Day 3- Dunedin Part 2

After an overcast morning at a castle, the sky started to brighten up and we decided to head to the beach.  We needed some lunch so we stopped at Subway (Yes, I know.  We're in New Zealand and we're eating Subway?  But hey, we're still on a time schedule and budget and fish n' chips gets old after a while.) then headed for Allen's Beach, also on the peninsula.

After a beautiful drive winding over the hilly peninsula, past inlets and bays, we arrive at our very own private beach.  This enormous, desolate, gorgeous beach was all to ourselves!  We couldn't believe it.  We knew that the South Island was more sparsely populated than what we are used to, but we weren't expecting to have the beauty all to ourselves.

Sheep barrier, per the usual.

We start strolling along, round the corner of rocks and...holy moly, are those sea lions?!

Another one!

I handed James over to Lance because if the sea lions charged (there were signs everywhere telling us to be cautious) then I wanted James to be with the parent who could run faster.

That's better.  Sloppy kisses back.

Next stop was Sandfly Bay.  Sandflies.  The Draculas of the West Coast.  But we will get to those terrible, awful, horrendous creatures in a later post.  *Shiver*

Sandflies are terrible, but the beach was not.  It was located on very large sand dunes, so the hike down was easy peasy, but the hike back up was a workout for the calves.

The signs said to stay on the designated paths so we didn't disturb the ecosystem, but since Lance doesn't think the rules apply to him, he wanders off in another direction.  I would have left him to fend for himself but he had my child strapped to his back so after waiting a bit I decided to follow.  After giving a lecture on following the rules, he suddenly shouts, "Look, a penguin!!"  Ok, I admit it was incredibly adorable watching a penguin waddle across the beach and dive into the ocean.  Just my luck, Lance is rewarded for breaking the rules and now I had to live with, "See, aren't you glad we left the path?" for the next two weeks.

And back up again.  Ugh.

Last stop of the day was Tunnel Beach, named thus because of the...tunnel.  It was carved by pioneers in the 1870s to allow access from the top of the sandstone cliffs down to a protected beach below.  Supposedly the sandstone also contained fossils of ocean creatures, including the rib bones of a now extinct species of whale, but I couldn't find any.

Lance thinks there's something wrong with my nose.  I blow it constantly.  Lance is trying to get me to convert from tissues to snot rockets, but it just doesn't work for me.  Poor James.  He has to put up with it.

You go down the tunnel...

...and it spits you out here.

A gorgeous enclosed beach surrounded by high walls of striped sandstone in hues of yellow, gray, brown, and blue. 

The sea lions find sneaky places to hide.  I practically walked into this one.

We walked back up and went out onto the arched peninsula.  Great views.

After a long day, we drove down to the Catlins so we could get an early start there in the morning.  We stayed at the Newhaven Holiday Park on Surat Bay.  Like I said- castle, beach, sea lion, beach, penguin, beach, Subway.  We fit in a lot for a rainy day!