Dunedin City Highlights, Otago Peninsula Scenery & a Guided Penguin Reserve Tour

The tour covered a lot of ground. the highlight was the penguin reserve. I only give this 3 stars because of the van. It was a cramped 13 passenger van with not much room between seats. We had a total of 12 passengers. If you got an interior seat, the views were mostly obscured.

With limited time in Dunedin (cruise ship) my husband and I would recommend this tour. Therese was our driver and guide for this very informative and thorough tour of Dunedin and it's environs. Her knowledge of the area was extensive and her passion was evident. The minivan we travelled in with Therese was a bit tight in the back seat for four adults. The countryside was picturesque and there were ample stops for photos. Therese kindly made a quick stop for us to grab some lunch to eat before our tour at the penguin reserve started. We really enjoyed visiting the penguin reserve and rehabilitation area. Saskia took us on a tour of the reserve which was a very scenic coastal location. We are glad we chose to spend our day sightseeing in Dunedin with Therese and Fantail Tours.

My husband and I were on a cruise ship stopping for one day in Dunedin and chose this tour as it would give us a general overview of Dunedin and Otago Peninsula with the limited time we had and included a visit to the Penquin Rehabilitation Centre. Theresa was our fabulous tour guide picking us up from Port Chalmers. We were part of a small group of about 12 people. The only negative was that seating was just a little tight with four of us sitting in the back seat so was a bit uncomfortable. It was clear Theresa was very passionate about Dunedin and worked hard to ensure we got the most out of this tour. Her knowledge of Dunedin and commentary was excellent. We stopped off at Signal Hill Lookout to get the cameras clicking with beautiful views of the city and surrounding areas, the lovely Botanical Gardens, Baldwin Street - the world’s steepest street (we were happy to just take photos and not tempted to walk it!) and then we set off for the Otago Peninsula taking in the stunning scenery on the way. This tour included a 90 minute drop off at the Penguin Place Rehabilitation Centre for sick penguins. I’m so glad we did this as having little knowledge of penguins, it was quite fascinating to learn about their lifecycle and the rehabilitation process. George and Saskia were our tour guides there and it certainly pulled at the heartstrings to see the great work they do with these wonderful little birds. We saw many penguins here in various stages of rehabilitation. After a very interesting talk given by George, we were taken by bus to the Reserve (need good sturdy walking shoes and there were quite a lot of steps). We didn’t see any penguins in the wild at the Reserve, due to the time of year but saw quite a few seals and fabulous scenery with interesting commentary from Saskia. After the penquin tour concluded, Theresa picked us up and we had an enjoyable trip back to the port, passing by the Dunedin University and other iconic buildings. Thanks Theresa for a very enjoyable tour.