Don’t ever complain to me that Ballarat is cold, Ballarat is not cold at all when you compare it to Dunedin. Today we hit a high of about 7 degrees with a wind chill factor of about minus seven. We did not sleep in, Noeline earned points for getting us breakfast and we ventured out to visit Larnach Castle about 15 minutes away. They were having trouble with the heating, today of all days, so we wandered around this most impressive old building getting quite chilly.
This old castle has been lovingly restored with a small section at the front open to the public, you can view the music room, drawing room, ladies tea room, library, dining room, two bedrooms and the upper level nanny’s room and nursery. It has all authentic furniture and fittings. The bathrooms were not what I would call inviting at all especially at today’s temperature, you would want to keep all your clothes on. Gerard and I went up to the roof, the view was amazing and I took photos but the wind chill was something else. I gave in and bought a pair of possum and merino wool gloves. Poor possum!
The trip to and from the castle was up the middle of the Otago peninsula with the harbour on one side and the sea on the other. It was very steep, but the scenery was amazing and such a contrast. Neat little bays and islands with calm water and moored vessels as opposed to sand and surf. The homes in the little villages were so cute and we passed through places called Portobello and Andersons Bay. It was a bit like the little towns in the hills on the way into Adelaide on the old highway.
After lunch we were picked up by the tour bus and taken to the port area to board our vessel for a wildlife tour of the bay. We were advised that the best view was from the bow so the four passengers (us and a girl from England) sat out in the bow. To give them credit they did offer us extra coats – we did have ours on, but an extra one was good especially to keep your legs warm. The wind was unbelievable and the air so cold we weren’t far up the harbour before the heater in the cabin called and we were supplied with hot tea and coffee and a mini pie each. We cruised around and various wildlife were pointed out to us. We picked up a group of school kids and were advised to go back out on the bow, as we would be travelling slower around the point.
Amazing – we saw rookeries of various varieties of shags, albatross, oyster-catchers and a sooty shearwater. The sooty shearwater is like the butcherbird of the water and a real bad guy. We saw a sea lion lying on the beach and across the harbour seals were lying on the rocks. No sun to be sunning themselves. We went out the heads into the rough water looking for albatross but headed back after a bit of time battling two metre waves, it was fun, but a couple of kids were looking a bit green.
Back at Weller Bay we disembarked and got on another little bus to go to the Penguin Park. Here I gave in and bought a beanie, I was warm in the body, feet and hands but my face was frozen and my head cold. I didn’t care what I looked like I needed to be warm, by now I was wearing the second coat. Tim, our guide, gave us a briefing on the lifecycle of a penguin and their behaviour in this area. The penguins here are yellow-eyed penguin and an endangered species. We then headed off in another little bus to visit the hides.
Now, by this time, Noeline, who apparently doesn’t feel the cold, was wearing three coats and was not giving any of them up for anybody. We walked down to the hilltop over the beach and saw more seals on the rocks and then walking towards the penguin colony we passed within about 4 metres of two seals who were just lying on the grass near the walking track, we kept quiet and took photos, apparently they can get up some speed when chasing humans so we didn’t want to risk that.
The conservationists have set up an area with hides with tunnels joining them that you can walk through and view the penguins. It was amazing we were able to see little blue penguins in their nests and some yellow-eyed penguins in their nests, then at the last hide two yellow-eyed penguins had just returned from the sea and we could see them greet each other and visit their nest and they came within about 1 metre of the hide. It was soooo good! You almost forgot how cold you were.
After the trip back in a warm bus we were back at the Hotel about 6pm. A long afternoon in the cold and I am sure the wind did a dermabrasion on my cheeks. After we warmed up we went to a bistro at a Hotel for dinner and came back to our electric blankets.
