Otago Penninsula

From the Scottish-founded Dunedin (edin, as in Edinburgh) one of the top attractions is the wildlife of the Otago Penninsula. This area was popular with Maori for the sea lions that they hunted to extinction (from NZ, not from Earth) and then with Europeans who hunted fur seals to near-extinction. More recently, protection for both animals have seen them return to NZ. Here are fur seals hauled out on the rocks. You might have to look twice to spot them, but there are at least three in this photo.



This little guy is a yellow eyed penguin, the rarest penguin in the world with only about 600 breeding pairs. They actually like to nest in forests and have been found up to 2 kilometers inland. Like everything else here, they have been decimated by introduced predators who destroy the eggs. Here is a better pic and more info. This guy is not trying to fly, but rather to cool off by increasing his surface area as much as possible. We humans were wearing fleece to keep the cool out, but penguins don't usually get cold. The more entertaining part was watching them come in from the sea in the evening. They are a abit skittish of sea lions and so they waddle back and forth for a while before making a break for the scrub. Quite funny. New Zealand also is home to the smallest penguin in the world, the blue penguin. I saw one, but could not get a photo, so here is one for you.


The aforementioned sea lions that keep penguins on their toes and fur seals safely on rocks can be seen here. We got much closer to them because they are not too shy. You don't have to be when you weigh 1000 pounds. There were 6 males on the beach and they spent their time huffing and lunging at each other. They are huge and strong and yet could move quickly as they sparred with each other.


On the same trip I also went to the Royal Albatross center. This is the only mainland spot in the world where albatross nest, so it is an ideal spot to see them. Royal albatross have the largest wing span in the world at about 12 feet. It helps to get close to appreciate how large that is. They dwarf the seagulls. These birds only breed every other year because it takes over a year to raise a chick. I asked some German guy to take a picture of me and the cliffs just so I would have a picture even though there were no albatross around at that moment. Then, after he took the photo I saw that an albatross had just flown into the frame as he took the shot, so now I have a really good picture.

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