Cannibal Bay and Roaring Bay

After leaving Nugget Point, we wanted to see the penguins reportedly at Roaring Bay just down the road. When we got to that car park, we found the best time to see them was after 4pm (or even later), as they come in from the sea for the evening. So we drove on further down the coast and took a narrow unsealed windy road out to Cannibal Bay.

As we arrived, a girl leaving the beach told us there were sea lions on the beach, and she'd almost walked into one as it had part buried itself in the sand. At first, I thought that was a little weird . . .

. . . and then I saw one! It WAS the same colour as the sand and I hadn't noticed it until it chose to sit up and stretch.

There were several sea lions on the beach—most of them sleeping in the sand.

This one had a tagged flipper. It was lying almost upside down . . .

 . . . happily snoozing, oblivous to us all giving it a wide berth.

Then there was this one that rose up as we walked by. Notice the sand it's flicked all over itself.

This is the car park, which is really just "find-a-space" on the side of the road. As we left, there were cars everywhere, blocking the road. Yes, this is the actual road.

Later that night, we headed back to Roaring Bay. We'd been told it was still foggy and we weren't guaranteed to see a penguin, but wanted to take our chances. It's a ten-minute walk from the car park down to the hide, which is a wooden building in the side of the cliff with narrow windows overlooking the bay. We arrived at about 7:10pm, and about twenty minutes later (after waiting quietly with a bunch of other tourists) our patience was rewarded! Dave saw the penguin first, swimming in and coming up out of the water. It came straight onto the rocks and then stood there preening itself for another twenty minutes.

In spite of the low light and the distance—I'm at maximum zoom here, so not amazingly sharp photos—it was still very recognisable as an adult yellow-eyed penguin (hoiho). They are unique to New Zealand and are listed as an endangered species with an estimated wild population of less than 4,000. It is now the rarest penguin in the world.  Hence, I was thrilled to actually get to see (and photograph) one in the wild.

Standing at 65 cm tall, the yellow-eyed penguin is the fourth largest of the world's penguins.

This is a picture of the hide. It's not evident from this photo, but on the sea side, it is hidden behind a mound of the hill. Only the windows peep above the hill, allowing people to see out but keeping us as hidden as possible from the penguins. They are very shy and easily spooked and upset. Having been there almost an hour and photographed my penguin, I was ready to go home. You probably won't be able see the penguin on the rocks below the hide. It's just a white spot, but this photo may give you an idea of how far away we were. The penguin is just below the arrow.

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