A rowdy seal convention in the Catlins

Stretching along the South Island's rugged southeast coast, the Catlins is a wildlife voyeur's wonderland.

The area extends from Nugget Point in Otago to Waipapa Point in Southland, linked by a narrow, winding 126-km coastal road.

The Catlins is New Zealand at its most remote and wild, home to rocky bays, windswept beaches, shoreline caves, fossilized Jurassic trees, waterfalls, estuaries, blowholes and rainforests.

Despite being pillaged over the centuries by Maori mao bird hunters and European whalers, sealers and loggers, an abundance of unique flora, mammals and marine life thrives here.

Nature delivers in spades at blustery Nugget Point where fur seals, elephant seals and sea lions congregate.

Porpoise Bay offers a chance to see blue penguins nesting as well as the rare hector dolphin frolicking in the summer while bringing up baby.

At Roaring Point, yellow-eyed penguins stumble ashore just before sunset, while in the spring, visitors may spot southern right whales migrating along the coast.

The Catlins Coast has few amenities for visitors and its main hub for groceries and information is tiny Owaka.