Haast, End of The Road and Penguins (Nov 8-9)

Monro Beach

Now south of the Glaciers, on Monday morning we were in the home stretch of our West Coast tour. Our first major stop was at Monro Beach for a 40 minute walk through the bush to the ocean. We had several sources report that this was the best place to see Fiordland Crested Penguins, but we only saw a sweet beach edged with rocky outcroppings. We began discussing whether we should hike down again late in the day to try to see penguins at this northern-most nesting location. On the way out, we spoke briefly with a whitebaiter who proudly showed us his catch.

We drove on down to Haast, stopping at lookouts along the way. With limited options in tiny Haast, we checked into a forgettable motel, ate a quick lunch, then watched a film at the large Haast Visitor Center. The center's employees didn't seem to know much about Fiordland Cresteds at Monro Beach and suggested that the rare birds' comings and goings were random throughout the day, rather than more common at dusk. We were dubious, not because we're penguin experts, but we did understand that penguins nest on land, this was nesting season, and every other penguin encounter we'd had involved the penguins coming ashore in the evening to feed their chicks. But maybe the Fiordlands were different. We continued to discuss a second 90 minute hike in a day to Monro Beach to try to see them at dusk.




Click here for larger images with captions.

Farthest south we could go on the west coast

We continued down to the fishing village of Jackson's Bay, marking the southern end of the West Coast Highway, or The End of The Road. Penguins could also be seen on Jackson's Bay road and the road signs reminded us to drive with care, but again we didn't spot any penguins. Heading north, a birding stop at the Hapuka Estuary on the way was unproductive.

Decision time -- should we go back up to Monro Beach for another 90 minute walk at dusk, in spite of the visitor center's discouraging words? Why not! We probably won't be back this way again for a long time, if ever, and all we had to lose was a little sleep. Headlamps to walk back in the dark and sandfly protection ready, off we went.

Fiordland Crested Penguin coming ashore

When we got to the beach in the beautiful evening light we met another couple leaving who had had just seen 3-4 Fiordlands! We thought to ourselves, "How could you lose count with such a small number?" We didn't know whether to be excited or discouraged by their success. Maybe all the penguins were already tucked into their burrows for the night? Or just maybe more would come. We walked toward the north end of the beach near where we had scrambled around on rocks earlier in the day and suddenly Mike saw it -- a little Fiordland Crested in the surf coming in after a long day fishing at sea.

More followed, waddling in and then hopping unbelievably upward with hunched backs and big feet, quite an accomplishment for animals with flippers for arms. As they approached, squawking from the burrows in the steep bushy hillside increased. Then others appeared from the burrows and started coming down at this parental shift change. So many were coming and going, disappearing behind the rocks from time to time, that we couldn't get an exact count, but we are confident that we saw at least a dozen individual penguins in the 45 minute period we observed. And we were the only two people on the entire beach to watch this amazing show! Excellent! We were careful to be quiet and still, and remained mostly hidden behind rocks while always far exceeding the recommended 3 meter distance from the two foot tall birds with the yellow feathered flair above their eyes. Not wanting to cause the birds stress, we finally pulled ourselves away from the scene. Exhilarated, we talked about our fantastic viewing experience all the way up the dark trail.

Gates of Haast

Tuesday morning we drove the fantastic Haast Highway, stopping to view Roaring Billy Falls, Fantail Falls, Thunder Creek Falls, and the Gates of Haast and bridge over the Haast River. We hadn't allowed time to do any of the other hikes along this stunning route, but would definitely do so next time.

The road continues down to Queenstown, the subject of our next entry.