Otage Peninsula: From the world's largest flying bird, the Royal Albatross, to the rarest penguin breed, the yellow-eyed penguin
Plans were made about whether to go to Dunedin, a city in the southeast of the South Island that is somewhat remote. But in the end it was arranged for a day, from the long-distance bus to Dunedin to the time of getting on the bus to leaving, just 25 hours. Although it was a rush, dunedin's trip was also a great memory of seeing two of New Zealand's rare birds, the Royal Albatross and the Yellow-Eyed Penguin. If poorly protected, humans may never see yellow-eyed penguins again in a few decades.
Both birds are hunted on the Otage Peninsula, far from dunedin. Most royal albatrosses and yellow-eyed penguins live on desert islands in the sea away from humans, and the Otage Peninsula is the closest to the city and the easiest place to observe these two species of birds. The pre-booked accommodation is in New Zealand's only ancient castle, Larnach Castle Manor, also on that peninsula. Get off the long bus and go straight to the information center, discuss with a little girl inside for a long time, and finally participate in a wildlife observation tour group ($112), by the way to solve the traffic to the castle.
Otage Peninsula
Otage Peninsula
Otage Peninsula
Start by going to see the albatross.
Albatrosses are widely distributed and have many species, but all species of albatrosses are protected animals, but the degree of rarity varies. New Zealand's albatross, known as the Royal Albatross of the North, has a wingspan of more than 3.5 metres and is the world's largest seabird and flying bird, and it's a delight to watch this giant bird glide overhead. The reserve on the Otage Peninsula is the only nature reserve for the Royal Albatross in the North and one of their breeding grounds, where there are precise statistics on how many eggs are born and how many chicks hatch each year, which is an important scientific basis for the study of albatrosses. Visitors can only observe the albatross nesting grounds in elaborate bunkers, through glass, with strict time limits. The albatrosses here nest in the grass on the slopes along the coast, and I don't see eggs or chicks.
See yellow-eyed penguins and seal sea lions on two beaches and reefs that belong to private land. The habitat of the yellow-eyed penguins on the Otage Peninsula is scattered and hidden, and the number of individual small populations is not large. The yellow-eyed penguin is an endangered species and one of the rarest penguin species in the world, with an estimated total of about 4,000 penguins, and the number of people living in the South Island is estimated to range from more than 200 to 400. The guide said that there were about half a dozen yellow-eyed penguins on the beach, and we saw a total of 7 of them, initially 3 on the beach, then 3 up from the sea, and finally 1 single to run to another meadow. Every day at dusk, they return to land from the sea.
These penguins are so endearing that watching them sway and climb up from the sea, a French tourist can't help but cry out "wow". They need to hobble across the beach and then settle back in the grass on the slope behind the beach. The sea lion seems to be a threat, seeing the sea lion sleeping on the beach slightly raised its head, the 3 penguins who had just come ashore immediately "rolled and crawled" back to the sea, this scene is really a bit awkward, and very cute, until the sea lions are observed to sleep at ease, the penguins carefully continue to go ashore. But the yellow-eyed penguin did not seem to be afraid of people, and the single one walked to a place of about ten meters away from us, and there was no way to go back, and the yellow stripes on the eyes and head were particularly clear.
In addition to the yellow-eyed penguins, you can also see another precious penguin in the Dunedin area, the blue-eyed penguin, which is the smallest enterprise in the world, and the number is a little more than the yellow-eyed penguin, which is easier to see.
Sea lions are the real owners of this beach, and we tourists can also walk more than ten meters away from the sea lions, and the sea lions don't care. The tour guide reminded that it could not be closer, and the closest sea lion was ten meters away. Although they are not aggressive animals, "playfulness", with its 200 kg body, is as dangerous as you "play". And these sea lions are not slow, and the tour guide said that they run on land at a top speed of more than 20 kilometers per hour, which is a bit unexpected. Sea lions are indeed active, often fighting each other, biting and shouting, or chasing and running.
The seals are large and live on a black reef, keeping a distance from the sea lions. The reef is black and the sky is dark, making it a bit difficult to see seals. Seals are much larger than sea lions and are significantly smaller. Compared to sea lions, seals appear lazy.
The bird watching trip also showed the difficulty of protecting yellow-eyed penguins: many of their habitats belong to private land and are greatly affected by human activities.
Larnach Castle: New Zealand's only castle, but a family tragedy
Larnach Castle has a tragic story of a relationship, and its owner, William. In the 19th century, Ranak served as New Zealand's Treasurer, Minister of Railways, Minister of Mines, founder of New Zealand's first refrigerator company and president of Otage First Bank. The castle was built in 1871 by Lanarc for his first wife, the French nobleman Elisabeth. The castle took five years to complete, and then spent more than ten years carefully carving and decorating, which can be described as extremely luxurious.
But what followed was a family tragedy in the castle. Shortly after moving into the castle, Elizabeth died of a difficult childbirth at the age of 38, and Lanak married Elizabeth's sister Mary, but soon Mary also died of an surgical infection at the age of 38. Larnake's third wife is connie, the daughter of a lawyer, and Connie, who is 20 years younger than Lanak, eventually falls in love with Ranak and Elizabeth's young son, which causes Lanak to have a nervous breakdown and commit suicide by drinking bullets.
After Lanak's death, the castle was sold, and it was used as a sanatorium, etc., and eventually became a deserted house. In 1967, the Buck family bought the castle, restored it, and purchased ancient furniture from scattered places to enrich the castle. The castle, still the private property of the Barker family, is still under renovation and the interior is as luxurious as ever for visitors. The castle itself is not large, but the location is good enough to see the sea and land scenery of the Otage Peninsula.
It's still a bit of time back to Dunedin from the Kasbah and it's a bit of time to walk around the city centre. Dunedin has a large number of beautifully decorated Victorian ancient buildings, known for their Scottish style, and their ancient buildings are no less numerous and qualitative than christchurch, but time is limited, so they can only go to the scene. Dunedin's most famous ancient building is the railway station, which was inaugurated in 1906 and is still used by sightseeing trains between Queenstown and Queenstown. The first church was the Presbyterian Church of Scotland, completed in 1873 and magnificent. The long-distance station from Dunedin is located in the octagonal square in the city center, and there are many exquisite ancient buildings around.
Octagonal Plaza
Dunedin railway station
Dunedin railway station
First Church
First Church
Orchid Garden, completed in 2008, is a sister garden to Shanghai Yu Garden
Background: New Zealand, a paradise for rare birds
As an archipelagic country that has long been separated from the mainland, New Zealand has an independent ecosystem, where there were originally no terrestrial mammals, and native mammals in addition to bats are sea lions, seals and other sea animals distributed along the coastline.
New Zealand is a bird paradise, with a variety of unique birds in the territory, originally these birds have almost no natural enemies (except for no mammals, New Zealand does not have snakes), evolved very special habits, but with the advent of humans and the rapid deterioration of the living environment, most of these unique birds are in danger of extinction. Birds are the subject of New Zealand's currency, and each currency in New Zealand displays a unique and rare bird, and all of the banknotes are endangered species.
Kiwi and yellow-eyed penguins on New Zealand currency, headlines free genuine pictures
Headlines free genuine pictures
New Zealand's most well-known and rare bird is the national bird kiwi (kiwi), wingless birds, wingless birds, wingless birds genus, how special it is from this series of taxonomic names can be seen, there are five species of kiwi birds under the wingless bird genus, which is a relict species that cannot find close relatives (its close relatives are extinct elephant birds that once lived in Madagascar). New Zealanders love kiwi, and they call themselves kiwi, supposedly because many New Zealanders have big bellies – similar in size to kiwis. Kiwi fruit is also a name derived from kiwi, and kiwi is very similar to kiwi. Kiwis are nocturnal animals, and it is difficult for the average tourist to see wild kiwis. On our trip to New Zealand, we only saw a living kiwi bird in the Maori village of Rotorua, kept in captivity in a very dim indoor environment, and its movements were very fast and agile, and from the photos, it was a mistake to think that they were fat and stupid.
Headlines free genuine pictures
But there are also cute or even "stupid", such as the owl parrot, called kakapo in Maori. Because there are no natural enemies, this kind of bird that cannot fly will remain stationary when encountering humans or beasts, and it is easy to be attacked or captured. I often see a kind of buzzard in New Zealand, and I will run to the feet of humans without any warning, and I can catch it with my reach, and this kind of buzzard is also easy to be crushed by cars on the road.
Due to its high popularity and adequate conservation measures, the Kiwi is a "vulnerable" species today, with a large total extant population. In contrast, the extinction of owl parrots, yellow-eyed penguins and the like is much more likely, the main threats are habitat loss and hunting of alien species, and the natural enemies of birds include exotic ferrets, cats, dogs and rodents.
Owl Parrot, headline free genuine picture
Owl Parrot, headline free genuine picture
Buzzard
Because of the special ecological environment, today's New Zealand is a very strict country for environmental protection, the prevention of foreign species in the entry inspection is also particularly strict, tourists' luggage is best not to carry any food, so as not to violate the law, for outdoor equipment that may be stained with mud, border inspection is often more stringent.