Day trip to the Otago Peninsula (finally)

Even though we've been living in New Zealand for over a year, everyday groceries are shockingly expensive here and we haven't really been able to afford any luxuries like leaving town. With Morgan and Josh in town, we were able to borrow a car from our labmate Tsai and split the gas (for an hour and a half of driving, it was about 45 bucks or so to fill back up; that's 30 cents gone every minute - there's a reason Sarah and I won't be buying a car while we're down here!). So, we picked up the car from Tsai, hopped in, and headed out to the Otago Peninsula for a day to go try and see pinnipeds, penguins, and albatross.

We saw some pukekos in a field past Portobello, which is one of my wife's favorite birds - they are really pretty, and a bit awkward in proportion that gives them some real character.

We saw some oystercatchers down at Pilot Beach, which at dusk is a good spot to try and see little blue penguins.

At Pilot beach there was also a nice paradise duck fly by.

A New Zealand fur seal (Arctocephalus forsteri). I had seen these on a previous field trip to Wangaloa.

Some more fur seals at Pilot Beach.

Up the hill at Taiaroa Head, a single cormorant flies out to sea.

A spotted shag (a first for me) flies low over the Pacific.

A spotted shag unsuccessfully tries to land on a vertical face at Taiaroa Head.

These two NZ sea lions (Phocarctos hookeri) battled for about a half hour when we got to Sandfly Bay.

Sea lion combat at the east end of Sandfly Bay.

A lone sea lion emerges from the surf.

The two subadult males continue to fight (they must have raging testosterone levels).

An old adult sea lion growls at a younger male.

The old male had an impressive yawn.

The view east along the harbor just after sunset.

The view west towards Dunedin from the peninsula just after sunset.