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Tautuku Peninsula is a rocky headland in
the Catlins The Catlins (sometimes referred to as The Catlins Coast) comprises an area in the southeastern corner of the South Island of New Zealand. The area lies between Balclutha and Invercargill, straddling the boundary between the Otago and Southlan ...
on the south coast of
Otago Otago (, ; mi, Ōtākou ) is a region of New Zealand located in the southern half of the South Island administered by the Otago Regional Council. It has an area of approximately , making it the country's second largest local government reg ...
on the
South Island The South Island, also officially named , is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand in surface area, the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman ...
of
New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
. It is located 25 km (15 mi) east of Waikawa, at the western end of Tautuku Bay. From 1839 to 1846, a
whaling Whaling is the process of hunting of whales for their usable products such as meat and blubber, which can be turned into a type of oil that became increasingly important in the Industrial Revolution. It was practiced as an organized industry ...
station was sited near the peninsula's neck, and a port was later developed for the fishing, flax and timber industries. When these industries declined, the port was closed. Today,
southern right whale The southern right whale (''Eubalaena australis'') is a baleen whale, one of three species classified as right whales belonging to the genus ''Eubalaena''. Southern right whales inhabit oceans south of the Equator, between the latitudes of 20 ...
s are making slow come back and still can be seen around the peninsula occasionally.
New Zealand sea lion The New Zealand sea lion (''Phocarctos hookeri''), once known as Hooker's sea lion, and as or (male) and (female) in Māori, is a species of sea lion that is endemic to New Zealand and primarily breeds on New Zealand's subantarctic Auckland ...
s and
yellow-eyed penguin The yellow-eyed penguin (''Megadyptes antipodes''), known also as hoiho or tarakaka, is a species of penguin endemic to New Zealand. Previously thought closely related to the little penguin (''Eudyptula minor''), molecular research has shown it ...
s (''hoiho'') also can be seen on beaches. Sporadic mammal visitors include
leopard seal The leopard seal (''Hydrurga leptonyx''), also referred to as the sea leopard, is the second largest species of seal in the Antarctic (after the southern elephant seal). Its only natural predator is the orca. It feeds on a wide range of prey incl ...
s. The estuary of the Tautuku River, just north of the peninsula, is inhabited by fernbirds. A short walk leads from Outdoor Education Centre next to the
Southern Scenic Route The Southern Scenic Route is a tourist highway in New Zealand linking Queenstown, Fiordland, Te Anau and the iconic Milford Road to Dunedin via, Riverton, Invercargill and The Catlins. An Australian travel magazine labelled it "one of the ...
through this jointed rush wetland, partly as a boardwalk. There are numerous cribs (holiday cottages) on the peninsula, but these are mainly reached by four-wheel drive or tractor, as no roads reach the peninsula. The only access is via the mouth of the Fleming River, or along Tautuku Beach. A signposted lookout on the side of the Southern Scenic Route road on Florence Hill offers a scenic view south over Tautuku Bay and the Tautuku Peninsula.


References

Headlands of Otago The Catlins Southern Scenic Route Peninsulas of Otago Clutha District Whaling stations in New Zealand {{Otago-geo-stub