After we arrived at our rental studio on the Otago Peninsula and got settled we decided to make the most of the evening and head out to explore some of the local beaches that are famous for penguins.
On the advice of the manager at the rental studio we headed over to nearby Sandfly Bay, happy to explore the beach here even if we didn’t get to see any penguins.
Sandfly Bay was a beautiful place to explore so we knew that any wildlife we saw would be a bonus. We arrived at the clifftops and looked out over the bay, and the steep, sandy decent down to the shore. The trek down turned into a rather fun and rapid slide down the steep sand dunes, an adventure in itself as long as you didn’t think too much about the climb back up!
Easter is actually molting time for the yellow-eyed penguins and so you are much less likely to see them in this area. At other times of the year they can often be seen at dusk returning to their burrows after a day spent fishing out at sea.
We arrived on the beach and perched in the dunes waiting for the penguins to (hopefully) arrive. As we enjoyed the view out to sea, we were able to hear the penguins calling to each other and eventually were rewarded by a visit from a couple of (what we think) were yellow-eyed penguins.
After watching the penguins climb the steep sandy dune and hop around on the rocks above for a while we decided to head further along the beach to explore and enjoy the evening.
As we walked past the dunes we were surprised to see a large fur seal make it’s way down to the ocean. It took it a while to make the trek across the sand and we were amused to watch it take what appeared to be several much needed breaks, but it eventually reached the ocean and took off in search of dinner.
Following the fur seal’s lead we too headed off back across the bay and up the steep sand dunes to the car in search of dinner.