February 15, 2026
It was mostly cloudy when we checked out of the AirBnb in Dunedin to travel south to Curio Bay. We enjoyed our stay at the AirBnb: it had a wonderful view outside and was very quiet and private.
We stopped at a PAK 'n SAVE supermarket on the outskirts of Dunedin to stock up on groceries for the next few days and then filled up on gas. Then we drove south into the Catlins area. We had driven this route twice before so had already seen most of the major scenic areas. Today we made a few stops at places we had not been before.
Our first stop was Papatowai. I hiked a short nature trail: Shank's Bush. It was a short walk through the rain forest and viewed a small estuary.
At a second stop in Papatowai, I hiked to Picnic Point. This was another easy walk through an old growth rain forest that led to a small beach where the Tahakopa River empties into Tahakopa Bay. There were some nice views of the bay.
We drove on to stop at a couple of nice lookouts: Skeleton Point and Florence Hill, which was one of my favorites from the trip in 2019.
Our next stop was the Lake Wilkie Track. This was a stop that we had missed doing inn previous trips due to time constraints. It's a very short hike to a view of Lake Wilkie.
We arrived at Curio Bay and checked into our accommodation for the next two nights: the Cloud 9 vacation rental. We had stayed here before in 2019 and loved it. It has sweeping views of Porpoise Bay from the kitchen, living room, and bedroom. It is also the place where little blue penguins nest underneath the house, and we heard their loud calls in the middle of the night in 2023. We were hoping to hear them and possibly see them again.
We drove up the road to the visitor center to ask about penguin sightings. In 2019 we saw one hoiho penguin at Curio Bay: he put in a regular appearance almost daily just before dusk as he waddled in from the ocean, across the beach and to his nest in the bush. We did not see the penguin in 2023. This year there had been many sightings: the guest book inside our rental house mentioned sightings just a few days ago. The lady at the desk advised us to wait for the penguin between 7 and 8 pm.
We drove back to the house and fixed dinner: sweet and sour chicken and rice. , We enjoyed the views from the living room until it was time to drive back to try to see the penguin.
Our efforts to see the penguin were unsuccessful. We waited for two hours until 9pm, and the only sightings were a few birds. The weather had deteriorated, and it was cold, damp and windy.
We drove back to the house and started a fire. The heat from the stove kept us nice and warm. We waited for the little blue penguin to appear, but we did not see or hear anything before we went to bed for the night.