NZ Part 14 - Otago peninsula

at the dunedin tourist information centre, bonz picked up a brochure on penguin place lodge, right next to penguin place, a yellow-eyed penguin conservation park.  we booked a night's stay there through the info centre.  sidetrack - the thing i love about nz's tourist info centres is that they function like a travel agent and you can find ANY information you need there and book accommodation and tours through them without paying any service fee.  pity the travel agent companies though...

so anyways, we headed to otago peninsula, which is like an appendix branching off from the main nz south island.

view of the coastline while driving out from dunedin to otago peninsula. 

 

the penguin place lodge was set in the hill, and very lovely.  we were the only guests that night and had the whole lodge to ourselves.  it comes with a living room and small kitchen.  the living room is very cosy and has beautiful views of the hills and otago harbour.  the bedrooms are pretty basic but also have great views.

  

view of the lodge from the entrance.  doesn't look so hot but....

  

the inside is pretty cosy and has such beatiful views!  

  

has a homely feel.  After booking a slot at the penguin place, we headed out to Taiaroa head to check out the royal albatrosses.  along the way, made a slight detour to pilot beach (to get there, instead of driving up the hill to the lighthouse/royal albatross centre, drive downwards to the beach just below the lighthouse.  surprise find - many seals and sealions there! 

  

    

  

  

  

according to the information board, these seals are battered males who lost the fight to the alpha males and escaped to this place, away from the colony.  poor things have to endure all the excited gawking tourists snapping pictures of them. 

 

kawaii ne?

on the beach, someone pointed out penguin chicks in a crevice.  so cute!

also spotted a sealion lying around on the sandy beach. hard to miss.

blissful sleep.

kiwi bengs plotting how to disturb sealion.

taiaroa head - where we were sposed to see royal albatross but we didn't spot any. 

back to penguin place for penguin tour.  passed by farm where horses were basking in the sun.  

playing dead.

penguin place is a penguin conservation park where they built mini homes/shelters for penguins and plant certain types of native plants / tall grasses to re-create the natural environment of penguin nesting/roosting place.

happy penguin chicks.  looks like fluffly soft toys.

mama/papa penguin.  the yellow-eyed penguin parents take turns to guard the chicks while the spouse goes fishing to bring food back for the chicks.  this one appears to be skiving/taking afternoon nap.

the gray lump under the triangular structure is not a giant dust-ball, it's a penguin chick taking a snooze. 

these tunnels were built to allow close viewing of the penguins with minimal disturbance.

shelters with viewing slots.

penguin making his way back through the grasses.

the penguin has to walk such a long distance across the sandy beach, then climb up the hill to find their chicks - tough job!

next, back to pilot beach at dusk to check out the other type of penguins - blue penguins coming back to shore to feed their chicks.  pilot beach is the beach where we looked at battered seals in the afternoon.

waiting waiting... at dusk, some penguins started coming back to shore but cos there were too many people on the beach making too much noises, the penguins stopped at the beach, waiting... while the chick wailed pitifully.  when it got really late and was freezing cold, families with kids started leaving.  the noise died down and the penguins started making their way up the shore.  it was pitch dark and the penguins cldnt see us.  one of them came so near, just right next to my feet.  he stopped for a moment, then walked away.  

after viewing so much wildlife in their natural environment at such close range, otago peninsula ranks as one of my favourite places in nz.

next day, we'll be heading back towards christchurch.  adios beautiful southland and otago...