Milford Sound and Sea Life
Tuesday 16th August 2016 – We left Henry’s Creek and began driving towards the fabled Milford Sound. It was a beautiful day and there were quite a few other cars making the trip that morning. Although the drive was only about 90kms from where we had camped it took about 3 hours as we stopped to photograph snowy peaks, visit mirror like lakes and watch rivers thundering through slot canyons. In a car park along the way we had our first encounter with keas. The cheeky green parrots reminded us of the monkeys at Longleat as they naughtily stripped cars of their rubber trim. One had a good go at pulling apart the tongue of one of my walking boots and while Alysa laughed another pecked holes in her scarf. At Milford Sound we walked the shore and took photos galore. After such an exhilarating day we were wide awake and decided to try to reach Papatowai on the southeast coast of the island. Our sat nav, sensing we were up for a challenge routed the last 90kms of our nighttime journey along unsurfaced roads before spitting us out onto the coastal highway a couple of kms from our destination. We didn’t mind as we saw two possums along the way. We got a really good view of the second one as it stopped to look at us just a few metres down the road. Alysa jumped out to chase it, hoping it would play dead but it just ran down the road for a bit and then vanished into the bushes. Possums are considered pests here as their presence has a detrimental effect on the indigenous wildlife but they are rather cute and it seems a shame that they are poisoned in huge numbers each year.
Wednesday 17th August 2016 – The rare yellow-eyed penguins we had come to see wouldn’t appear until dusk so we drove the car to Porpoise Bay and parked on the cliffs overlooking the beach. Alysa went for a walk while I blogged in the car and kept an eye out for the dolphins that sometimes come to play in the bay. Around 4:30pm we made our way down to Curio Bay just around the headland. The barnacle encrusted remains of a prehistoric petrified forest lie here but we had come to see penguins. We were in luck; barely ten minutes after we arrived and in broad daylight a little penguin hopped ashore, preened itself for a few minutes and then waddled and hopped up the rocky beach into the bushes. A few minutes later, as the daylight began to fade another penguin appeared and the process was repeated. It was wonderful to see the comical little characters in the wild.
Thursday 18th August 2016 – Our camera is on its last legs. In addition to having to charge the battery externally, losing wireless connectivity and having an error message flashing continuously the “OK” button which until now has been a bit fickle has become downright delinquent. After breakfast we took a walk along Porpoise Bay on the look out for Hectors dolphins. Then, after picking up some provisions in Dunedin we drove to Sandfly Bay where we hoped to see some more yellow eyed penguins and perhaps a sea lion. From the hill we could see some dark shapes on the beach but couldn’t make out whether they were rocks or sea lions. As we got closer we could see they were sealions and they were big! One large male fast asleep on the sand was using a clump of seaweed as a pillow and while the adults slept the juveniles in the distance played a flippery, blubbery game of chase. As the beach was too narrow to safely get past the slumbering giants we tried to reach the penguin hide by going inland but only succeeded in getting lost and having to retrace our steps. By the time we got back to the beach the larger sealions were awake and making their way to the ocean with endearing laziness; every few yards they would slump back into the sand for a few extra minutes rest. One even rolled down the beach rather than go to the effort of using his flippers! It was dusk so we said goodbye to the sealife for another day and drove to Trotters Gorge DOC campsite. The camp was closed so we slept in the car park for the night. The full moon was so bright that it cast an uncanny light on the deserted forest clearing and we felt like prime candidates for an alien abduction.
Friday 19th August 2016 – Having survived the night without being probed we returned to the coast to see the Moeraki boulders – a small number of vaguely spherical boulders that have somehow become a major tourist attraction in these parts. Our next stop was Katiki Point. Past the lighthouse fur seals were dotted all around. Pups played together and big males vied for the prime spots. There were even a couple lying on the grass near the path along the clifftop. It was still too early for penguins so we drove to a beach nearby to see if we could spot any of the dolphins that sometimes hung out there. Around 3pm we returned to Katiki Point and went to have another look at the seals before we made our way to the hide which was in the other direction. As we made our way to the far end of the headland I saw what looked like a penguin standing next to a small tin shelter about a hundred yards away. It was long before dusk and I assumed the motionless figure was a model put there to attract actual penguins to the area (we had seen a colony of pretend gannets put there for the same purpose in another part of the island). I joked to Alysa that there was a penguin over there and then to our surprise it moved its head! As we looked around we saw other penguins coming ashore. They made their way across the rocks in little family groups paying absolutely no attention to us and we enjoyed a good hour watching the antics of the comical little characters. Our favourite penguin was one who picked a twig up off the ground with his beak and then stood with his flippers out from his sides, all proud of what he had found. One of our favourite days of the trip.
