Dunedin - work and wildlife
Last week, I was in Dunedin for a research visit. The researcher that I was visiting at Otago university has been working on a dialogue system for learners of Māori. We discussed research and I presented my work at a weekly seminar of the Computer Science department. Apart from working, I took the opportunity to explore Dunedin. Dunedin is in the far South of New Zealand and the surrounding area resembles Schotland. The city is beautifully located at the end of Otago harbour, a sea inlet of around 20 km which has been formed by a volcanic eruption. Kate and Dan, the friends I was staying with, just moved into a house which sits on a hill overlooking the harbour. Their view *almost* beats ours.
Stretching over the southern side of the harbour is Otago peninsula with lush green countryside against dramatic coastal cliffs, and deserted beaches. The peninsula is the only place on the mainland which has a Royal Albatross colony. There are also colonies of very rare Hooker sealions and even rarer Yellow-eyed penguins. The only way to access the colonies is across private land. So we booked ourselves a tour with a renowned ecotour operator. The albatross colony had nests with two month old albatross chicks. The guide told us that there was only a very small chance to see an albotross flying. But luckily, one came gliding over. What a magnificent birds!
Walking through dense fog, we continued our tour to a seal colony on the other side of the peninsula. Two to five month old puppies were playing in shallow pools on the rocks or scrambling up and down the rocks. Over the hills on another beach, we were just in time to see yellow-eyed penguins coming home from a day of fishing. Just 10 metres from us - and from the 15 sealions that were sleeping on the beach - the penguins climbed ashore and wobbled their way up into the hills where the sheep were grazing.
It was a great trip, workwise as well as for pleasure. I will definitely stay in contact with the research group and look forward to contribute to their dialogue system: “He aha? He hoiho tērā!” (= “What is that? That is yellow-eyed penguin!”).
See the other photos.
