by Magda D. Healey

Created on: January 07, 2011

Otago peninsula, a small finger of post-volcanic land hugging Dunedin and forming the Otago harbour, is only half an hour away drive from the town, but is a stunning gem of scenic landscape teeming with wildlife. Hills are covered in green pastures, the coast cut by many coves and inlets with both rocky cliffs and sandy beaches. The peninsula is known for breeding sites for Yellow Eyed and Little Blue penguins, Royal Albatros; fur seals and sea lions.

It's a scenic drive, and enhanced by the beauty of the sunny day; it's spring in New Zealand, and the hills are covered in fresh, green grass, the lambs are out en force and the landscape we see is an archetypal rural idyll, an Arcadia down-under: rolling hills gently sloping towards the waters of the Otago Harbour, small cottages gleaming white in the sun, the narrow road winding around the coast.

Our first stop (that is, a non-photo stop) is at the Portobello Marine Laboratory, also known as University of Otago aquarium, a serious marine research centre (the oldest in Oceania), which also has a small aquarium and education centre. The children enjoy looking at the tanks full of local water creatures, some of them possible to touch, and we all have a packed lunch at the terrace, in a warm sun.

After the aquarium we drive to Taiaroa Head, the end point of the peninsula and a home to the only breeding colony of Royal Albatross on a mainland (if New Zealand can be considered mainland). The visitors' centre is open and informative, but the actual viewing of the nesting colony is by an expensive tour: the birds' peace is protected and the entry is restricted, with the eligibility determined by willingness to pay – the tour costs 45 NZD (approximately 23 GBP) per person, and is a shining example of the way that Kiwis package-sell their natural assets via a tourist industry that is as full of hubris as it is of genuine interest and wonder. The adult albatrosses can be occasionally seen flying past the Taiaroa Head, the huge wingspan impressive, but still very much like giant seagulls which is what they really are.

On the cliffs, colonies of Spotted Shags, and below, in the blue-green water under the viewing decks, huge clumps of seaweed, tumbling and churning in the waves: a chaotic and yet mesmerising show.

From Taiaroa Head we take side-roads and dirt tracks that lead us on the ocean side of the Otago Peninsula, much wilder, less populated, where deep inlets cut into the land and high cliffs fall into the roaring

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