Allan’s Beach – Otago Peninsula

The reason we came here. We were the only ones there. Possibly one of the most beautiful beaches in the world. The tide was out exposing acres of firm pristine grey/white sand.

That was good. Now time for a dry-off and a rest.

There were several sea lions on the beach and a new one would arrive every so often.

Kelp in the shallows

The kelp thrown up by the incoming tide was spectacular and the to and fro motion of kelp in the shallows is always a delight to watch. We spotted three sea lions on the rocks so we kept well clear.

Jewels in the foam

The slight foam at the water’s edge – pushed in by the sea – were like multi-coloured jewels.

I’m tired!

Various sea-lions were asleep in the sand. You could get quite close – but not wise to get too close, they are trying to sleep after all.
We returned to the beach twice the next day. Almost at nightfall we saw what we think was a fur seal enter the water and swim close to the shore doing some flips and coming back out of the water further on.
There was a small group of us on the beach, including a french girl who was a biologist who worked with seals and penguins. She started off home along the track that leads from the beach across the dunes to the field at the back. A short time later she came back having encountered a sea-lion on the track heading towards the beach – they quite often use the dunes to rest in. It was evidently a bit cross at finding someone in the way. We grouped together on the beach and the sea-lion appeared at the track opening and appeared to be heading towards us, although it only went about 5 metres before it flopped down for a rest before getting up again. We divided up and it appeared to head towards the seaward group who then tracked back to where we were. The sea lion continued on its path diagonally towards the sea. It probably just wanted us out of the way, but they are pretty large heavy creatures so best not to take any chances. We live to fight/view sea-lions another day!
This does illustrate that you should steer well clear of these animals for many reasons including not stressing them

Don’t come too close to me!

which was why our view of a group of tourists going up really close to a bull and his female was so upsetting.
It was after this that we saw another sea-lion exit from the water and head up the beach and then across, finally to be re-united with its presumed mate.

Out of the water 1

Out of the water 2 – time for a rest

Out of the water 3

Sea lion reunited with its mate

Lovely pictures.

We did not see any penguins this time. Apparently the yellow-eyed penguin has had a bad couple of years and is in serious decline. We have some pictures of these from a previous visit. There was some evidence of blue penguin (droppings) but again we did not see any. Again we have pictures from a previous visit. Might add these later.