Penguins, penguins, penguins ... we want to see penguins! Small colonies of these torpid animals are found in the Otago Peninsula, so we headed there in the hope of being able to see any of them ... will we have succeeded? Keep reading…
We enter this peninsula along its southernmost road, where we pass through some very cool beaches in the area of Ocean grove. And from there he made the Sandfly bay. If you know us well you will know that we are lazy of noses, so as soon as we saw that we had to go down the road to the beach we decided to contemplate the beautiful panorama from the viewpoint (which is what it is for) and not continue beyond ... you never know when to one can give him a heat stroke and die, better safe than sorry.
This is one of the places where a penguin colony is located, but the schedule did not favor us (again), so this time we did not even try. To have more possibilities yours is to come at sunrise or sunset, when the penguins go from their little houses to the sea and vice versa. What we saw were many sheep!
A little further on is the call Chasm, a cliff of a lot of meters that removes the hiccups (it was actually a bit of a crap). Here you can also reach the Sandfly bay and until Lovers Leap (don't ask ... google it!).
We continue northbound around the Inlet Hoopers where we find this nice heron and we arrive at Lighthouse, at the end of the peninsula. The panoramic is spectacular (and the millions of seagull shit too). From here comes a small path to the headquarters of an agency that makes routes to see penguins and albatrosses. The road goes nowhere so you better not go.
Already back we pass through a couple of villages like Portobello or Macandrew Bay, where there is a not very interesting but perfect for a bath (you will be accompanied by all the mothers of the town bathing their children).
The rest of the day we leave for the visit to Dunedin, a city that we found interesting at first sight. It has a vintage train station, a Chinese paid garden (much paid, cabloneh!), A few cafes, a nice Cathedral, some small squares and ...
… Baldwind street, the steepest street in the world !! While Lety thought I was crazy I ran it! Ok, just run it down, but does that count too? Here once a year the kids meet in the city and compete to see who goes up faster, if I were to see who goes down faster pointed me to next year!
USEFUL INFO
Where to sleep
We did it in a small town near Dunedin, in Warrington. Good site, with construction bathrooms and lots of space. We are not sure if you can sleep in the Otago Peninsula, in a brochure we saw that next to the bathroom in Macandrew Bay you can, it is best to ask.
See penguins for free on the Otago Peninsula
If you are going to ask Dunedin i-Site if you can do it, they will tell you no, that there are only tours for this. Lie fat! In Sandfly bay there is a colony of penguins that leave at sunrise and sunset. Luck!
