I love the Farewell spit gannet colony as it is unique to the planet. Not only is it the South Islands largest gannet colony it also lies on a couple of sand dunes, surrounded by sea, only a few metres above the normal high tide level. Normally a colony would be on high rocky cliffs well out of danger of the tides.
The Colony started with about 70 pairs in the early 80’s and now has over 3000 adult birds. It’s a perilous location as shown in 1997 when a huge storm crashed over the colony and wiped out most of that years chicks on their dune nests. All is back to normal now and it really is a must see location at the far tip of Farewell spit