The best thing about visiting Taiaroa Head and its popular Royal Albatross Ctr is the scenic drive out the Otago Peninsula. It’s best to do the drive as a loop, taking the shoreline road one way and the “Highcliff Rd” route the other. It takes roughly 45-minutes to drive to Taiaroa from Dunedin, and there’s no gas available on the peninsula.
The end-of-the-road Royal Albatross Centre is a tourist magnet—expect a huge crowd and “sold-out” ranger-led albatross walks to the world-famous breeding area (about $50pp). From the carpark and nearby areas you may be able to see some soaring albatrosses (but honestly they don’t look much different than seagulls when they’re just specks in the sky). The free Albatross Center is worth the visit though—it features interesting displays and videos of all sorts of NZ wildlife. The penguin and seal videos are fabulous (and a great way to occupy a drizzly day). North of the carpark there’s a free view down to a busy Shag breeding colony.
Pilots Bay, underneath the Albatross Ctr, hosts a Blue penguin breeding colony (like Oamaru’s, but FREE here). The penguins waddle ashore every night after darkness descends. Often there will be a gaggle of tourists attempting to see these lil blue buggers as they scurry up the short beach before disappearing into the shrubbery. As neat as this sounds, it’s a bit frustrating because the penguins often wait until just after dark to come ashore. Too dark for photos and flash pix are a no-no. In January they wait until about 10-10:30pm to come ashore. If you do stay late to watch, stay an extra 30 minutes to hear the penguins begin “sounding-off” in their burrows—it’s an eerie cacophony of bizarre screeches.
