Feb 3: Yellow-Eyed Penguins

We came here for the penguins, and we found them. The Yellow-Eyed Penguin is the rarest penguin in the world, they nest on NZ's southern shores. Near Moeraki there is a lighthouse with a pretty good colony- decades ago, the lighthouse keepers created an environment for them to nest by planting native trees and shrubs, fencing off the area and trapping predators. After 6pm, the penguins return from the sea and walk back to their nests. There is a fenced-off area for them and from the cliffs we watched them slide-in from the sea on their bellies, then waddle up the hill. Some of them actually walk through the grass using the same trails as the human spectators, there were penguins everywhere! These particular penguins were quite used to people watching them. Of course, penguin watchers have to be respectful and keep a reasonable distance.
We filled our memory-cards with photos!