Sunny morning. We cancelled plans to get cellphones. Who needs phones, really? And who knew when the weather would turn! Weather...a whole post about that later!
We jumped in the car, drove 20 minutes out to the peninsula, and started our first attempt at finding penguins.
A Kiwi friend told us that we could hike down to Boulder Beach, off of Paradise Track, and see some Yellow-eyed penguins. Not too far, he said. Maybe 800 meters?
The peninsula, as you can see in these pictures, is stunningly beautiful on a fine day. It reminded us of Big Sur back home in California. With sheep, of course.
We got to the beginning of the track, and sadly, the sign said that the beach was closed due to Penguin breeding season... Never mind. We pushed on. Who knew what was ahead when we had not been there before!
The trail went down steeply. Beautiful New Zealand birds sang. We met a few sheep along the way. But mostly, it was the view of the hills, the meadows, the ocean in front.
It was longer than 800 meters...and it was really all downhill (which means back uphill). But sooner than later, we did get closer to the beach. There was another 'beach closed' sign. So, we turned around, hiked back up hill, determined to have our second attempt be more successful.
Penguins or not, we had a wonderful hike this morning. That's success in itself, if you asked me. We were also proud of our children who managed a relatively difficult hike for kids with minimal whining!
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