The Otago Peninsula is home to a nesting colony of Royal Albatross. These photos were taken from a specially designed bird hide.
These are five "teenage" Albatross having a party (at least that is how the ranger described it). They were so graceful in air. These are the same species of albatross we encountered last January on our trip to Antarctica.
Flags at half mast in tribute to Sir Edmond Hilary, probably the most famous Kiwi. For a week we listened to TV specials on the life of this amazing man who contributed so much to improve the lives of so many on this planet.
We spotted this flying saucer cloud formation on a all-day train trip though the Otago plains.
Nineteenth century train station in Dunedin.
Amazing boulders on the beach near Dunedin.
A Little Blue Penguin peaks out from his cave.
Five yellow-eyed penguins march in from the sea after feeding all day. We observed them while in another bird hide.
Two yellow-eyed penguin chick lay waiting for mom or dad to come home and feed them.
Here comes mom with her belly filled with fish for her babies.
Mom says hi to her babies.
Mom feeds her little baby (who is almost as big as she is). After mom finished feeding both chicks, they squawked complaining they didn't get enough food. Poor mom - there is never enough to keep her babies happy.
Dad is not too far away watching the action. These yellow-eyed penguins are the rarest in the world, only 4000 remain. We were very lucky to observe this entire sequence. The ranger said it was extremely rare and special to see this.
Spectacular coastline! This one is called Tunnel Beach.
Izzy finds a street named after him.
The Southern most point of the South Island. Yes, it is the middle of summer, and yes it is cold.
The Victoria Railway Hotel where we stayed in Invercargill.
Farewell New Zealand.We loved our ten months here.
Lots of places to go - where will we be this time next year?
The adventure continues . . . .
