Allen's Beach

Hey Everybody- These pictures are of Allen's Beach, where Johnny and I went last week.  The beach was just gorgeous, it seemed to go on forever.  Johnny and I climbed around on the rocks which had little rock pools and hidden seal lions.  The sea lions always scare me because they blend in with their surroundings and then they hiss at you as you walk by.  We also had a huge white bird (Johnny's convinced it was an albatross) dive bomb us because we were near her/his nest.  He made awful noises at us that sounded like a propeller.  I thought Johnny was going to get his head taken off by the bird swooping over him.  The weather has been really nice lately, and it was so exciting to be on the beach with the sun shining.  After Allen's Beach we drove up the peninsula and waited until dark for the blue penguins to come out of the ocean.  We got to see around 30 penguins.  They come out of the water in groups of 10 to 15.  Then they climb up the beach and waddle to their nests where they have their partner and chicks waiting for them.  In the picture you can kind of see his blue feathers, and they were only about a foot tall.  The penguins walked only about 4 or 5 feet away from us.  It was really neat, but unfortunately at that point it was to dark to take pictures of them (can't use the flash because it hurts their eyes).  Tomorrow we are taking a trip to Te Anau and Doubtful Sound, where we will hopefully kayak.  We'll let you know how it goes- cheers maegen