The Otago Peninsula

Extending from Dunedin like two tentacles reaching into the sea, the Otago Peninsula is known across NZ for its abundance of wildlife, its alternative lifestyle and its natural beauty.  Similar in geography to the Banks Peninsula near Christchurch, it is volcanic in origin and is split into a north and south arm by a long and narrow inlet with Dunedin itself sitting at the end of the harbor.  On the same rare sunny day that we took advantage of Signal Hill, we also leisurely cruised down waterfront highway of the southern leg of the peninsula all the way to its terminus at Taiaroa Head.  The mouth of the harbor is as stunning as most of the NZ coastline, but what makes the area special is that it is home to a breeding colony of Royal Albatross.  As luck would have it, we were able to spot some of the massive birds gracefully navigating the cutting winds high above and skip paying for the nature tour.  Unfortunately they were also very hard to photograph being so far away and so fast in the sky.  Regardless, it was impressive to watch them effortlessly maneuver where the other birds struggled with the wind, and if they got down close to the ground - WHOA! Look at that wingspan!

It might not look much different from a seagull from this distance, but its the best photo I could nab.  Notice the arch of the wings

The headlands at Taiaroa Head

Looking west down the harbor back towards Dunedin

The other notable excursion on the peninsula was to Sandfly Beach.  I know what you're thinking - why in the world would anybody go to a beach so ominously named?  Well, at this beach it isn't sandflies that you need to be worried about.  In fact, there aren't any sandflies at all! Why then is the beach named Sandfly Beach? Well it's simple, you see the beach sits in between 40 and 50 degrees latitude which is cursed (or blessed if you're a sailor) with horrific and powerful winds stirred up by the rotation of the Earth called the Roaring Forties.  The beach is called Sandfly Beach because the winds blow so hard that it picks up the sand on the beach so that it flies! No sandfly could ever live in such a gusty environment.  Of course this creates a whole new problem for the beach goer - if the freezing wind and ocean doesn't get to you then being sandblasted in the face surely will.

This part was pretty rough

What pulls people to this beautiful beach that sounds so hellish is actually the wildlife.  YEP, Sandfly Bay is another great opportunity to catch a glimpse of the world's rarest penguin (I promise the puns end there).  The only catch this time is that the penguins are not accustomed to people, so in order for them to come out onto the beach you have to plant yourself in a hide with some binoculars.  Not as cool as at Katiki Point, but what the hey, I figured I'd give it a shot even if I don't have a pair of binoculars.  I just ran into one teensy problem - stupid tourists.  (If you can't tell yet I'm dusting off my soap box so if you don't wanna hear it stop reading here)  

There are clear and firm signs up and down the beach explaining how you should govern your behavior with the wildlife at the beach.  As I mentioned before, the wildlife here isn't used to humans being around so they are a lot more shy than your average side of the highway point and click adventure.  In fact, the animals choose this beach precisely because there are no people there to disturb them! It's very annoying then to see people who clearly have no respect for either the animals or anyone else trying to observe them by crowding right up to the animals (in this case fur seals) and going snap happy while the animals are clearly distraught and trying to retreat away from the people, who keep advancing upon them each time to get a better shot.  Not only that, but it clearly states that if people are on the beach then the female penguins will not come ashore to feed their young who have been waiting patiently all day for them to return.  This is an endangered species for heaven's sake! Hope the photo was worth it! I left the hide and the beach as quickly as I could, disgusted.