The Otago Peninsula stretches north of Dunedin and is a wildlife haven. We wound our way along the coast of the Peninsula. After fifty minutes of stunning views we made it to Nature’s Wonders Naturally. We took an eight wheeled vehicle all around the wildlife refuge/farm. We should have known we were in trouble when they gave us 3/4 length work coats to wear with the warning, “It gets pretty dusty.” It is a working sheep farm that borders one of the yellow penguin’s breeding areas and a resting spot for NZ Fur seals. We first saw some cement bunkers that were built during WW II in anticipation of a Japanese invasion. The kids, especially Brody, enjoyed them. A colony of cormorants followed.
The Otago Peninsula.
A pit stop on driving north from Dunedin.
Low tide!
The kids find a place to climb.
Just before the entrance of Natures Wonders tour.
Cool seaweed scene from above.
Cormorants.
A cormorant in front of some large seaweed.
Next, we had the privilege of seeing a NZ fur seal colony. Our guide told us it was a small colony but it looked large to us. There were lots of baby pups playing around. Apparently, one large male will gather 7-12 females and all the offspring. It was awesome to see the little pups playing and having fun.
Checking out the NZ fur seals.
The eight wheeler with our tour guide.
The concrete gun bunkers built in WWII.
NZ Fur seals lounge on the rocks.
A baby seal.
After that, we headed to penguin beach to see where the yellow and blue penguins of NZ live. We only saw one yellow eyed penguin standing on the beach (they were out fishing), but we saw a mother korora or blue penguin and her baby. The blue penguin is the shortest penguin in the world (25 cm and 1 kg).
Penguin beach, checking out the yellow eyed penguin.
A blue penguin and its baby.
The kids blew off some steam playing at a park before we ate at the 1908 Cafe in Portobello, NZ. After a decent lunch we headed to the only castle in NZ, Larnach Castle. It was built by William Larnach before falling into disrepair. The current family who lives there restored it and keeps it running because of tourism. It was very impressive and the gardens were fun (Tara really enjoyed finding the characters from Alice and Wonderland hiding about the grounds).
The journey to the castle.
Larnach Castle.
The kids in front of the castle.
The top turret.
Alice and Tara.
Tara in the stables.
A small pond in one of the Castle Gardens.
The kids below the Cheshire Cat (on the branch).
Part of the castle gardens.
We had some time before dinner so went on a walk to Lovers Leap!
Lover's Leap tramp.
Tara on the way to the lookout.
Still walking!
Great views.
Lover's Leap.
We decided to tramp over to Sandfly Bay.
It was also a great walk.
Sandfly Bay. Yes, there are a lot of sandflies!
We headed back to Portobello for dinner before driving to Penguin Place. We had reservations to visit their breeding ground at 6:45pm. The reason we chose the late time was to be able to see the adult Yellow Penguins who are out swimming all day. Behind the Galapagos Penguin, it is the second rarest penguin in the world. Its eyes are indeed yellow and it has a yellow stripe of fur around its head as well. Unlike other penguins, it is solitary. It mates for life but always fishes alone and nests only near its mate. They leave to fish at sunrise and come back at dusk. The babies, who were born in December, wait all day for their parents to come back (there are two babies for each set of parents-apparently most penguins just have one offspring).
We were able to see a juvenile Yellow Penguin off by itself, a NZ Fur Seal (they don’t eat yellow penguins but sea lions do). Then we saw the adult Yellow Penguins start to make their way back from the ocean. It was quite moving to see them traipse up onto the beach and totter to their nest with the two fuzzy little babies waiting. We were able to see several sets of parents return to feed their babies by moving along a series of trenches to get to underground lookout boxes.
After the one and half hours of the tour, it was a long trip home. Tara fell asleep almost immediately.
A NZ Fur seal sleeps right next to us.
The yellow eyed penguin adult marches home after a long day of fishing.
Two baby yellow eyes penguins get dinner from one of their parents.
Dinner time for two other baby penguins.
An adult yellow eyes penguin.
Tara walks in the trenches to another underground lookout.
Two baby penguins whose parents have not yet come home.
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