Thu 14 Jan 2016 Dunedin

Summary:
We started the morning walking through the city centre and visited the art gallery. There was some interesting pieces, including very old ones. Then it was off to the Cadbury Chocolate factory for a tour. We learnt how chocolate is made, right from harvesting the cacao beans. We even got to taste a cacao nib, which is quite bitter. The process is very long and complicated. We even watched a chocolate waterfall, and had to be careful not to stand too close as there's lots of chocolate splashes everywhere. We were also given quite a few chocolate samples as we moved through the tour. At the end of the tour, we all said we couldn't eat chocolate for a while!!

We then drove to Otago Peninsula, and visited Larnach Castle. It sits on the ridge of the peninsula, with great views. It is technically a manor house built in the 1871, by a banker/politician for his family. It has been restored and there's very interesting stories associated with the house. There was piano music playing as we wandered into the music room. An earlier visitor had taken advantage of the invitation to play on antique piano, giving an extra dimension to the tour. The gardens are also beautiful, with different parts/themes.

Larnach Castle

Next stop was to the Royal Albatross Centre where we went on a tour.We learnt how the Northern Royal Albatrosses only breed at the Taiaroa Heads at the Otago Peninsula and Chatham Islands (very isolated, so no one has been there to study them). These albatrosses are one of 22 species of albatrosses and the 3rd largest, with wing spans of 3 m! The chicks spend a year on land growing up before flying off to Antarctic regions for the next 5 years. During this time, they do not go on land. They go back to their original breeding ground when ready to start a family. We were also taken to old army underground barracks with the last functional 'disappearing gun', a massive gun/cannon built for WW1. We also saw some NZ fur seals lazing around on a nearby beach. We could walk right up to them. There were also a lot of birds (red beaked sea gulls and shags breeding nearby).

Highlights:
MK: Had little cup of yummy pure molten chocolate.
MJ: Ate yummy chocolate and said "Hi" to a seal near me.
MH: I got so close the seals lying around.

Logbook:
09:00 (1806 km) Breakfast of toast and enchilada.
10:15 (1806 km) Left Cumberland Motel.
10:20 (1808 km) Dunedin city centre. Walked around the city, Octagon, Arts Centre.
11:30 (1808 km) Cadbury Factory tour. Ate lots of yummy chocolate. Got a show bag of chocolates.
12:55 (1808 km) Left city and drove to Lanarch Castle.
13:25 (1823 km) Lanarch Castle. Lunch of ham wraps. The castle is the only one in New Zealand and has an interesting history.

15:30 (1845 km) Albatross Centre. The Northern Royal Albatross was huge and we had good views of the nests and the birds soaring in the skies. We also saw the disappearing gun. At Pilots Beach, we walked amongst seals lounging around.

NZ fur seal up close

18:09 (1845 km) Left Albatross Centre.
19:01 (1879 km) Dinner at Khmer Satay Noodle House. Fried rice, curry rice, sweet and sour pork rice, beef noodle soup, fried noodles.
20:15 (1879 km) Fill up.