Dunedlin New Zealand

[cindi53]

My family of 4 will be here for 1 day and all the ship excursions are full, any suggestions on wildlife excursions outside of ship? Will it be easy to find locally that can get us back to ship in time? We usually book through boat as to guarantee we get back in time for departure. Thanks for any help!!

[Heidi13]

6 hours ago, cindi53 said:

My family of 4 will be here for 1 day and all the ship excursions are full, any suggestions on wildlife excursions outside of ship? Will it be easy to find locally that can get us back to ship in time? We usually book through boat as to guarantee we get back in time for departure. Thanks for any help!!

 

At this port, the ships normally berth at Port Chalmers, which is about 8 miles from Dunedin.

 

Here is a great tour from Back to Nature Tours – https://backtonaturetours.co.nz/

 

o   Royal Peninsula Tour - https://backtonaturetours.co.nz/tour/royal-peninsula/

[sonoma03]

My husband and I are booked on a tour with Monarch Wildlife Cruises and Tours.  The 2.5 hour Cruise to Sea Wildlife tour is NZ$120 per adult, NZ$100 for children 5-14, with pick-up and drop-off at the cruise terminal in Port Chalmers.   https://www.wildlife.co.nz/cruise-to-sea-wildlife

[Jamietravelstheworld]

On 12/28/2023 at 1:09 PM, cindi53 said:

My family of 4 will be here for 1 day and all the ship excursions are full, any suggestions on wildlife excursions outside of ship? Will it be easy to find locally that can get us back to ship in time? We usually book through boat as to guarantee we get back in time for departure. Thanks for any help!!

This place is AMAZING!

 

https://www.natureswonders.co.nz/

[yvr49]

On 1/11/2024 at 4:45 PM, sonoma03 said:

My husband and I are booked on a tour with Monarch Wildlife Cruises and Tours.  The 2.5 hour Cruise to Sea Wildlife tour is NZ$120 per adult, NZ$100 for children 5-14, with pick-up and drop-off at the cruise terminal in Port Chalmers.   https://www.wildlife.co.nz/cruise-to-sea-wildlife

When are you doing this tour?  I just booked the same tour but would be interested to hear your thoughts if you're doing it before our date of March 29/24.  

[boeckli]

1 hour ago, yvr49 said:

When are you doing this tour?  I just booked the same tour but would be interested to hear your thoughts if you're doing it before our date of March 29/24.  

 

I did this tour last March and had the best time! Having fabulous weather definitely helped (picture mill-pond conditions in the harbour) 🙂 Besides myself there was only one other passenger and the skipper and the deck-hand/guide made sure we had a great experience.

As you can see from my photo below (and also on their website) the vessel is quite small and even on our trip, once we got past Taiaroa Head, seas got a bit 'lumpy'.  So be prepared.

I'll be back in Port Chalmers late next month and wouldn't mind doing the tour again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[yvr49]

15 minutes ago, boeckli said:

 

I did this tour last March and had the best time! Having fabulous weather definitely helped (picture mill-pond conditions in the harbour) 🙂 Besides myself there was only one other passenger and the skipper and the deck-hand/guide made sure we had a great experience.

As you can see from my photo below (and also on their website) the vessel is quite small and even on our trip, once we got past Taiaroa Head, seas got a bit 'lumpy'.  So be prepared.

I'll be back in Port Chalmers late next month and wouldn't mind doing the tour again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for the info.    I was wondering if we should wait and purchase tix in the terminal on arrival in case it's a rainy day, but I don't want to miss out due to the tour being full.  Fingers crossed it will be a nice day on the water.

[boeckli]

10 minutes ago, yvr49 said:

Thanks for the info.    I was wondering if we should wait and purchase tix in the terminal on arrival in case it's a rainy day, but I don't want to miss out due to the tour being full.  Fingers crossed it will be a nice day on the water.

 

Last year I had also prebooked for same reason,  reassured by the cancellation policy on their website "Cancellations made more than 24 hours prior to the scheduled tour start time will be given a full refund. Any cancellations within 24 hours will not be issued a refund."

 

So you can watch the weather forecast in the preceding days. I hope you have great time 🤞

[yvr49]

3 minutes ago, boeckli said:

 

Last year I had also prebooked for same reason,  reassured by the cancellation policy on their website "Cancellations made more than 24 hours prior to the scheduled tour start time will be given a full refund. Any cancellations within 24 hours will not be issued a refund."

 

So you can watch the weather forecast in the preceding days. I hope you have great time 🤞

Thank you, good suggestion!  The online booking is sold out now so guess I got in just in time.

[sonoma03]

4 hours ago, yvr49 said:

When are you doing this tour?  I just booked the same tour but would be interested to hear your thoughts if you're doing it before our date of March 29/24.  

I will be doing the tour on Feb. 20.  Hope my experience will be as good as boeckli's.  I also prebooked because other excursions were getting sold out.  I noted the 24 hour cancellation policy and intend to watch the weather as we get closer.

[Megra M]

On 1/18/2024 at 7:20 PM, yvr49 said:

When are you doing this tour?  I just booked the same tour but would be interested to hear your thoughts if you're doing it before our date of March 29/24.  

Yvr49. We will also be in Dunedin on march 29.  (Not original poster) trying to nail down our tours.  If on HAL- see you soon!

[yvr49]

1 hour ago, Megra M said:

Yvr49. We will also be in Dunedin on march 29.  (Not original poster) trying to nail down our tours.  If on HAL- see you soon!

Yes, HAL Noordam.  Not too long now!