Having left Glenorchy early and getting a head start, we delayed our departure from the Holiday Park in Kingston long enough to do a load of laundry before leaving. Nevertheless, we were still out before the checkout time of 10:00, and we headed south to the town of Bluff, which lies at the southernmost tip of New Zealand. The drive was straightforward, becoming flatter as we went, until we reached the end of the line, where this is an old lighthouse structure, and a park dedicated to those hardy souls that survived the rough weather to create a settlement there. There were two restaurants on the ride, but one of them had experienced a fire and had been closed a few months, the other was open and crowded, so Hubby and I decided to try to find someplace else in town where we could get oysters, the local specialty. We had no luck with that, and ended up driving out of town without eating, which was probably better anyway. We followed my planned route, but bypassed the Papatowai campground where I had planned to stay because it was too early in the day. We ended up making the drive all the way to Dunedin and beyond, out the Otago peninsula to a place called the Penguin Place, where there is a sanctuary for the rare yellow-eyed penguin, of which there are apparently only about 250 breeding pairs left on the mainland of New Zealand, though there are two islands further south that are apparently doing better because there are no humans around, but no one know for sure because no one lives there to count them. Anyway, after discussing the tour with the office folks, we were thoroughly discouraged that Hubby wouldn't be able to make the trek because it required some walking up and down steep steps, but he insisted I go and take pictures. After paying the requisite $54 entry fee, our tour started out about 10 minutes later, just enough time to grab a sandwich, as we still hadn't eaten all day, commiserating the Hubby was going to miss seeing the penguins. I was then treated to a 15 minute lecture on the life cycle of the penguin, then we were taken to the penguin hospital which was only steps away from the lecture room! There we saw a dozen or more juveniles being rehabilitated for a number of reasons, and we all took pictures and dutifully "ooh-ed" and "aw-ed," but I was a bit upset by this time, as they had made it sound like Hubby wouldn't be able to see any penguins at all without going to the sanctuary, and here they were just feet away! Then we were herded onto two buses and shuttled about five minutes out to the beach where there was one sole penguin on the beach, along with a handful of seals and a flock of seagulls. We were then led into trenches so that we could sneak up on a couple of other juveniles to take pictures, though all the while I was quietly seething that Hubby had been excluded from the early trip to the penguin hospital. After another half an hour of walking trenches and making the requisite noises, we finally trundled back to the buses, already 15 minutes late, to get back to the office. At that point, the woman who took the tour group on the other bus, and who had originally made a fuss about Hubby not being able to come with us, had already arrived back and disappeared, so I asked the nice young man who had toured our group (and had done a damn sight better job making it all more interesting) if it were possible for my husband to at least peak into the hospital so he could see the penguins before we leave (and it was a very long drive out to the end of the peninsula) and he kindly agreed. I gathered up Hubby and we walked over to view the penguins for about 5 minutes, for which we were very grateful, but I have to admit I was still seething over our earlier treatment. At least Hubby got to see them. But this time we were well on our way to dusk, and we headed back west along the bay, and fortunately we had noticed a couple of good spots to stop for the night not too far down the road, and selected one that was rather hidden back into the trees just a short way from the Penguin Place. We quickly settled in for the night, and frankly, wondering if it was worth all the time and effort to save just a handful of intransigent penguins who refused to adapt to the new reality. I know that sounds a bit cruel, but this group is trying to shut down all commercial fishing in the area in order to save 15 penguins. I get that commercial fishing practices should be more targeted, that a lot of waste occurs, and that can certainly be improved on, but banning all commercial fishing around the entire southeast coast of New Zealand seems like a bit of an extreme position. To casually say that the entire fishing industry could be replaced by eco-tourism is a bit too pat for those who have relied on that industry for generations. Oh well, that's a battle for another day! Off to bed!
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