Excursions in Dunedin

“Thankyou Andrew for great and informative tour and showing us Dunedin. The trike was amazing. Cindy and Mark”

“What a great experience in Dunedin! Highly recommended. Bex was a fantastic tour guide. Her commentary was fun and informative. She took us to all the best sites.”

“We set off for our Albatross, Wildlife, and Harbour Cruise in the pouring rain. But while our clothes were dampened, our spirits were not!! From the time we turned the corner out of Back Beach, we saw terns, shags, and a variety of gulls. Then within a few minutes there were New Zealand fur seal pups and adults. The day was completed with up close experiences with blue penguins and three species of albatross. Captain Rachel is top notch. She maintains a tidy, comfortable boat, and is not afraid to burn some fuel to ensure that her passengers had a fantastic day! We went much further out into the beautiful Pacific than expected. And it was SO worth it!! Highly recommend if you're in Port Chalmers. Our booking was well within the time parameters of our Holland America cruise port stop.”

“We had a really nice tour on the Ortago Loop including the Port to Port Ferry with Rachel. During the tour we got an explanation of things we passed by and their history. I had some problems booking online, and also made a mistake with the date, but Rachel fixed everything for us and including renting of bikes.”

“We took the one hour wildlife cruise from Wellers Rock. The guide was very knowledgeable about the birds and other wildlife, their lifecycle, nesting and lots of other information. We saw albatross, little penguins and a couple of seals. They have jackets and binoculars that you can use. Great cruise, really enjoyed it.”

“We had such a great day on this from our ship. Yosh was so interesting on local bird life etc. We had a good visit to the albatross centre. Saw chicks and also albatross. Nice picnic lunch on the hoof, and off to seals and penguins. We may also have been lucky as we also saw at least 5 albatrosses out on the sea. Spectacular scenery, superb guide, a bit lucky with the weather. Nice quick spin round Dunedin, including the station and steepest road in the world. Probably my wife’s best day of our holiday, definitely the best of our cruise. Many many thanks.”

“This is a unique time capsule and an example of very clever late 19th/early 20th century innovations in domestic architecture/technology. Absolutely fascinating and guides were encyclopedic in their knowledge. Even the family history was attention grabbing. Everybody in our group was impressed with this place. 6 (or 7) out of 5 stars.”

“Absolutely the best tour! Our guide stopped for special shots with nature and wildlife that his keen eye saw, but we did not. Comfortable ride. Great commentary with lots of relevant history and info. HIGHLY RECOMMEND!”

“I treated myself to a trip on The Stargazer from Dunedin to Hindon and back. The trip didn't disappoint, from arrival where staff from Tuhura Museum helped everyone get their stargazing apps up and running to getting off at the end. Precinct at the Tuhura Museum provided us with a great tasty 3 course meal. It was much appreciated by everyone from the comments I could hear from the seats around me. The lamb was magnificent and went well with my glass of wine. Once we arrived at Hindon, they divided us into 3 groups, and we attended the different workshops on offer. My favorite was looking through the telescopes provided by The Beverly Begg Observatory. It was pretty special getting a close-up look at our celestial neighbors. Much kudos to them as they had been waiting up there in the cold for us all to arrive in our warm and comfortable train. I keep thinking about the beautiful Jewellry Box constellation with all the different colours. I'm now looking at the night sky differently. Thank you to all who took part in teaching us about our skies. Finally, sated and tired, we hopped back on our warm train to travel home. But they weren't finished with us yet. On the way home,we got to listen to astrophysicist Michelle Thaller answer questions that we had put to her earlier. She covered everything from going to Mars, Aurora, and pineapple on pizza. She has a great way of putting information that sticks with you and is fun. It was a fantastic night, and if you have the opportunity to go on this trip, I couldn't recommend it to you highly enough. Just go and enjoy a great evening adventure.”

“The place is located within the heart of the city and close to the shops and cafes at St. Claire. The staffs were superb in caring and attending the residents of the care center.”

“Incredible work by the OPERA! During our tour they explained us how they started it and they work towards the conservation of penguins and andemic wildlife in general. It goes from replanting trees to having a rehabilitation center for yellow eyed penguins. It is a great location if you want to spot little blue penguins, fur seals and sea lions without bothering them. And because of the rehabilitation center you have the chance to be close to yellow eyed penguins as well.”

“It's a great place to view from , but you can see beautiful sites through out new Zealand, and here are a few, taken on a bus between port Otago and Dunedin”

“We had a lovely night staying here ,with the window open all night listening to the waves crashing. Dinner down below was marvelous”

“Very friendly and helpful. I need help with the bus timetable and Markus was so helpful. Thank you Markus I got to everything I wanted to do on the buses you suggested”

“You can visit the world's only mainland colony of Royal Albatross at the tip of the Otago Peninsula in Dunedin, New Zealand. Small guided tours to a glassed hide allows viewing of some of the nesting albatross. To protect the albatross from human disturbance, the headland is not publicly accessible. You can see adults in flight with their three metre wingspans as they glide around the headland. The centre is free to enter but tours are charged. Uneven terrain, lot of walking. Toilets available. Cafes available on site. Before the walkabout tour, you are given a demonstration/lecture about the birds and the work of the centre. Popular with tourists. Wear comfy shoes, take water, wear hat, sunscreen. Parking is easy. Amazing place to visit. Great place for photography.”

“Asta was very accommodating and enthusiastic about Dunedin and the Otago Peninsula. She picked us up and dropped us off at our hotel. She was able to show us not only the highlights of the city of Dunedin but managed to also show us both the Penguins and the Albatrosses on a beautiful sunny day. Highly recommend Fantail Tours in Dunedin.”

“We did this tour while visiting on the Celebrity Edge. An amazing day out, Mateo (the owner/operator) is very knowledgeable and passionate about his subject. I learnt a lot about New Zealand and Dunedin. An unusual payment system, you pay the booking fee ($7.50 pp), then at the end of the tour you pay Mateo what you think the tour is worth. An amazing day out!”

“Chris is such a lovely and very experienced local tour guide and we were so happy that we booked our tour with him at the last minute as another tour was cancelled accidentally during our cruise ship trip to NZ. It’s great to go with a small group in a comfortable Van. Really recommended if you are a cruise ship passenger or want to explore Dunedin within few hours.”

“Futomaki restaurant fabulous food.”

“Super tour yesterday. Only the 4 of us. Even though the weather wasn’t great, we still managed to see the seals. It was a beautiful hike down to the beaches, totally worth it! The view was just stunning and we would have never found these incredible places without our helpful guide. Thanks Lucy!”

“Fantastic day staff wonderful an great trip around harbor very friendly smooth sailing”

“A great bunch of staff especially the Bottom Bus drivers.”

“Kerry and Allan are so friendly and in such a beautiful spot, so many cool animals. Alan makes the best porridge”

“Great school. Perfect number of children and has all the activities you can find in larger schools.”

“Booked most of our shore trip excursions through this company and we all had a great experience. Small group tour in a comfy van. Our local tour guides are full of knowledge about their local history. We got back on the ship in time which is the most important.”

“Otago shuttles and tours took our bowling cub up to Queenstown for the weekend and we had a great weekend the driver allen was so helpful .otago shuttles was so easy to deal with organizing the trip and helpful”

“Love this school. Alice Frame is amazing at her job!!”