Nugget Point and Roaring Bay; Back to the Catlins

We took a day and went back to see more of the Catlins. 

The main destination this time around was an area called Nugget Point and it's lighthouse.

Sweeping views are accessible only by traversing a narrow road...

With a pretty good drop-off on one side...

The road felt like it just kept going, up and up some more.

Then, it was followed by a trail...with a drop-off. 

If you survived the fall, you could frolic in the surf with these guys. 

In all seriousness, I am a bit afraid of heights. Well, more specifically, I'm afraid of high edges.

It's substantial enough that my dreams last night were saturated with sheer drops.

This view is totally worth every nightmare and panicked grab of spectral children.

See all those dots in the channel? More seals and sea lions. They're everywhere. There are elephant seals here too, but we didn't glimpse any on this trip.

And more playing sea lions. They sure know how to enjoy life when they're not fleeing for it.

The rocks here are formed in such a way that they almost look like the ruins of a giant's castle. If you imagine hard enough, you can picture the ramparts and keep.

Around the curve of Nugget Point is Roaring Bay, a Yellow Eyed Penguin nesting ground.

The endangered Yellow-Eyed Penguin was on our bucket list of things to try to see in New Zealand. Along with the Hector's Dolphins, an Albatross, a wild Orca, and the Aurora Australis.

We knew we were there at the wrong time to see the penguins, but we thought we'd try anyway.

And we got lucky.

Really lucky. At first, we weren't even sure if it was a duck or a penguin. (blown up pic, so not the best quality)

But then he hopped out of the water, waddled on over, looked up, and then wandered off into the long grass and became invisible. Two bucket items down (Hector's Dolphins and Yellow-Eyed Penguins), three to go, though I'm pretty certain that list is going to get longer and longer.