Tagged red-orange-blue, Rob touched down at 9am yesterday on the spot where he had previously bred.
Department of Conservation ranger Lyndon Perriman said Rob was a 27-year-old male who was also the first bird back for the 2010-11 breeding season. He returned a week earlier last year.
"After spending almost a year at sea and with most birds circumnavigating the southern hemisphere in that time, arriving back to Taiaroa Head within a few days of their previous arrival date often astounds me," Mr Perriman said.
Last season, Rob stayed until Christmas but did not appear to be with any particular bird. He had fathered only three chicks in his life due mostly to bereavement of partners.
Six years passed between the death of his first partner and his breeding attempts with his second partner. Several years later, he was bereaved again but found a third partner after two years.
Unfortunately, she, too, had died and since 2007 Rob had been on his own.
The colony was expecting 20 to 25 nests and egg laying was due to begin in November.
Dunedin City Council events manager Marilyn Anderson said the council would have "loved" to have organised the ringing of the First Church and St Paul's bells, as had become tradition, but no funds were allocated to do so and the other parties involved were also not in a position to pay the churches' fee.
"We're delighted the first albatross has arrived, but we're going to have to pass this year."
The situation would be revisited next year, she said.
