15 January 2018: Queenstown to Dunedin

By Sara Wernick (Sociology ‘20)

Today began with a huge adrenaline rush. Jenna, Amanda, Harley, Sam, Emily and I went bungee jumping off of the Kawarau Bridge, which was insane. We can now say we’ve bungee jumped in the place that first made bungee jumping a thing in the 80’s!

On the way back, our bus driver told us a Māori molding creation story which I thought was really awesome. He told us that, according to Māori legend, there was a girl who went to Lake Wakatipu (next to Queenstown) and was taken by a monster, but was saved by a man who then went to kill the monster. But the monster was indestructible, so the longest lake in New Zealand, Wakatipu- rises and falls 20 cm every 15 minutes —this is the monsters heart that is still beating.  

Afterwards, we went to a few souvenir/ crystal necklace places and the girls got jade for ourselves and our loved ones back home. Then, we were off to Dunedin- and on our way, we got pulled over by Peter “Morepork”, the Police Officer- human proof that New Zealand is the friendliest place on the planet. We all got out and took a picture with him, and then got back on the road.

We then were off to the south side of the Otago peninsula outside of Dunedin. We went to Sandfly Bay,  which was amazing. We literally had to jump and roll down the sand dunes to get to the beach and experienced authentic wild beauty in pure nature. We saw Yellow-eyed Penguins (~2,500 individuals in the world!) and NZ sea lions, and walked along the sand. All in all, today was an amazing day where even more memories were made.

The group takes a moment for a picture with Sandfly Bay in the background.

Jenna Albanese (Nursing ‘20) examines the carcass of an albatross on the beach at Sandfly Bay.

A rare Yellow-eyed Penguin adult, spotted as it was hopping its way up a sand dune in Sandfly Bay.  An amazing view of an endangered species.