Team Hubbard had been running pretty hard for the past few days, so we took it a little slower this morning rather than immediately running off on our next adventure. We were also excited to get a better look at our little cottage, which was just across the street from the beach.

Behind our house, sheep were eyeballing us from the hillside. We haven’t had any lamb or mutton on the trip, so I don’t think we were in any danger.

Julie, Lydie, and Cassie decided to go for a walk on the beach, while I stayed home to catch up on work. Plus, these blogs don’t write themselves.

The sunglasses brigade soon returned and reported that the beach was great, despite my absence. Weird. After a quick lunch, I’d reached my max. We’d been sitting still long enough. It was time to get moving. So, we found a short hike nearby on the Otago Peninsula.

We hopped in the car and headed off. After passing through Dunedin, the roads got a little harrowing — steep mud and gravel roads twisting along cliffsides. But soon we parked the car and found the trail.

The trail quickly reached wind-swept pastures overlooking the sea.

After doing our best to avoid stepping in sheep poop (and failing), we climbed over the fence to reach a small observation platform.

The views from the platform were amazing, with the water stunningly clear and blue.

After admiring the scenery for a bit, we headed back to the car, scraped the sheep poop off our boots, and drove on to our next site – the Blue Penguin Pukekura. This small wildlife sanctuary was at the far tip of the peninsula, about 30 minutes away from our hike. The refuge protects the nesting grounds for a colony of blue penguins. To be honest, I didn’t know much about these penguins when we booked the excursion, but seeing penguins in the wild looked like it’d be right up our alley.

We soon reached the wildlife center and checked in. Our tour started with an information session on blue penguins as well as a super interesting presentation on the history of the local Māori people. Better informed, we went back outside and walked towards an observation platform near the the nesting grounds near the water. The penguins don’t come ashore until after sunset, so we still had a few minutes to wait. In the dying light we could see 4 sea lions playing further down the beach.

Soon, we started to see penguins. Our guides told us that the collective noun for penguins changes depending on whether they are in the water or on land. At sea, penguins form a “raft” before coming ashore. There’s safety in numbers. Once on land, the group is called a “waddle” for obvious reasons.

This waddle managed to cross the beach without anyone taking a tumble. They split up when they reached the rocks and regrouped to come up a path near our platform. There were a couple of stumbles along the way, but nobody seemed too bothered by it.

You can hear the calls of other penguins in these videos. In the water, the penguins quack to find each other, while on land they use different calls, kind of a cooing, trilling sound. Oh, and in case you didn’t figure this out on your own, these fat, clumsy little penguins are seriously cute. They are the smallest penguins in the world, standing about 12 inches tall.

We also started seeing penguins who hadn’t been out to sea come out of their nests to see who had come back. One penguin appeared to be anxiously waiting for someone to come home. The penguins can spend days at sea, and the ocean can be a dangerous place. Who knows how long this guy had been waiting…

Our worried little friend would come out of his burrow from time to time, look around, screech a bit to see if anyone would respond, and flap his wings (without effect).

It was also pretty clear to us why these are called “blue” penguins. Because they are blue. #science. The blue color apparently is camouflage. The major predators for these penwings are birds, who hunt from above, and the blue color helps the penlings blend in with the surrounding water.

After about 90 minutes of looking at penguins, we headed back to the car. We were all a bit cold, but we’d had an amazing experience. New Zealand continues to overdeliver on its promises.

-Will