Dunedin & Banks Peninsula

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We arrived at Dunedin early afternoon and had just about enough time to look around the town before everything closed. Dunedin is a relatively old Scottish settler town with lots of classic victorian architecture scattered around the 'Hexagon' (city centre). Now it's a bustling tourist destination being at the start of the Otago Peninsula known for it's wildlife sightings of seals, yellow-eyed penquins and albatross. our campsite was located between the two, the plan being to visit Otago the next day.

As it happened we had our first rainstorm since we arrived the following day, which pretty much put a stop to our Otago Peninsula tour so we decided to jump in our van and begin the long drive up the East Coast to Banks Peninsula close to where we had flown into (Christchurch). It took 6 hours and a few stop offs to admire the seals to get to 'Little River' on the Banks Peninsular just as the light was fading, and energy too.

We found a great little spot for free camping with public toilets nearby and close to a fantastic pub where we both ordered $4 baskets of sausage and chips. Boy was that hot food welcome after all the rain we had driven up in - and what a bargain price. As we walked into the 'Crocadile Dundee' style pub, with roaring log fires and timber rafters we pretty soon realised that this was a place for locals. The bar man himself was the spit of Croc Dundee complete with greeting of 'So what brings you folks to these parts?' - it almost felt like we were in the outback of Australia.

We woke to a sunny day outside - that was more like it. We had the morning to explore Banks Peninsular with its winding hilly roads and hundreds (no thousands) of sheep. It was a bit like home from home for Dale being a Yorkshire lad. The weather stayed fantastic all day. We spent an hour looking round Akorao - a French influenced town. Pretty with it's boat harbour and light house. We then drove over mountains with amazing views to our next destination - Kakoura to spot some whales.

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