International Albatross Trip  by Dianne Rooney

International Trip to the Albatross Colony

Everyone living in Otago has heard about Dunedin's beautiful Peninsula at least once before. A little piece of land, connected with the city, but surrounded by the Ocean and the heart of wildlife.

Who wouldn’t like to spend one day at this beautiful place and explore its landscape and wildlife? The Peninsula provides a home for several animals like seals, penguins and albatrosses, which makes it definitely worth it to go there.

On Tuesday the 7th of May 12 international students, two teachers and I went to the Albatross Colony to observe some of those special birds.

It was a pretty normal day, not too cold, not too windy, which meant that it could have been a little bit difficult to see some Albatross flying. Albatrosses are really heavy (7 kg) and very big (wingspan of 3 meters) birds which means that they have to put a lot of effort in taking off the ground and they also seem to be very slow and limited when you see them waddling on the ground but once they have taken off and fly in the air they look so elegant and weightless. On Tuesday we saw two Albatross flying which was stunning to see. They just glide through the air, without making any noise, spreading the feeling of peace.

We also saw some fluffy white chicks, laying in their nests.

Result = cool experience