Honeymoon Day 13 - Beach, Albatross and Penguins!
Our last day in New Zealand was bittersweet. Part of us was ready to get back to normal life at home, and away from all the eating out at restaurants, but it was definitely sad to be saying goodbye to such a great trip. We started off leisurely with a beach walk after brunch.
We didn't attempt to swim, as there were only surfers with wetsuits, but we did walk along the raised sidewalk and then along the sand for a bit. There were lots of people out picnicking and enjoying the sunshine.
I assume that this was once some kind of pier, but I just loved the way the pillars reflected in the water.
If you look close in this picture you can see a few of the surfers out trying to catch waves. Watching them from our room was really fun, and I was impressed at the skills some of them had.
In the evening, we went to the Royal Albatross Center out on the Otago Peninsula. This wasn't something we had planned on doing, but saw a brochure and decided to check it out. Boy was it cool!
The royal albatross is one of the four largest species of albatross, birds who spend almost the entirety of their lives - eating, sleeping, etc. - out at sea. They do go back to land to breed, generally once every two years. They first return after 3 or 4 years, and generally spend their first few times back finding a mate, and breed for the first time at about 6-8 years old. Albatross mate for life, but live solitary lives when they are out at sea. They somehow often manage to arrive back to the breeding site sometimes within hours of their mate, though sometimes it may take a week or so.
They also had other sea bird colonies on the peninsula, so before our albatross tour we checked those out, as well as the sea cliffs. The kelp here was really interesting, attached to the cliffside and really hammered by the waves.
For the tour, we walked up a hill (New Zealand steep, as you might expect) and into an observation station that used to be a gun look-out for an old fort. Now, it's got one way glass so you can observe the albatross flying and nesting without disturbing them. We had to be quiet in there as well, so they didn't know we were there.
This location, at Tairoa Head, is the only mainland nesting site for albatross anywhere in the world. The vast majority of all albatross, and even of the royal albatross, nest on offshore islands, and the only way to get to see them is by boat.
Because the peninsula is not populated, and has a number of flat spots where there used to be gun turrets, it is actually a perfect spot for these birds to come and nest, and it's now an amazing conservation site. Below, you can see a chick being pestered by a juvenile albatross.
Watching the birds glide was truly mesmerizing. They are so graceful in the air and so clunky on land. They are also enormous birds. Their wings actually have two joints in them that lock when they are flying to maintain a rigid structure. when they land, they tuck the tips of their wings into their armpit, of sorts, and then the whole wing against their body.
Here you can see just how big these birds are. The outer red silhouette is the albatross.
What we had really come to the albatross center to see, though, were the penguins. This was a night tour, and my pictures are a little blurry because the lighting was so low, but these penguins were SO cute. The penguins here were the little blue penguin, which is the smallest penguin species. They get up to about a foot tall. They hunt during the day out in the bay, and at night come back in to the beach to sleep in their nests.
The small groups that come back in together are referred to as rafts. Each time a raft of penguins was spotted emerging from the water everyone on the tour got excited, and it really didn't get old watching the tiny little creatures hobble and jump their way up the sand and rocks to their dens.
Getting to see these guys was a perfect way to end the trip. Adorable and amazing wildlife seems to be somewhat of a specialty in New Zealand - especially birds. Unlike Australia where everything will kill you, nothing in New Zealand will, unless you can die from cuteness.
Overall, the trip was amazing, and I am glad we chose it for a honeymoon destination. The long flights were definitely worth the destination, and I'm sure we will be back some day. We got to see so much, but there is still much we didn't see. It really was a perfect honeymoon for us, and I would recommend New Zealand to anyone looking for an adventure!
We didn't attempt to swim, as there were only surfers with wetsuits, but we did walk along the raised sidewalk and then along the sand for a bit. There were lots of people out picnicking and enjoying the sunshine.
I assume that this was once some kind of pier, but I just loved the way the pillars reflected in the water.
If you look close in this picture you can see a few of the surfers out trying to catch waves. Watching them from our room was really fun, and I was impressed at the skills some of them had.
In the evening, we went to the Royal Albatross Center out on the Otago Peninsula. This wasn't something we had planned on doing, but saw a brochure and decided to check it out. Boy was it cool!
The royal albatross is one of the four largest species of albatross, birds who spend almost the entirety of their lives - eating, sleeping, etc. - out at sea. They do go back to land to breed, generally once every two years. They first return after 3 or 4 years, and generally spend their first few times back finding a mate, and breed for the first time at about 6-8 years old. Albatross mate for life, but live solitary lives when they are out at sea. They somehow often manage to arrive back to the breeding site sometimes within hours of their mate, though sometimes it may take a week or so.
They also had other sea bird colonies on the peninsula, so before our albatross tour we checked those out, as well as the sea cliffs. The kelp here was really interesting, attached to the cliffside and really hammered by the waves.
For the tour, we walked up a hill (New Zealand steep, as you might expect) and into an observation station that used to be a gun look-out for an old fort. Now, it's got one way glass so you can observe the albatross flying and nesting without disturbing them. We had to be quiet in there as well, so they didn't know we were there.
This location, at Tairoa Head, is the only mainland nesting site for albatross anywhere in the world. The vast majority of all albatross, and even of the royal albatross, nest on offshore islands, and the only way to get to see them is by boat.
Because the peninsula is not populated, and has a number of flat spots where there used to be gun turrets, it is actually a perfect spot for these birds to come and nest, and it's now an amazing conservation site. Below, you can see a chick being pestered by a juvenile albatross.
Watching the birds glide was truly mesmerizing. They are so graceful in the air and so clunky on land. They are also enormous birds. Their wings actually have two joints in them that lock when they are flying to maintain a rigid structure. when they land, they tuck the tips of their wings into their armpit, of sorts, and then the whole wing against their body.
Here you can see just how big these birds are. The outer red silhouette is the albatross.
What we had really come to the albatross center to see, though, were the penguins. This was a night tour, and my pictures are a little blurry because the lighting was so low, but these penguins were SO cute. The penguins here were the little blue penguin, which is the smallest penguin species. They get up to about a foot tall. They hunt during the day out in the bay, and at night come back in to the beach to sleep in their nests.
The small groups that come back in together are referred to as rafts. Each time a raft of penguins was spotted emerging from the water everyone on the tour got excited, and it really didn't get old watching the tiny little creatures hobble and jump their way up the sand and rocks to their dens.
Getting to see these guys was a perfect way to end the trip. Adorable and amazing wildlife seems to be somewhat of a specialty in New Zealand - especially birds. Unlike Australia where everything will kill you, nothing in New Zealand will, unless you can die from cuteness.
Overall, the trip was amazing, and I am glad we chose it for a honeymoon destination. The long flights were definitely worth the destination, and I'm sure we will be back some day. We got to see so much, but there is still much we didn't see. It really was a perfect honeymoon for us, and I would recommend New Zealand to anyone looking for an adventure!
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