Unlike Edinburgh, Dunedin also has the Otago Peninsula, a glorious natural thumb poking out into the Pacific, where it is possible to see rare yellow-eyed penguins (Maori name hoihoi, meaning noise maker), enormous yet graceful royal albatross, and basking on the rocks around the peninsula - fur seals.

Invercargill’s Sub-Antarctic Audio Visual and Gallery is a wonderful museum containing, among other interesting exhibits, a number of live tuatara, New Zealand’s very rare and prehistoric lizard, while nearby is Bluff, home of the famous ‘Bluff oysters’, a delicacy that should not be missed. Between Invercargill and Dunedin is the Catlins Forest Park, with its wild beaches, pods of Hector’s Dolphins and the only mainland colony of Hooker sea lions.