Quick disclaimer... I'm actually in Melbourne right now! Sifting through many hundreds of photos, and many more hours of audio, then editing and organizing said photos and audio takes a bit of time, so these blog post have been lagging behind me roughly a week or so.

Dunedin/ Otago Peninsula

After a couple of long days driving and exploring a bit of the Catlins, I was quite ready to have some down time. So I booked myself a couple of nights on the Otago Peninsula, just outside of the old Scottish town of Dunedin. This place was pretty swell. It's called McFarmer's backpacker lodge. It feels like more of a farmstay, as there's sheep and chickens running around, and the whole property somehow manages to sit on the side of a very steep hill overlooking the bay. Even by NZ standards, the people who run this little three bedroom lodge are super friendly.

The first evening I was there, I drove across the peninsula to see some yellow eyed penguins at Sandfly bay. Due to the name, I was a bit apprehensive about going, but I wasn't going to let any bugs keep me from penguins! As it turns out, the bay actually go its name due to the unique way that the wind makes the sand fly, forming all these little mounds. Although I think someone just wanted to keep people away from a beautiful beach...

After scrambling down to the beach, I met some volunteer penguin police. The increase in people interested in seeing the penguins has contributed to the colony dwindling to only five. So volunteers come and keep people off of a section of the beach, to allow the penguins to run up to their nests. I don't have a zoom lens for my camera, so didn't really get any good pictures, but I do have a zoom recorder (hahahahahahahaha!) so I was able to catch a couple of their calls, which I assume translate to something like "please go the hell away, this is my home".

So I obliged and spent the rest of the evening just enjoying a walk along yet another gorgeous beach. Caught the sunset on the way back to my car and managed a couple of decent photos.

The next day I went out for a small hike on the mountain adjacent to Sandfly bay. The coast that isn't beautiful beach here is mostly equally grand rocky cliffs and chasms. Had some fun sticking my shotgun over a couple precipices to record the void and ocean below. Not to mention finally taking the opportunity to record a couple sheep.

That evening I made my way up to the albatross center at the end of the peninsula. I think I saw a couple, but for the most part it was just thousands of seagulls. I love how obnoxious and piercing their calls are. Pretty chaotic.

As is my new habit, woke up early the next day for the drive north along the coast to Omauru. Today marks day seven without internet, and i'm feeling the withdrawls. The only news I've read have been local stories in local papers. That, at least, feels good.