Our first stop was Larnach Castle! Which is the only castle in New Zealand and after weaving 5km up a very steep hill we found this castle with a 360 view of Otago. It was built in 1871 and took 3 years to build the exterior and another 12 to finish the interior. Unfortunately we are not allowed to take photos of the interior but we did climb all the way up to the rooftop and that's where we are in the last photo!
After leaving the castle due to weather, Mother Nature decided to torrentially downpore on us while we tried to visit the gardens around the castle.
The next stop on our drive around the island, was the Taiaroa Head which is the most Northern point on the Peninsula. There we stopped by the Royal Albatross Centre and took a look around.
We drove a little further up the hill trying to get to Penguin Beach, which apparently is only accessible by ATV type vehicles, so we booked ourselves on the Fur Seal and Penguin Tour. They even gave us these lovely green jackets so we would blend in. Then we proceeded to get into a 8-wheeler ATV who our guide Rick informed us was made in Canada.
From there we went to lookout point, it would have been an amazing view but instead we were pelted with rain because at the exact moment of arriving to the top of the hill we became surrounded by a rain cloud.
We then made our way down to the ocean where we arrived at Penguin Beach and say a small nesting Blue Penguin and a large standing Yellow-Eyed Penguin (which is the rarest in the world).
This is the beach they call home, it is completely untouched by humans. That's hard to find these days!
We then got back in the ATV and did some more off roading till we reached a Fur Seal Nursery, where the young 5 week old pups were swimming and playing away. We only took about 50 photo's of them so I'll try and post the best ones, the cuteness factor could not be captured on film but there were many oooo's and aaa's and definitely some awwww's.
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