Sandfly Beach

Sandfly Bay lies on the Otago Peninsula on New Zealand’s South Island, not far from the city of Dunedin. This beautiful, wild beach is backed by high dunes.

At the northern end of the beach is a bird watching hide constructed to watch the yellow-eyed penguins that are found in this area. The beach is also a good spot to see sea lions and fur seals.

Curiously, the name of the beach does not in fact come from the small biting insects known as sandfly. The beach’s name is actually from the sand which, given the exposed nature of this coast is often whipped up and has the effect of sand-blasting visitors.