Curio Bay, Friday 18th March

We leave Dunedin about the same time as the  kids leave for school. We are taking the Southern Scenic Route through Brighton and Taieri Mouth. The sun is just up and is making the waves translucent as they crash on the beach. The blue sea is jointed at the horizon to the blue sky. You can almost certainly feel the 6 degree crispness with small pockets of frost and mist as we travel through the rolling countryside.

We have the first coffee of the day in Milton at Cafe Lola and a bit of a chat to the owner. At Balclutha we again turn off Highway 1 and pass through forest and farmland. The bridge at Maclennan is out and we have to detour for about 20km on metal roads which is a bit hair-raising with a caravan in tow.

We have our second morning tea (this is a long travelling day) at The Whistling Frog. As it is 12.00 we hear the whistling frog clock 

give many a call!

We finally nose our way into Curio Bay and set up on a site with huge flax bushes around it. We have a late lunch before setting off to explore the bay

It doesn't take us long to spot the rare Hectors dolphins swimming among the surfers and the swimmers. As they have young with them they swim away if the people try to touch them. Part of me wants to leave them alone, and part of them wants to swim with them. Their fin is like a Mickey Mouse ear. There are 4 in the photo - only one near the swimmers is arching up through the water.

 

We walk up to the bluff and watch the waves crashing crazily on the rocky outcrops.

After a beer and a nap we head off to see the Petrified  Forest which now forms a platform of petrified fallen logs on the beach with some branches still sticking out. You can still see the circular rings within the trees. We have been told that 7pm is when you get the best time to see the penguins but already at 6pm people are taking up vantage points. So Duncan goes back and gets the binoculars and then we go and claim a rock and wait and wait and wait, By 7pm I am starting to get a bit cold so we decide 7.30 is our deadline.

At 7.20 - there he is!! I say "he" because he is huge - maybe up to my thigh. Strutting up the beach, stopping to preen himself - the magnificent Hoiho yellow eyed penguin of $5 note fame. But about 7.45 he realises that he is the only penguin there and he wanders back to the sea. The DOC lady explains to us later that since the chicks have now fledged they just go to any beach and dont always come back here where their nests were. She says that he was the only one sighted that evening.

This picture is very grainy as we were kept a long way back from them. Despite their size they are shy rather than inquistive birds. Duncan got this shot of him.

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