Vacations-Away
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South Island - Gold Mining; Dunedin; Yellow-Eyed Penguins Gold Mining Dunedin Yellow-Eyed Penguins We left Queenstown and traveled East, heading toward the coast and further south to the Scottish settled city of Dunedin (pronounced Done-ee-din). The trip was long and meant we left the Alps and lakes behind. Gold Mining
The gold mine has since been abandoned and a hands-on tour is now available. Some of the machinery still runs and there are demonstrations of how the gold was washed out of the hills and crushed by the water driven pistons (above).
We dug out some dirt and rock from the hillside and were shown how to pan for the gold (takes a lot of patience). We did find some gold (note the orange spot at 5 0'clock). Top
Dunedin Selected in 1840 by the New Zealand Company as a suitable site for a Scottish Settlement. 1,620 square kilometers were purchased from the Maori on July 31, 1844. Reverend Thomas Burns (nephew of the Scottish poet, Robert Burns) and 343 others arrived on two ships and established the town, now a city of around 120,000. City Web
Robert Burns & St. Paul's Cathedral, a gothic revival structure, seat of the Anglican religion, on the city center known as the "Octagon". Bagpipes celebrating the Queen Mother's birthday being played on the steps of the Municipal Chambers building built in 1980, the Albert Arms pub and the George St. at night. Dunedin is a university town. Otago University, which is always a good sign for music and lively entertainment. Found it very engaging, yet quaint. Has a tartan shop where I picked up a Thomson tartan (family name). Top We traveled out along the Otago Peninsula just north of Dunedin, out to the end, Taiaroa Head, to the Yellow-eyed penguin refuge. The Yellow-eyed penguin (hoiko) is the largest and the rarest, fewer than 4,000 remaining in the world. They are considered the most ancient of living penguins. They evolved in forests free of predators. Adults are about 65 cm tall and weigh between 5-8 kg. Their life expectancy is up to 20 years. They often pair up for life. At the reserve they keep track of the penguins, give them a name like Betty and Paul and keep track of whether Betty and Paul stay married or get divorced and go off with others. They lay eggs which hatch about 43 days later in November, raise the chicks for 6-7 weeks, then late February to early March swim up to 500km north to winter feeding grounds. Fewer than 15% of the chicks reach breeding age.
Our guide, Tom, showed us around. The penguins are very shy and the intent was to go unnoticed so as not to disturb the nesting birds. We snuck around on a trail through blinds and tunnels catching small glimpses of a few nesting penguins. We then climbed a high hill above the ocean and were walking along a path when we were surprised by a penguin that walked out of the bush within 10 feet of us. We left the Penguin reserve and headed up the coast to Christchurch, past many sheep stations MAIN TOPICS
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We were not far out of Queenstown and encountered gold
mining towns and digs, even found some gold.
"Edinburgh of the South"
Yellow-Eyed Penguins
