Yellow Eyed Penquins at last!

We were slow leaving Hillview Camp this morning after a chat with Kevin the owner before heading onto our next stopover at the NZMCA camp at Niagara. Don't laugh the falls are only a few inches high, someone's idea of a joke.

Looking down from Florence Hill onto Tautuku Beach.Not much show of renovating this! Old house left to die.NZMCA camp Niagara.Now where are they, somebody's idea of a joke.

Our plan was to view the falls after setting up and continue onto Curio Bay later in the afternoon to see if we could spot any wildlife. After that we had some Devonshire Teas that I had made the day before to try out my scone dough.  They disappeared rather quickly and well worth making some more.  Just need to remember to heat the oven tray first before placing the scones on it.

Devonshire tea afternoon.

There are some beautiful views along this rugged coastline as well as some lovely beaches. Robin had wanted to see the Petrified Forest at Curio Bay so we went down onto the beach and were all amazed. Fossilized trees of what looked like Kauri and Matai lying on the beach, remnants of over 180 million years ago.  If you were not there you would assume that these were trees that had fallen and still looking like new.

Petrified Forest, Curio Bay.Petrified trees everywhere, Curio Bay.Petrified tree trunk.

We all decided to return to camp and come back at dusk to see if we could spot any Yellow Eyed Penguins. We had decided Fish and Chips would be nice but were unable to find any.  Always a problem when you are off the beaten track and kilometres from anywhere.

Seven thirty came and we were off again back to the beach to have another look.  We were lucky to get a car park with all the people on the beach, all armed with cameras. The ladies decided to stand on the new steps that have recently been built and look down onto the beach, hoping to get a birds eye view of any penguin's coming in from the sea.

We were lucky enough to spot 4 in total, the public must have read the signs before getting on the beach to keep back and not block the way up the beach for the penguins. Why do people take no notice of the signs.  “Keep back from the Penguins” it said and keep at least 2 car lengths away.  Do people do that? Not on your nelly, all wanting to get up close and get their photographs.  One tourist was yelled at by several people to get away from the bushes where the penguins were nesting and Robin went down on the beach to move some people when it was obvious one of the penguins was having trouble making its way home.

Yellow Eyed Penguin. The only photo we managed at dusk.

With the men on the beach with their cameras and us girls with binoculars from above we all managed to get a wonderful view. Between the men and all their photos they took, there were really only a couple that were worth keeping. At least we were successful in viewing them at last.