Canterbury and Otago
the cathedral in Christchurch
A very pleasant city with a small river running through the center and lots of open space
from the edge of the Canterbury plains towards the ocean
Akaroa
Otago Peninsula near Dunedin
a true NZ treasure. Dunedin is the best city in the country and it so near so many amazing things to do
Otago Peninsula
Royal Albatross nest. You can come to this blind and watch the nesting birds. Often pretty boring... like incubation behavior, not much happens. But when you see a bird come in or take off, a serious highlight. Those 11' wings are tremendously helpful to catch dynamic currents of waves but they suck for a smooth landing. Lots of ass-over-teekettle landings. Taking off consists of waddling to edge (and these are some seriously ungainly birds on land), opening your wings to catch a breeze and then jumping off.
About to enter the yellow-eyed penguin trenches
from the trenches you can see the yellow-eyeds nest.
A pair of yellow-eyed make their way up to their nests. This is another highlight. You can see the birds swimming in the surf getting their nerve up and then they make a break for it. They go from the smooth powerful grace of being in the water to a slow short-legged waddle up the sand
Sunset near the Albatross center
Perhaps my wildlife highlight of the whole trip (and that's saying something). We went back to the albatross center beach for sunset and unexpectedly, there were about 10 adult royal albatross doing circles in flight around the center. They came by slow and strong with hardly a wing flap, just gliding without losing much elevation. As the sun set and the light changed, it was magic.
Nugget Point south of Dunedin. Hoping to see Elephant Seal but no luck. Lots of little blue penguins though.

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