We went over the mountains to Haast on the west coast to try to find some penguins…

After trekking around loads of beaches and through the rainforests, we saw a bunch of penguin signposts and info boards but not a single damn penguin, but it was good fun anyway…

The west coast of the south island has this incredible ancient weathered feel, with massive lush rain forests catching all the rain that falls as snow on our side of the mountains, and miles and miles of empty beaches with huge pounding surf and far too many sand flys.

I’m on a proper mission to see penguins now…stay tuned.

Wanaka Beach at sunset

We hired a kayak and paddled out to an island in the middle of Lake Wanaka called Ruby Island.