On from the Portobello area of Dunedin, we headed down to the very South of the island, the furthest South you go, to Kaka Point and the Lighthouse at Nugget Point. The weather in this region is wetter and colder than elsewhere on the Island and today it was living up to its reputation. We stopped briefly at the beach in Kaka Point and headed over to look at the waterfalls in the forest area, and to try and visit Cathedral cave where there were Fur Seals and Yellow Eyed penguins, sadly the tide and the rain put paid to that, so we chose instead to check out the waterfalls and try some food from the place voted the Best Burger in NZ. The burger was great but the wildlife was hiding. We briefly managed to see some of the New Zealand Masked Lapwings, some Paradise Shell ducks and a very brief Sacred Kingfisher.
After lunch it was up to Jacks Blow Hole, a water spout 200m in from the sea, but today the weather wan’t bad enough to have It actually blowing, but it was still a sight to behold, before back to our new house for the night and a warm meal.
The next day we headed up to Nugget point and to a beach known to have nesting Yellow eyed Penguins, but again we failed to see them, their decline had meant there were only two at this beach , like the other beaches we had visited, and again they were no where to be seen. We did however have a walk up to the Lighthouse, and were very lucky to see the Native New Zealand Falcon, perched on the cliff face, resting from the wind, while below on the rocks the Fur Seals were resting. Red Beaked Gulls and White Fronted Terns were out in numbers, with pied stilts further inland.
Not a fantastic wildlife day ( apart from the Falcon) but still a wonderful place with lots to see and whole heartedly recommended it, if we had longer to stay I’m sure we would have seen much more wildlife , but our trip route meant we had to move on, and head over towards Te Anau and Milford Sound. These next few days promised amazing scenery and uncertain wildlife …..
