We hiked the Flagstaff trail high above Dunedin today.

It is a well-formed track, with lots of hikers and joggers, on this Sunday at least! Rather steep to get up to the top, then sloping more gradually down the back of the hill.

Looking down on Dunedin, spread out around the end of Otago Harbour.

Māori first settled in the area around 1300. European whalers and sealers began arriving in the early 1800’s and by the late 1830’s the harbor had become an international whaling port. Dunedin itself was established in 1848 by the Lay Association of the Free Church of Scotland. By the end of the 1850’s about 12,ooo Scots had emigrated to Dunedin, NZ. The 1860’s brought a Gold Rush that swelled the population with international immigrants and by the mid 1870’s Dunedin was the largest city in NZ with a population of almost 30,000! Eventually overtaken in population and recognition by Auckland and Christchurch, Dunedin can still boast that it is the home of the University of Otago, the oldest university in NZ, established in 1869.

As low clouds began sweeping over the hills, we decided to head back down before we were overtaken by the mist!

A short drive across a narrow section of the Otago Peninsula brought us to Okia Reserve, which we visited on Feb 16, 2023! We explored the reserve more thoroughly this time! We hiked the farm road into the Reserve between 2 ‘pyramids’ of volcanic columnar basalt, like the volcanic rock around Bend!

Looking back at the ‘pyramids’ as we continue on to Victory Beach.

The Pacific Ocean! We saw one lone sea lion basking on a bed of kelp in the sand. We thought it might be dead, but it lazily scooped sand onto it’s belly, to cool off maybe?

Returning to the pyramids on the loop trail, we climbed up the little pyramid to get great views. The cliffsides in the distance are home to the last remnants of the native forest on the peninsula. The area is a reserve in order to protect the yellow-eyed penguin, one of the rarest penguins, with less than 7,000 left. They nest in the dunes along the beach, but fewer pairs return each year. We did not encounter any penguins.

Our next B&B is on the Otago Peninsula, a short curvy drive along the west shore of Otago Harbour, the long harbor leading out to sea from Dunedin.

The view from the deck of our tiny house, with the grill set up for fresh fish!

We took a drive into Dunedin to walk around the Botanic Garden. We like to explore the Botanic Gardens in any city we visit, always a highlight of a trip into a city!

We found many familiar trees, including California redwoods, ponderosa pines and the Oregon cedar Robert is standing under. All pines in NZ are non-native. Lots of plants from around the world are displayed in themed gardens such as the Mediterranean or South African Gardens, as well as more tropical or desert plants in the Victorian era greenhouse.

We’re on the move again today, heading to Dunedin via Invercargill.

We had a beautiful view of the Fiordland mountains as we drove out of town. The only time in our weeklong stay here that the clouds rose enough to present them in the morning glow of sunshine, with a rainbow thrown in for effect!

Our purpose for going through Invercargill was to see the display of artifacts from the life of Burt Munro which are housed, along with a great collection of motorcycles and other vehicles, at a fantastic hardware store, E. Hayes & Sons Hardware. A lifelong resident of Invercargill, his passion for motorcycle racing led to his multiple trips to the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah to compete for world speed records, which he achieved in 1967.

The Munro Special, a 1920 Indian Scout motorcycle that he bought in 1920, was the vehicle he set a world speed record on! He had spent decades modifying the motorcycle, making his own tools and parts!

The 2005 film “The World’s Fastest Indian” starring Anthony Hopkins is a great movie that memorializes Burt Monro’s achievement!

Love the Oregon license plate on the 1954 Chevy Belair Sedan that was used in the movie!

After our nature walk near Lake Gunn we continued up the highway to Marian Falls where the highway takes a 90 degree turn to follow a narrower valley between stunning cliffs flowing with multiple waterfalls to Milford Sound. We weren’t going that far this trip, but we wanted to see Marian Falls, and we were not disappointed!

We took a short hike up an easy track along the river as it flowed out of the mountains between fern covered banks.

The track then opens onto a wooden ‘viewing gantry’, or platform, cantilevered over the boulders the river is crashing down over!

There must be some awesome floods on the river taking into consideration the log balanced on the top of the upper boulder! The trail continues past the platform then narrows into a steep, muddy track going uphill to Lake Marian in a hanging valley above us. We opted not to attempt the 5 hour return hike! For several videos of the falls, check out the YouTube videos HERE! We backtracked on the highway and stopped at ‘Pop’s View Lookout’, named for a road worker who was killed in an avalanche on the Te Anau-Milford Highway in 1983.

From this vantage point we looked across the valley and up towards the hanging valley that holds Lake Marian. There is a trail somewhere under that vegetation up to the lake! We also looked down into the Hollyford Valley where Marian Falls flows into the Hollyford river/Whakatipu Kā Tuka river, where another famous NZ Walk, the Hollyford Track travels. We returned to our little cabin on Lake Manapouri and enjoyed our last night on the edge of Fiordland National Park.