KEY POINTS:
These Aucklanders. They'll pay big money to get something available to southerners every day.
Take the Hunt family, of Epsom, for example.
They happily stumped up with $1800 to get a close-up view of yellow-eyed penguins on the Otago Peninsula yesterday.
That's how much Hils Hunt bid last year at a New Zealand National Parks Conservation Foundation auction to secure the trip south.
But the Hunts reckon they got their money's worth and more.
After a pre-dawn start to the day, they tramped over farm land to the Otapahi Reserve, near Allan's Beach.
There, on a magnificent morning (stunning sunrise, waves crashing, not a breath of wind) - they had front row seats watching one of Otago's biggest attractions, its wildlife, interacting in natural surroundings.
And their guide? None other than All Black and Highlanders hooker and Yellow-Eyed Penguin Trust patron Anton Oliver. All for $1800.
"It's great. Money well spent. The kids just love it," Mr Hunt said.
Oliver has been the trust's patron for about a year, getting involved to raise the trust's profile.
But it was Otago's wildlife which took centre stage yesterday, not his rugby fame.
"It's stunning isn't it ?" Oliver said, as the sun rose over the Pacific Ocean and a group of penguins waddled out towards the sea.
Suddenly their advance was halted by a pair of amorous sea lions who fancied penguin for breakfast.
They charged a trio of penguins, which beat a hasty retreat to the safety of rocks on higher ground.
Soon after the Hunts were on their way for a breakfast in Portobello. Before they return to Auckland on Sunday they will also have done some albatross watching and visited Larnach Castle.
Mr Hunt is a partner in a foreign exchange and risk management company, Tuatara, which is involved in helping tuatara on Great Barrier Island.
He said the wide open spaces of the Otago Peninsula were "great".
"It's just so different to Auckland. You just don't get the traffic."
But Mr Oliver added a note of caution to Mr Hunt.
"Just don't tell everyone up there it's like this.
"We don't want them all down here."
- OTAGO DAILY TIMES
