We arrived this morning at 9:00 at Dunedin, our first port of call in New Zealand. The shore excursion we had booked for today was a 3 ½ hour tour of the city of Dunedin and surrounding countryside.

Our first stop was the Signal Hill Lookout. Signal Hill is a huge land mass near the heart of the Otago Harbor offering spectacular views of the city and the harbor itself. The lookout is a central plateau, home to a monument with two bronze statues dedicated to the New Zealand Centennial.

      
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Working our way back down Signal Hill and in to Dunedin, we parked at the bottom of Baldwin Street. According to the folks at Guinness World Records, Baldwin Street is the steepest street in the world, meaning no street gains more altitude in 10 horizontal meters measured along the street's centerline. A straight street slightly under 350 meters (1,150 ft) long, we walked up it a short distance before returning to our tour bus.

  
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Driving into the heart of the city we arrived at our next stop, the Dunedin Railway Station. The Dunedin Railway Station is one of the city’s most prominent architectural landmarks. Dating back to 1906, the Flemish Renaissance-style edifice features white Oamaru limestone facings on black basalt rock, giving it a dramatic air and a characteristic ‘Gingerbread House’ appearance. The booking hall alone features a mosaic floor of almost 750,000 tiles of Royal Doulton porcelain. A large restaurant takes up the much of the ground floor and the upper floor houses an art gallery and a sports hall of fame.

         
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From the station, we again left Dunedin and traveled the Southern Scenic Route. After passing through several villages, we stopped in the small seaside town of Brighton for refreshments.

  
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Back on the bus, we started back along the coast towards Dunedin. Along the way, we pulled into bit of a side road adjacent to a farm on Sandfly Bay. Once parked, we exited the bus and walked a short distance across the farmers field to a sandy beach on the ocean. We were looking for basking sea lions, which we found. We were severely warned not to get too close, as sea lions can get very aggressive. Adult males can be over 11 ft long and weigh 710 to 990 lbs.

               
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From the beach, we worked our way back towards Dunedin, skirting the Otega Peninsula and passing through Portobella. We bypassed Larnach Castle due to time constraints. Arriving back at the Dunedin Cruise Ship Wharf, it was back on to the Noordam for a late lunch.

  
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We departed Port Chalmers (Dunedin) at 6:00 pm.