Otago Peninsula

From TeAnau I drove down around the south coast to the Otago Peninsula.
http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2598816

This was an interesting little area of water. The sign next to it said, "No swimming. Crocodiles." I looked, but I did not see any crocodiles. I didn't go swimming either.

Along the drive I stopped at a petrified forest. The stumps and logs from the forest have been preserved by the salt water. Some of the stumps can been seen in the picture below.

This is an entire log that was preserved.

When I got to the Otago Peninsula, I went straight to "Penguin Place". This place is wonderful. I quickly made a reservation for the 7:15 tour and reserved a room in the cottage for about $10 US. To top it all off, the place had two springer spaniels that hung around outside. I couldn't have been happier.

The Penguin Place is located on the tip of the Peninsula. As the Peninsula became more populated by humans, the Penguin Place fenced off an area of the Peninsula to preserve it as a natural habitat for the yellow-eyed penguins. During the day, the penguins go out into the ocean to fish and then return at night to feed their young. Unlike the emperor penguins, the yellow-eyed penguins prefer their privacy. Therefore, each family has claimed its own portion of the land for its home. The Penguin Place provides a safe habitat for the penguins, but do not interfere with the penguins unless one is severely injured. The Place has a penguin hospital where the injured penguins are nursed back to health. The Place has dug numerous trenches throughout the landscape so that humans can walk through and observe the penguins without disturbing them.

This is a young penguin. This penguin has lost most of its baby feathers, but has not yet grown the yellow whiskers next to its eyes.

This is a baby penguin with all of its baby feathers.


The penguins have a pretty nice landscape.

You can see the trenches in this picture. The trenches allow the humans to get close to the penguins without impacting their behaviors.

This is a fur seal down on the beach.

We got to see a rare moment while a mother fed a baby penguin. It was quite amazing.

Penguins waddling around on the beach.


A perfect sunset to end the night.