Critters everywhere!

A sheep who was curiously watching us as we walked back up the hill from the beach.

Hooker seals taking a break from their wrestling. I took this from a ledge just above the beach, safe spot but very close to them. They didn't pay us much attention.

Little yellow eyed penguin heading past us to his/her nest.

Another cute one who waddled along, looked like a little old man.

I arrived in Dunedin after Queenstown and decided to go on a Wildlife Tour as I really wanted to see the yellow eyed penguins. After touring around and looking at all types of birds including the Albatross (it's amazing how many NZ has especially after being in SE Asia and hardly seeing any!) we headed to a farmers property alongside the ocean where the tour company had special access to and built an area just for the penguins to nest.
Here we hiked down the steep hills to first see the yellow eyed penguins who were so adorable! We watched them keeping a distance of about 15 feet or more and I couldn't stop laughing at one little one who was frantically trying to get out of the ocean. As he glided in on his tummy he would try to quickly get up and then waddle as fast as he could to get out of the water before another wave came crashing in forcing him to fall flat on his belly again. Poor little guy did this about 3 times before he got safely up onto the beach. Then it's the season for them to find their mates and we watched them flirting and calling each other and saying hello by standing feet together with their heads looking up in the air. Not sure why they think this is a way to attract someone it looks as though they are ignoring the other with their nose in the air but hey whatever works I guess!
Then we wandered further down the beach to find the Hooker Seals, they are larger than the Fur Seals and all of them where males who were on 'holidays' as they don't take any part of rearing their babies. They leave the mothers and babies alone until it's time to mate again. They just sat on the beach and were constantly fighting and picking on each other, some life huh?!
Further down the beach we saw more penguins coming out of the ocean and going up to their nests in the bushes or meeting a 'mate'.
Then up the humongous hill and down the other side (no one told us there was going to be hiking straight up some of the steepest hills I've seen here!) to see the Fur Seals who were just coming in with their baby pups. We watched them romp around and play and make all kinds of noise, no wonder the males leave..... It was too dark to take pictures of them as we were up above on a cliff and watching them below.
They are very environmentally aware and take special care not allowing us to get too close to the animals which is good. The farmer has been very co-operative in working with this company and allowing them to build a fenced in area for the penguins to nest so other animals like the seals can't get to them.