8. Second Time Lucky

Our camera teacher Paul Donavan took us out into the wilds of New Zealand to film 'real' wildlife. Fur Seals and Penguins were promised.

After an hour's hike with heavy packs, tripods and gear for building hides we made it to Victory beach only to discover that there was no wildlife.
















On our way back along the beach in search of penguins we encountered a lone seal. However, the fact that it was a Leopard Seal, which usually hang out in Antarctic waters and not under the hot sun on New Zealand beaches, was the first clue that all was not well. It paid us little attention as we crowed round to get some footage and when it did stir it barely had the energy to move more than a few meters. I, for one, felt that by filming we were stressing the poor creature and so decided to put my camera away and move off. First time filming and my first ethical dilemma!















That evening, after building a very unstable hide we sat, sardine fashion, in the sand dunes and waited with baited breath for Yellow-eyed Penguins to return to their burrows.



The effort was worth it, and at about 5pm sure enough some very cautious penguins emerged from the waves and ambled up the beach past our hide and into their burrows. The hide however, did not fool them a moment and although they steered well clear of us we did manage to get some shots.





I am now ofically a wildlife documentor!

I would like to thank Julia Kebling and Sarah Cowhey for the beautiful photographs!