Timaru - Oamaru - Moeraki - Dunedin - Otago Peninsula - Oamaru

Along the coast, we traveled south through the towns of Timaru, Oamaru, and Moeraki, where one can supposedly see little blue penguins and/or yellow-eyed penguins on their beaches in the early morning and late evening. We were there during the day and had to be satisfied with seals and various seabirds.

The next major stop was Dunedin, where we could watch the giant Christmas tree being taken apart and loaded into containers, so it can be rebuilt exactly the same way next year. However, Dunedin was mainly our springboard to the Otago Peninsula, where we visited Taiaroa Heads and Sandfly Bay. At Taiaroa Heads, there is the only albatross colony on the mainland of the Southern Hemisphere, home to northern royal albatrosses. Less than 1% of these albatrosses breed at Taiaroa Heads; the rest breed on the Chatham Islands and Enderby Island. The first albatrosses arrived at Taiaroa Heads in 1911, and no one knows why.

This season, there are 40 albatross pairs breeding at Taiaroa Heads, of which four pairs are positioned so that they can be observed from the viewing platform. It takes almost an entire year from the moment the egg is laid until the chick is fledged. No wonder the parents then take a sabbatical year before having new offspring. By the way, they usually spend that sabbatical year completely in the air and on the water.

After the tour at the albatross center, we also took a boat tour there and were lucky enough to see two albatrosses flying. One soared up from Taiaroa Heads, while the other took off from the water, incredible.

In Sandfly Bay, we went for a beach walk and saw seals and sea lions. As it started to get dark, we hid in the dunes to try our luck with penguins again. Just as we were about to give up at 10 PM, seven little blue penguins waddled out of the water, which was truly magical.

From Dunedin, we also took a scenic flight over the Otago Peninsula. The attached flight school mainly trains people from India and Pakistan, who usually return directly to their home countries after the relatively affordable training in New Zealand to work as pilots. Since it's a flight school anyway and Markus had some flying experience, he was allowed to carry out the entire flight, including takeoff and landing, while I was in charge of the photos from the back seat.

After visiting the Otago Museum in Dunedin, which exhibits, among other things, the camera of Edmund Hillary that he took to Mount Everest, we drove to Baldwin Street, the steepest street in the world, and then back to Oamaru. There, we looked again for yellow-eyed penguins. Apparently, two had come ashore that evening, but unfortunately, we missed them. You can't have everything.