Just beyond the Kaikoura Peninsula lies a dramatic, 1200-metre deep canyon supplying nutrient-rich food to a bevy of hungry animals above and underwater. The always-playful Dusky Dolphins, New Zealand Fur Seals, and Red-Billed Gulls take advantage of this bounty at an especially important time of year. It’s breeding season, and thousands of Red-Billed Gulls form the largest colony in the South Island. Duskies mate, too, but for fun as well as reproduction. And a Fur Seal finds a magic place while his mother is out at sea.

Our Big Blue Backyard: Kaikoura shows the playful and perilous side of this neighborhood — from rock pools to deep in the underwater canyon, to the Gull mothers who form an unlikely bond to protect their family unit.