Hunting Penguins

Trip Start Oct 01, 2008

Trip End Dec 30, 2009

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Dunedin Holiday Park

Flag of New Zealand Dunedin, South Island, New Zealand
Monday, December 1, 2008

Wet and drizzly this morning. It can't be dry all the time. We head south passing through little towns on the coast road. Just before Moeraki we stop for a good cup of coffee (and a slightly disappointing caramel slice). Down the hill from the cafe, there are spherical boulders on the beach up to 1m in diameter. They look as though they have been washed up from the sea but instead they were formed from limestone crystals in the mud cliff behind, A couple of them can be seen half-emerged from the cliffs.

Moeraki itself is a picturesque fishing village. It was originally a Maori settlement. The first Europeans came here for whaling. We go for a walk around the coast. There is a very good restaurant here, Fleur's place, which looks enticing but unfortunately we are too full of caramel slice to stop for lunch. A few miles further down the coast there is a colony of yellow eyed penguins. We go to the hide but at 2pm there are no adult birds to be seen. Apparently prime viewing time is in the hour or so before dusk when they return from fishing. We do see a chick in a nesting box.

There is another colony further down the coast at Shag Point (no sniggering in the back) but no penguins to be seen there either. We do see a lot of seals lounging on the rocks. There used to be a coal mine here and we can see the coal in the soil.

It continues to drizzle so we carry on south to Dunedin. The main road climbs up into the low cloud before descending into town. In the evening, we see the nw James Bond film, Quantum of Solace. Very exciting.

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