04 Dec 2017

A Close Encounter With Sea Lions On Enderby Island

We awoke this morning to a wet, low-cloud day that dampened everything but our spirits, but any day spent on Enderby Island is, without a shadow of a doubt, a spectacular day.

Our jaunts took us in several different directions around and across the island; seeing everything worth seeing in the process. Some chose to do a longer walk, near-circumnavigating Enderby, reaching the rocky eastern coast and bringing themselves home via the tricky tussocks.

Along the way they saw Red-crowned Parakeets, Auckland Snipe, Auckland Dotterel and a whole colony of Auckland Shags to name but a few. Another group opted to take a shorter stroll across the island on the boardwalk and around a bog, seeing everything the others saw and more including several overly-friendly Yellow-eyed Penguins, a wayward Pacific Golden Plover and a lone, adorable Southern Elephant Seal weaner.

Perhaps the ‘highlight’ of the day though was a very close encounter with two Hooker’s Sea Lions that made themselves boisterously at home within our group of resting hikers.

Tonight we leave for Macquarie Island, one of the most exciting stretches of ocean in the world.