Otago Peninsuala
Penguin, seal and sea lion photo galleryFriday was the best! I went to the Otago Peninsuala with Elm Wildlife Tours. First stop was the only bit of mainland in the world where Royal Albatrosses can be seen. Photos and films don't do justice to the size of these creatures. They made the seagulls look like complete weenies. There were four albatrosses sweeping past the cliffs to get the updraft which sent them gliding past us. They're so fast.
Another half hour drive brought us to a fur seal colony where pups and females were resting, playing and feeding on the rocks. The colour of their coats makes them blend into the rocks so well that at first you don't realise just how many of them there are.
The colony of hoiho or yellow-eyed penguins was two hills walk over. Conservationists had made four tracks leading from the beach for the penguins because they don't like long grass. When our group got there, all four tracks were blocked by penguins, which had never happened before. Them getting that far inland was a good sign. There were two adults and two juveniles, one of whom was yelling for food (in vain).
On the beach, there were two New Zealand Sea Lions. One was looking for someone, not necessarily of his own kind, to play with and one was rolling around in the sand to dry off five metres away from us. They occasionally looked at us to see what we were doing but otherwise didn't much care. At that size, they don't have too. The hoiho wouldn't cross the beach when they were around, even though the sea lions weren't much interested in them either.
In a hide further up the beach, our group got to watch sheep and penguins hang out together. The sheep are there to keep the grass short.
Apart from the rarities, there was heaps of other birdlife to admire, like pukeko and a bay full of black swans (it's the white variety that are protected in NZ). Most of them were sleeping and looked very funny without their heads.