Epic Travel → Asia & the South Pacific → New Zealand → The Catlins → Curio Bay

♦ Intrepid Top Pick!

Location: Southern tip of the South Island, New Zealand

Time Required: 1-3 hours (depending on how long you wait around for the penguin show)

Red Tape/Notes: If you’re coming for the penguins, you’ll want to show up in the late afternoon, since penguin viewing is best from around 6-8pm.

What’s Nearby?: Cathedral Caves, McLean Falls, Waipapa Point Lighthouse

Curio Bay is probably the main reason many people come to the Catlins. It has two well-known “attractions”: the petrified forest that makes up its large tidal shelf, and the colony of yellow-eyed penguins nesting on its shores. The petrified forest consists of numerous petrified stumps and logs lying at angles amongst the stumps. You can wander amongst them any time except high tide, and you’ll likely see all kinds of local wildlife here.

Meanwhile, the penguin viewing is better than anywhere else I’ve seen. If you’re planning on coming to the Catlins, you can probably skip the other penguin viewing spots on the east coast (at least for yellow-eyed penguins) because they’re going to seem super lame compared to this place. The penguins appear to be fairly used to human presence, because they just hop out of the water, waddle around on the tidal shelf for a bit (maybe they like the petrified forest), put on a show so you can photograph them, and when wander off to their nests. You’re not confined to a hide, so you can take an up-front seat somewhere on a petrified stump and just wait for them to appear. They’ll show up around 6-8pm.

If you’re camping while you’re here, there is also an excellent campsite. We got a beautiful spot on a cliff overlooking the ocean, with no one in sight. It was a tad bit windy, but the view was more than worth it. Also, no sand flies! Yay!

Epic Travel → Asia & the South Pacific → New Zealand → The Catlins → Curio Bay