Nugget Point and the elusive Yellow Eyed Penguin

Total Nights and Distance Travelled on Tour to Date = 32 Nights & 2339 Kms

We said goodbye to Lawrence on a beautiful, clear, crisp morning, and drove through  picturesque Manuka Gorge.  Leaving SH8 behind us we travelled along SH1, billed as the “Southern Scenic Route”.  First stop of the day was to was for fuel at Milton, which boasted a very handsome stone church, looking very much like the lovely stone churches we saw on our trip to UK several years ago.

  Church at Milton

We were soon on our way once again, travelling through the rolling countryside dotted with sheep, winter crops in the paddocks , and golden hay being cut and baled.  The stacks of firewood beside the farmhouses tell of the very cold winters experienced down here in the South Island.  A large concrete arched bridge carried us across the Clutha River into the town of Balclutha.

Over the Clutha River

And what a surprise greeted us there, not something usually seen in town.  There was a large wild boar, very dead, tied to the back of a trailer.  That was certainly worth stopping to have a look.  A group of young people were relaxing over a cold beer and told me they had been out pig hunting in the hills early in the morning.  “Who killed the pig?” I asked, as these animals can be extremely ferocious when cornered.  One of the teenage girls proudly told me that she was the one to finish the pig off.  No doubt the group will get busy and butcher the pig once they finished celebrating their hunting skills. 

Pig Hunting in Balclutha

We then passed into the Catlins, where we plan to stay for several days.  The Catlins Coast runs from Port Molyneux in the east around to Fortose, and none of our group has visited this area before.  It was a very busy place a century ago, with sealers and whalers working here in the early 1800s, and the first settlers arrived in 1840 to begin farming and clearing the land.  More than 30 saw mills cut down the native forests, which are slowly regenerating today.  We are spending a couple of nights at a rural property in Owaka, run by Kevin, a very friendly fellow from the UK, and his hard working Kiwi wife.

On site in rural Owaka

After lunch sightseeing was on the cards with a trip up to the Nugget Point Lighthouse.  What’s that on the beach?  IT looks like a sea lion to us.  He had just emerged from the shallows and was inelegantly hauling himself up the beach.

Sea Lion on the beach

An unsealed road took us up to the car park, then it was a 1km walk up to the lighthouse.  We looked down over the steep cliff and could see some seals far below, and the sound of their calls could be heard quite clearly.  The Department of Conservation has plaques here and there along the path and one about the fur seals is particularly descriptive and I quote -  “Chilling, child like cries, tussling for rock space below.  Hunted for food and fur two hundred years ago, few were left.  Remnants slowly returned from their scattered refuge rock shelves on Tokata, now their nurseries”.  The white lighthouse glistened in the sunlight, not too far up the track now till we reach it.

  Nugget Point Lighthouse

The lighthouse was built in 1869 from local stone, stands 8 metres high, and is 75 metres above sea level.  It was fully automated in 1969. 

We made it to the top

The rocks below are the “nuggets”

Seals basking in the sun far below

We were hoping to see some yellow eyed penguins (hioho) and walked down to the viewing hide at Roaring Bay.  They are the world’s rarest penguins and Nugget Point has only 20 breeding pair.  It was a short walk down to the hide, and we waited, and waited, scanning the beach as we waited to see them come ashore.

The viewing hide at Roaring Bay

Sadly, not a single elusive penguin came into view.  March is when they moult, all the old feathers are replaced and the birds are not waterproof until their entire plumage is restored.  Unable to swim or feed, they survive on stored fat and lose half their body weight over the month long moult.  We hoped that the birds were hiding safely out of sight in their burrows as they are vulnerable from attack during this time.  Heading back to camp we stopped at a decorated fence.  Now, we have seen fences decorated with jandals, and heard of others that are festooned with bicycles, ties, and even bras.  But this is the first time we have seen a fence with a huge array of hub caps!

Plenty of hub caps here

Romany Rambler: Travelled 21,936Km; 380 Total Nights