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Penguin Place – Home of the Yellow Eyed Penguin

4/18/2011

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Give us a Kiss!
Penguin Place, on the Otago Peninsula is home to endangered yellow eyed penguins. Set on a private conservation reserve, the site was created by Howard McGrouther in 1985. Back then there were only eight breeding pairs of yellow eyed penguins in the area, thanks to Howard’s foresight and dedicated team there are now over 19 breeding pairs nesting in paradise.

The penguin tours fully fund the project and pay for the upkeep of the nesting area, the world’s only yellow eyed penguin hospital, predator and replanting programmes, and the employment of a marine biologist and team of tour guides.

The tour takes around ninety minutes. Tim, our guide, was one of those rare individuals who genuinely adores his job, and telling the world about the very rare yellow eyed penguins. We visited the auditorium first, learnt about how ‘Penguin Place’ came to life, and some of the reasons why the yellow eyed penguin or Hoiho - which means ‘noise shouter’ in Maori, is unique.

The yellow eye is the third largest penguin species in the world, being outsized only by the Emperor and King. Unlike other penguins, they are very territorial and like a sense of space. Each year they stake their claim on a section of coastal property and together with their mate for life build a nest to lay their two eggs.

Sadly, their choice of nesting site, down on the ground on a small section East Coast of the South Island of New Zealand, is also home to their land based predators. Stoats, dogs and feral cats see penguin eggs as a must have delicacy. They aren’t really safe off shore either, orcas and seals find the penguins a tasty snack, and they often drown in fishing nets.

At the on-site penguin hospital there were no bird’s predation injuries, however, it was sad to see the number of undernourished birds. With the La Niña weather pattern, the fish supply has not being close to shore and the young penguins have simply starved.

A short bus trip over the farm to the Eastern side of the Otago Peninsula took us to the penguin reserve. There is WWI trench like system with viewing bunkers covered in camouflage that allowed us to get right up to the birds. It was the middle of malting season, so the birds had spent four weeks over feeding and then come to land to shed their coats.

The second part of the tour is above ground; we walked out to the ‘Bachelor Pad’ a rocky point overlooking the beach where adolescent New Zealand fur seals come to ‘hang out’. We also saw the little blue penguin breeder boxes and got an aerial appreciation of the ‘trench system’. This really is THE wildlife tour to do while in Dunedin, it is by far the most intimate wildlife experience, and I can’t wait to go back in December to see the chicks. All I can say is 'Thank the universe!' for people like Howard McGrouther and his family who created this amazing place.

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Aerial view of Penguin Place
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New Zelaand Fur Seals
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Inside the Tunnel System
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Soaring with the Ancient Mariner’s Nemesis.

3/7/2011

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As a sailor, the albatross is almost a mythical bird. I have seen them at sea, and when they appear on a watery horizon their strength and size never fails to impress. The albatross colony at Taiaroa Head (Pukekura) is on a Nature Reserve managed by the Department of Conservation, and the Otago Peninsula Trust takes small guided groups up to the observatory to see the nesting birds.

At the carpark at the Westpac Royal Albatross Centre I could see that a lot of time, money and physical effort has gone into protecting the only mainland colony of birds. There is a predator proof fence and pink triangles that show the start of a traplines.

In 1918, the first egg was laid in the area, however, because of predation it took over twenty years for a chick to reach adulthood. Thanks to the efforts of Dr L. E. Richdale, a Dunedin ornithologist, and his dedicated team this albatross colony represents the longest continuous study and protection of any animal population in New Zealand.

The albatross has a wingspan of over there metres. An adult can fly at speeds of up to 120 km an hour, thanks to their ability to dislocate and lock their wings. Two facts that I found intriguing were:

1. The albatross has its own desalination plant – after fledging and learning to fly they circumnavigate Antarctica for three years without returning to land. They actually drink sea water, and a remarkable chamber at the base of their beak filters the salt out of the water and lets it drip down their beak.

2. Once they have grown to adult size the chicks weigh between 10-12kg, however, they need to be between 8-9 kg to fly. After seven months, the dutiful parents (who mate for life) put their not so ‘little one’ on a starvation diet. When the chick gets hungry and skinny enough it literally walks off a cliff (no prior practice) and starts flying to find food.

When going on this tour don’t expect to get ‘Up close and personal’ with the birds. The observatory is perched high on the hill, and when I went the nearest bird was about 20 metres away. There was, however, a live video feed showing a close up of a nest and a chick. I was still in awe of the birds and seeing them tending their nests, waddling along their homemade runways and soaring off over the harbour was (I hate to say it) BREATHTAKING.

If you want to see the hulking balls of fluff easily, the parents leave them on their own and clearly visible from April to August. Although, any time of the year is a great time to visit. Yellow eyed penguins, little blue penguins, seals, sea-lions, cormorants and seagulls also hang out on the head.

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Kat, our tour guide in the Westpac Albatross Centre
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Adult birds nesting
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Taiaroa Head and the Armstrong Disappearing Gun

3/6/2011

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How to aim.
Taiaroa head offers an excellent vantage point, high over the entrance to the Otago harbour which leads to Port Chalmers and the city of Dunedin. The Maori people called the head Pukekura and there was a fortified pa on site of some description for 700 years before the Europeans arrived.

The
Armstrong disappearing gun and fort is an excellent example of Colonial defence at its best. In 1864, the lighthouse was built, and as a result of the ‘Russian Threat’ the fort was constructed using hard labour in 1885. The ‘Threat’ occurred because England declared war on Russia in 1873 and the Russian warship Kaskowiski (with more firepower than the entire New Zealand coastal defence system) sailed into Auckland Harbour. According to the Southern Cross newspaper this “954-man Russian vessel obviously meant business, with a dozen 30-ton guns as well as a remarkably new advance in warfare, a paralysing and deadly "water-gas" that could be injected into enemy ships from a great distance.”

The Armstrong gun, which was never actually fired in anger, arrived in 1889. It took months to be installed as there was no heavy machinery to move it into place. Tramlines form Dunedin were brought out and installed and the gun finally found a home. It took over a decade to ‘protect’ the harbour after the ‘Threat’ due to the debacle created when communicating with Mother England on the other side of the world. A game of Chinese whispers via ocean going vessel anyone?

W. G. Armstrong designed and built the gun in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. With its 6 inch breech and hdyro-pneumatic carriage. It was aimed and loaded below ground. A hand pumped water and air system raised the gun into firing position and the recoil after firing returned the gun underground. Sadly, the technology was virtually obsolete by 1912.

The tour through the tunnels takes about forty-five minutes and includes museum like displays of the Fort which was also manned during WWI and WWII. Combined with the Albatross tour and lunch at Portobello, it makes an intriguing afternoon adventure out on the Otago Peninsula.

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Don't hit the lighthouse!
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Hands to Battle Stations - Eran & I ham it up.
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BEER Beer bEer beEr beeR beer @ Speights Brewery Tour.

3/2/2011

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At the Speights' brewery, malted barley, sugar, hops and pure spring water are blended, heated and brewed. This is where the art of beer making, with a good dollop of science on the side, is used to create world class beers.

The Speights Brewery buildings were erected in 1876, thanks to vision of James Speight, Charles Greenslade and William Dawson. There are whsipered references that they were actually brewing a couple of months before they got their official licence, however, the local police constables enjoyed the brew so much they turned a blind eye.

Our guide Grahame took us through seven floors of intricate processing plant  and brass piping that led all the way to the Speight’s tasting room. We learnt about gravity fed brewing, the history of brewing ale from the Egyptian’s onwards and some quirky facts about early Dunedin.

In the tasting room I found out what I already knew, I’m a 'Summit Girl' when it comes to the Pride of the South, but, what was really interesting was the Gil and Eran didn’t get the kiwi humour in the ‘Southern Man’ ads...."Is it a parody??...He’s being rude! Our Israeli woman would shoot us if we acted like that". This led to an interesting discussion on cultural stereotypes and the stupid things that people do when they are drunk.

To find out more go to www.speights.co.nz/Brewery-Tours.aspx. I would highly recommend saving a few coins and buying a Cadbury/ Speight’s double deal pass from the Dunedin i-Site. It will lead to a fabulous day of beer and chocolate!

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Enjoy the chocolatey goodness at Cadbury's Factory Dunedin

3/1/2011

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Me, Gil and Eran looking like a chocolate ninja
In 1824, John Cadbury moved to Birmingham and opened his first shop selling tea, coffee, hops, mustard and cocoa. His drinking chocolate became a hit with the English elite, and through experimentation, and a lot of taste testing he developed a chocolately range of drinks. With a stroke of genius he added hot milk and sugar to his cocoa and created today’s ultimate comfort food. By 1842, he was selling sixteen lines of drinking chocolate and cocoa in cake and powder forms.

In New Zealand, the Cadbury story began in 1868 when Richard Hudson established a biscuit bakehouse in Dunedin. Like John Cadbury, his sweet treats, mixed with a flair for marketing created a booming business. In 1884 his pioneering venture included the first chocolate and cocoa manufacturing plant in the Southern Hemisphere. In 1930 he established a partnership with Cadbury and the first Cadbury’s chocolate rolled of the production line.

Eran, Gil and I took the 75 minute Cadbury World tour. I have to confess I was a little sceptical about the whole thing, especially since I spent a good chunk of my professional life working in a manufacturing environment. I was actually shocked to find myself hanging off Dominic’s every word and giggling along with the kids in the group as we vied for chocolate treats. Hats off and hurrah to the automaton engineers and Cadbury staff who came up with such amazing processes for making chocolate; and because they had the forethought to share their workplace with us.

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Eran and Gil at Crunchy Mountain.
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Me and Cadbury NZ's first delivery truck. - A Model A Ford.
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