Otago Peninsula

I spent the morning on the Otago Peninsula just East of Dunedin. My original intention was to stay the night on the Peninsula and go on a late afternoon wildlife tour to see Penguins, Sea Lions and Fur Seals. After spending some time this morning with four Sea Lions on one of the beaches on the Peninsula, I decided to skip the organized tour (which would have probably taken me right back to the same Sea Lions). Instead, I fueled up in Dunedin, stopped in a supermarket for some supplies, and then continued Northward to a pair of other locations that were supposedly good for wildlife. I first stopped at Shag Point and had good luck with Fur Seals, then I went on to Katiki Point where I was much luckier with Penguins than I was yesterday. I saw a total of 5 of them over the span of a couple hours. There is a viewing blind there similar to the one at Roaring Bay. The light was better too as it was sunny most of the day. The only problem there was a large amount of vegetation in front of the viewing hide that obscured a lot of the beach and made it difficult to get a good angle on the Penguins. But I managed to eke a few good scenes out of the location.


The Otago Peninsula is very scenic. Grassy green hillsides and lots of Sheep. This view is looking toward the mainland.


This view is looking the other way toward the Pacific.

Lots of Sheep with little lambs this time of year. We call this season “Spring”. The Kiwis call it “Lambing Season”.


This is the beach that the Sea Lions like to rest on.


There were some beautiful wildflower blooming in the sand dunes at the beach I found the Sea Lions.


Here’s one of the guys that I found on the beach sunning himself.


I saw several Fur Seals at Shag Point. Here is a pair of them catching some rays.


The road out to Katiki Point is also very scenic farmland. The beach area in the distance by the trees is where I’m camping right now.


There’s a quaint little Lighthouse at Katiki Point.


Here’s one of the Penguins on the beach. I didn’t shoot too many stills, mostly video.