Christmas Eve

Following a good night's sleep (finally), we were ready to explore native NZ. Our first quest was to find penguins. Heading towards Otago Peninsula three hours drive from home, we were easily distracted by a castle situated on a bluff. The only castle in New Zealand, the Larnach Castle was built between 1871 and 1885. The grand stone mansion, set in the middle of gardens, has many fine features, including a hanging staircase. Climbing up the narrow stone steps to the top of the tower, we could view the castle grounds as well as the sea far below.

On to the penguins. At Penguin Place, our tour guide regalled us with stories of the Yellow-eyed penguins, the world's rarest species of penguin. These penguins can only been seen on the Otago Peninsula and other isolated east coast areas of Otago and Southland. Walking through camouflaged trenches allowed us to view parents and their babies in their somewhat natural habitat. The penguins are wild and live entirely on their own. Humans have built wooden huts only because the penguins are used to living in forests, which have been since destroyed by loggers. Reforestation has begun to rebuild the natural habitat. We were lucky to see the parents change shifts as one parent comes in from the ocean to watch the babies and the other goes out to find food.

Next ensued a glorious Christmas Eve dinner at "1908", where "reservations are necessary, but you don't really have to have them". The atmosphere was relaxed and friendly. Our tables were decorated with Christmas poppers. By pulling on both ends, a loud snap nearly scared us every time. Inside, we found plastic toy soldiers, meaningless jokes, and paper crowns. We took full advantage of all. The tofu medley, portobello vegetarian stack, tortellini, and Blue Cod caught fresh daily were all elegantly presented and delicious. A shared warm apple and rhubarb pie satisfied our sweet tooth.

Not far away was Friendly Bay a famous location for spotting the Blue Penguins, so we hurried down to the sea. Just at dusk, we saw three penguins creeping out of the surf and hesitantly wobble past the people and on towards the hills where they nest every night. Then, we saw a ripple several meters out in the ocean. As we watched the ripple came steadily closer. It was the most amazing thing to see the ripple become bobbing heads which swiftly became individual penquins as they surfed onto the beach. Despite there only being about 4000 Blue Penguins in the world, December is the best time to view them and we were lucky to see around 75. They come from the ocean in pairs or groups and return to their nests in pairs with their babies. Penguins usually lay two eggs every year. Before they mature at 3 years of age, "teenagers" huddle in groups socializing.