Penguin alarm clock at 4am!

Malcolm's Winter Sunday Racing sailing season has started again this month so we are still packing in away trips every other weekend. After a lovely dinner party with 6 friends on the Friday evening, we decided to pop out to the East Cape again to stay at the quirky backpackers we saw when we went out there last year.

The Maraehako hostel really looks as if it has been put together with driftwood and old sailing rope but is a wonderful place for a break away from everything (no wifi etc!!) Maraehako backpackers.

Our room was on the ground floor behind where Malcolm is sitting, we were told that small Blue Penguins often came out after dark to 'roost' at night in caves at the back of the beach or in the log piles of the huts and then went back to sea before dawn. We did see one penguin at dusk in it's cave then at 4am we were both woken by very loud penguin calls as they gathered together before heading back out to sea! perhaps next time we might get up to see them too!

In the evening we had a lovely fire in this patio area and just listened to the noises of the sea and the night and watched the blazing Milky Way - what a privilege.