Dunedin and the wildlife of the Otago Peninsular
Summary
I read in a few travel guides that the town of Dunedin is the highlight of Otago and this part of the South Island, but I think that is way off point. The highlights of the South Island are by the far the areas of outstanding natural beauty and, even very close to Dunedin, is an area that should take priority – the Otago Peninsular with its beautiful coastline and wildlife of sea lions, penguins, southern fur seals and albatross to get up close with
Don’t get me wrong, Dunedin is a nice town with its student vibe, street art and the unusual crown as having the world’s steepest street, so definitely worth the stop over when traveling around the South Island. Just make sure you also visit the Otago Peninsular
Experiences nearby
The below map shows experiences nearby with a colour that reflect the Overall Score of those experiences
Other Up-close Animal Experiences around the World
Score Detail
Background - how many times have you asked someone what a travel experience was like and the response was "amazing" or "awesome"? That response is nice to know, but it makes it hard to differentiate that experience compared to others. That is exactly what these scores are trying to do - differentiate the experience by giving a score out of 10 based on 6 categories and then giving an overall experience score
This overall experience score is calculated by: take the highest of the "Culture" or "Nature" score (1-10) + "Fun factor" (1-10) + "Avoiding the crowds" (1-10) + highest of the "Unique" or "World Famous score" (1-10). Then convert into a score out of 100
Extra detail - the logic being that I find all of the 6 individual scores important, but I don't want to mark an experience down just because it doesn't cover both "Culture" and "Nature", or because it isn't both "World Famous" and "Unique". Take the examples of Safari in The Serengeti and walking through Rome - they both appeal at opposite ends of the nature / culture spectrum, and you can have a fantastic time without needing to appeal to both sides. So, their overall scores aren't penalized for their lack of one or the other, and I've done the same for "World Famous" vs "Unique". But . . . I do think that the "Fun factor" of an experience is important, irrelevant of other factors, and so is "Avoiding the Crowds" (or where there are crowds that add to the experience). So, both of these scores are standalone