People who live in Dunedin and surrounding areas have access to some of the most spectacular places and wildlife in New Zealand. On Wednesday Lynn took me to Tunnel Beach, near St Clair, Dunedin. Here the sandstone rocks have been carved out by the sea to form arches and caves.
In the 1870s John Cargill had a tunnel hewn out of the rocks to allow for access to the beach so his daughters could swim. The tunnel is now open to the public.
There are enormous boulders on the beach as well as cliffs while the breakers chased us back to the tunnel entrance at high tide.
To get to the beach and area demands a certain level of fitness but the pull back upwards on the return leg is something else. Fortunately the hill climbing that I’ve been doing recently helped me negotiate the climb with relative comfort.
After our exertions Lynn and I found a nice cafe in St Clair and had a coffee and a biscuit. I had a very exotic “Seed Biscuit” made with Pumpkin Seeds and Sunflower Seeds amongst others.
After our light refreshments we wondered along the shore front. At the corner of the bay is a open air salt water swimming pool, which seemed to be popular.
We returned home and I had a bit of a relax ready for my wildlife safari with Elm Tours later in the day. I was hoping to see Yellow-eyed Penguins on the tour, but they don’t come out of the water until later in the day .
I set off on the Tour with seven other people and our guide, Shawn, who was very good and gave us lots of relevant information. Our first stop was Taiaroa Peninsular where we saw the Royal Albatrosses flying. They have an immense wing span of 3.3 metres and when they leave the nest will not return to land for three years or until they are mature enough to breed. Our guide pointed out that there were two varieties in the area.
After viewing the Albatrosses we were driven over the top of the Peninsular to Cape Saunders, which is a privately owned conservation area. Before we climbed over to the Bay we drove along a tidal inlet where we saw a number of wading birds like Royal Spoonbills and Stilts.
After winding our way up hill and around many corners of unsealed road we passed through a gate and came to a halt. A beautiful bay spread out before us with what looked like large boulders, but as we came closer transformed into sleeping sea lions.
When we arrived on the beach our guide explained that all the sea lions were males and are actually a type of seal and that this variety is endemic to New Zealand and now endangered. The females are smaller and generally avoid the male beaches unless ready for breeding. The males sleep in the day, but wake up as evening approaches.
I was very keen to see a penguin and Shaun pointed out the call of the Yellow-eyed Penguin so we knew they were about. We moved further down the beach just in time to see a penguin come out of the water and start to shake itself dry. We then went in the hide and immediately saw two in front of us at the edge of the hill. They have to walk up and over the hill to feeds their young. Gradually one by one the penguins emerged from the sea and started drying themselves out. Our guide told us that they liked to hang about and socialise. This was, however, potentially dangerous as the sea lions had been known to eat penguins on the beach. These ones, thankfully, remained blissfully slumbering. We were very fortunate to see so many that day. Just the day before the guide had seen only two.
We climbed up the hill to see if we could see the penguins returning to feed their chicks, but saw only one. When we returned to the beach the penguins were all gathering for their move up the hill.
By the time we retuned along the beach the sea lions were stirring. The young males like to play, but the mature males vie for supremacy; the most dominant male usually has the deepest voice.
As we were returning to the coach. Our guide pointed out penguin footprints in the sand.
After a climb back up to the van we were driven over some dirt tracks until we came to a stop at the edge of some cliffs. After a short walk downhill we came to a fence and directly below us was a fur seal colony where the babies were a range of ages from a few weeks to several months. Some of the young ones were very playful while the older seals just seemed to sleep. Shawn explained to us that a mature female Fur Seal spends the majority of her life pregnant. She has one week to mate after the birth of the pup and become pregnant again for another 242 days.
After a wonderful tour we made the long winding trek back to Dunedin, which was already lit up as we approached.
A truly wonderful day.