For our last major stop in New Zealand, I chose Dunedin on the East Coast because we'd never been that direction and it seemed like a quiet town that still had lots to do. I specifically chose to stay in St. Clair because it is a little beach suburb with surfing and waterfront cafes and we were so happy with the area. Our Airbnb was adorable! It even had a hot tub, which was quite a treat, and it was walking distance to the beach.
St. Clair beach was beautiful but (to us) the water was freezing! Matt did get to go our surfing with a wetsuit several times but the kids and I only dipped our toes in the water.
For dinner, we walked down to the Esplanade Restaurant and thoroughly enjoyed the cozy restaurant and its view. We were surprised to find out that a lot of restaurants were closed for 2-3 weeks for the holidays and didn't reopen until mid-January.
It was nice being in a small town, too, because the kids were able to explore more freely. Alex loved watching the waves at high tide while Matt and I lingered over our dinners.
On Thursday morning, we went to the lookout of the end of St. Clair beach and decided to walk down to the water and explore a little.
It was pretty chilly in the wind here but really beautiful.
I'd heard about Baldwin Street, supposedly the steepest street in the world, and thought it would be fun to check it out.
Most of the streets in this area were pretty steep but this one won for sure. I would be terrified to live on this street!
It was a pretty good workout just to get to the top! And apparently someone has rollerskated it and another guy has done it on a pogo stick. We just walked.
At the top looking down...knowing it's going to be much easier to go the other way!
Can't miss the good photo op!
Naturally, all the guys wanted to drive it. Good thing we didn't have a standard.
We were pretty excited to go have some Mexican food for lunch, but forgot about the long restaurant holiday. This was the absolute worst thing about our trip! (and if that's the worst thing, then we really have nothing to complain about)
Instead, we had lunch at a little cafe on the town square. Dunedin was absolutely charming with just the right mix of small town and some tourists.
We found an indoor playplace and at first didn't go in because it looked closed. Turns out the holidays just aren't the busy here and we had the place to ourselves. We did a little mini golf...
...and some video games...
...and two really awesome games of laser tag. They had a massive indoor maze full of hiding spots and targets for extra points. First time, it was just the four of us so we were all playing on our own and Alex beat everyone.
The second time, we played as teams of two against another large family and Alex and I were the champions!! I still never figured out where he was getting so many points but he was unstoppable.
That evening, we headed out onto Otago Peninsula to visit the Royal Albatross Centre but first we stopped to hike a little.
The views from the highest point were pretty spectacular in every direction.
Sandfly bay beach
We saw our first ever hedgehog in the road. Turns out they eat birds eggs so they're not loved by the locals.
One more look at wild black swans as we neared the point of the peninsula.
We were visiting the albatross center to see the little blue penguins, which don't start coming ashore until sunset, about 9:30pm on the long southern hemisphere summer day. We didn't arrive until about 9, which means we missed seeing the albatross nests but we were still able to see plenty of gull nests. Alex wasn't a fan.
We did see a few royal albatross cruising around and they looked like hang gliders compared to all the gulls! They are massive birds.
Finally getting ready to see the penguins and someone was having a wardrobe malfunction.
To watch the penguins here, you have to buy tickets and walk only on the viewing platform, because the nests are all around and underneath the stand. Apparently before they built this, little penguins used to get run over when people tried to park right up next to the water :(
We saw the last light of the sunset while we watched anxiously for the first raft (group) of penguins to arrive.
Several seals dotted the shoreline and had already called it a night.
Finally, we spotted a little disturbance in the water and watched as it made its way toward shore.
Suddenly, the first little group popped out of the waves and were about the most adorable things I'd ever watched!
Alex was almost beside himself. After his first penguin sighting, he was pretty obsessed the whole trip and it was a long day waiting until sunset to get to see them.
We stayed and watched as group after group came ashore and waddled back to feed their chicks. The noisy little chicks were so happy to see their parents!
An unforgettable experience!
The next day, we relaxed and decided to take in a movie. It was nice having a little more down time in Dunedin.
That afternoon, the kids and I hiked down to tunnels beach.
The tunnel was carved in the 1870's to access the beach.
Down on the beach, it was a boy's playground with huge rocks to climb everywhere they looked.
Alex had his stuffed penguins in his pockets the whole time and pulled them out for the picture!
Beautiful!
We enjoyed the sunshine and the park for the rest of the afternoon.
Weather doesn't get much better than this! Warm sunshine and a cool ocean breeze.
We grilled some local steak and lamb for dinner and couldn't have been happier with it. The butcher shops were so affordable!
We had a lazy Saturday morning, packed up the house, and spent our last hour at the Esplanade enjoying one last flat white with an ocean view.
Looking back toward the historic building housing the Esplanade. We enjoyed St. Clair so much for its small-town charm, but it was time to move along. We had one last night left in New Zealand and wanted to make the most of it.
We drove back north towards Queenstown through the Clutha River gully and passed through Fruitlands, so it seemed appropriate to stop and buy fresh produce. The cherries and peaches were delicious!
We also stopped the check out the dam...pretty cool!
Then we arrived at our last stop on the fantastic road trip. I had booked an Airbnb apartment inside a working winery and we couldn't wait to check it out. We were about an hour away from Queenstown in Alexandra at Grey Ridge Vineyards.
The kitchen table/tasting room has some pretty magnificent views!
While we settled in and waited for it to cool off outside, the kids took advantage of the games on the veranda. This epic game ended in a draw.
When it was a little cooler, the owner Paul took us on a tour through the vineyard and showed us everything involved in growing the grapes. They have a small 10-acre plot but the work that goes into it is pretty incredible.
They grow 5 varieties of pinot noir and the grapes were just beginning to bud out.
Their big, wide rows allowed the grapes to get more sunlight and grow bigger and juicier.
After learning about the production, it was time to sample some of the real thing! They even make a white pinot noir by not allowing the grape juice to contact the wine skins.
The kids loved playing outside and ran around for hours on their last night of outdoor freedom. We had a family barbecue with the owners, also former oilfield expats, and the other guests from Germany.
We were greeted with one last lovely NZ morning and soaked up the views over our breakfast.
The drive back to Queenstown was scenic and just reminded us why we love this country so much.
It was hard to leave! We could have done this trip for weeks more but things like work and school don't go away. Thankfully, we had a little stop planned on the way home so we didn't have to head straight back to Jakarta. The kids figured it out that morning but still didn't know the big surprise...
