Oamaru and The Penguins

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Oamaru and the Penguins Tuesday 16th December 2008

Oamaru, on the south east coast of the South Island, between Dunedin and Christchurch, is a most surprising town. It was once, in the mid 19th century, the largest and richest town in New Zealand, until, in 1868, a huge storm destroyed three cargo ships in one night and the town’s fortunes went down with the vessels. What was left behind, was a small town full of large Victorian civic buildings, a testament to its prior wealth and pride; built of local white stone, these grand banks, council offices and wharfs have been lovingly preserved and restored so that the “historic district” of the town is a joy to wander around. Throughout the 20th century, the town grew again but by then had lost its commercial importance to Dunedin and Christchurch.

The town’s greatest treasure, however, is not in its grand buildings but its penguin colonies.
The Yellow-eyed Penguin, unique to New Zealand, is only found on the south-east coast of the South Island, on Stewart Island, and the sub-Antarctic islands of Auckland and Campbell. In a small sandy bay south of the town, there is a small colony. By the late 1980’s these penguins faced extinction due to clearance of the cool coastal forest where they nested and ferrets and stoats (introduced by early settlers) that killed and ate their chicks. Today, from a low of about 150 breeding pairs, their numbers are slowly increasing, thanks to the work of a trust and conservation programme set up in 1987. One needs to respect simple rules to see these rare birds, which includes sitting or standing in cold hides on the windy cliff-top and not going on to the beach where the penguins come ashore. In daylight it is possible, with due care, to photograph the penguins, so long as a flash isn’t used, which can damage their eyes and also scare them back in to the sea and away from their nests, and by keeping quiet at all times. Once dusk starts to fall no photography is desirable because even the glint of a lens can disturb them. We saw five penguins in the early evening as they came ashore and up on to the cliffs and managed to get a few photos of one of them. It was a special experience, having never seen wild penguins before.

Leaving the Yellow-eyed for the night, we drove back in to town to the Blue Penguin colony, which is very close to the harbour. The Blues are unique to New Zealand and parts of eastern Australia (in Oz they are called Fairy Penguins). These little guys are tiny, the smallest of the eighteen penguin species worldwide; they stand just about 25 centimetres tall, have deep blue backs and snowy white chests. They are very timid and so they come ashore later than the larger yellow-eyed penguins, when they will be less-easily spotted by predators. They leave the nests, like little rock burrows, at dawn and return at dusk. We got there about 8 p.m. and spent two hours watching about 150 of them come ashore and make their way to the burrows and their waiting chicks who were noisily crying out for their food, which the adults regurgitate down their throats each evening. So these little guys spend all day out in the Pacific, swim about 25 kilometres daily, dive over a thousand times feeding, then fight the surf to get back on the rocks and home. It is an amazing site to watch them do this; tough little things, just when they look like they have succumbed to the crashing surf; they pop back up, shake their feathers then waddle up the rocky slope. They spend the day out in the ocean fishing alone but as dusk falls they gather out in the sea in “rafts’ and come ashore in groups of about 20 or 30; they feel safer that way.

To see the Blue Penguins, strict rules are necessary for their survival. Visitors must sit quietly in a tiered large viewing hide, close to the burrows and all cameras, mobile phones and videos are prohibited. These little guys are very susceptible to eye damage due to any flash, and if scared will go back in to the ocean and the chicks will go hungry. There were a lot of people viewing tonight and all but one group of Japanese tourists obeyed these rules. As we left the car park just after 10 p.m., these people pulled their car over to the side of the road and at close quarters, took flash photos of a small group of penguin trying to cross the narrow road to their burrows in the cliffs. We could do nothing about it in a queue of cars and pedestrians walking back to hotels and hostels in the town; hopefully someone else did. If you ever see a photo of a Blue Penguin, at night, in a travel blog, then do as we shall. Send a scathing email to the stupid tourist who believes that his holiday snaps are worth more than the survival of a species. If you visit Oamaru, then visit the penguins; tourist contributions can help the work of the trust and protect these wonderful birds.

It was a special evening despite the freezing cold weather. Love New Zealand, but must say, we are looking forward to some Australian sunshine; it really is a very cold summer here and we have been wearing jeans and fleeces for weeks!

Friday 19th December 2008

After Oamaru we spent one night in Geraldine and the next in Rakaia, close to one of the world’s greatest salmon rivers, and today we arrived in Christchurch. We delivered our camper back to the rental company, having travelled 3,732 kilometres over the last four weeks, and checked in to a hostel right in the city centre by the River Avon and Cathedral Square. Chilling out now in the hostel and tomorrow we’ll start to explore the city.

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Photos

Yellow-eyed Penguin
Just ashore after a day's ocean fishing

Penguin on the cliffs
Close-up penguin experience!

Oamaru
Government building and war memorial

Victorian civic pride!
City banks

Old wharfs
now galleries and craft workshops

Rakaia
Rakaia River, famous for specimen salmon, great camping spot

Farewell little Tui campervan!
Last campsite, our home for the last four weeks and 3,732 kilometres