Day Sixteen: Coffee, cows, steampunk, penguins, sea lions, shags and cave art on the way to Dunedin

Our first stop of the day, for a smoko, at the Wrinkled Ram Cafe::

Next stop was a dairy farm, where our leader Mark's daughter was working. I kept expecting to see Ruth from The Archers pop up, though it was a year ago that she ran away to New Zealand to study their modern dairy farming techniques. Anyway, here is the milking carousel. And yeah, that's what you think it is; farming is a mucky business!

Mark's daughter's dog doesn't mind getting mucky! Here she's chewing on something she shouldn't.

Next stop: Oamaru, the steampunk capital of the world! (Read about it here.) We didn't have much time there so I had to bypass the walking tour (even though Agent Darling offered me a shortened version) as well as the museum, but I took some photos from outside.

I put two dollars into the machine and got my video camera ready... I heard some noises from within and saw a small puff of smoke, but it wasn't until my two minutes were up that I realise I had been meant to stand on a platform and look inside the thing! Oh well, you live and learn...

There is a penguin colony in Oamaru, but we were planning to visit another one near Dunedin.

There was a shag convention on the pier. These are Otago shags.

 

 Big bird

Big moth

We then headed for Penguin Place, a reserve for the Yellow-Eyed Penguin. To get there you must drive several miles down a winding coastal road, and then once you embark on a tour you are taken in jeeps up another winding road, to several paths and hides with some spectacular views of the sea.

It was not the right time of day to view any penguins returning from the sea, but a couple of them were sitting on nests in sheltered boxes. They all have names but I cannot remember who this was!

 Maybe it was Maggie:

 And here's another, not ready for her close-up...

It's difficult to see because of the reflection, but Jim gets around. He has gone from Jess to Sarah, back to Jess and now Maggie.




Rodd, however, prefers the company of men. When he's not loafing.




Flipping me off!

Yes, that's a sleeping New Zealand Sea Lion.

Where the penguins come in:

There was also a large colony of gulls, Red-Billed I think:

We then went on a one-hour wildlife cruise around Taiaroa Head, where we saw a lot of shags.

A mother feeding her chick, who seems to be bigger than she is!

More gulls too, this time Black-Backed.

 Our final stop of the day was to see some cave paintings.

Unfortunately some modern doofuses have added their own marks.

The cliffs nearby: