this year against South Africa 21-20.

View the complete Dunedin Gallery here

Coming next: Wellington