Blogs from Oamaru, South Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 8

Penguins! We arrived just in time to visit Dusky Beach to see the rare Yellow-Eyed Penguins arriving home from a hard day's fishing in the sea. We spotted one wash up on the surf and a few more were waiting patiently for their partners in the rocky clifftops, with one penguin right in front of us in the grass! We bumped back up to the harbour in the van and visited the Blue Penguin Colony, which are protected by a conservation team. We sat in a mini stadium overlooking the small bay, which is illuminated by special lights that the penguins can't see and we were instructed not to take any pics or videos as our flashlights could upset them. We sat patiently as the sun set and marvelled at the bull kelp reflecting the floodlights ... read more

Oamaru during the day was a lot more alive then at night. It's an elderly town, quiet, the type of place where the afternoon is best spent outside with a cup of tea, reading a book. Oamaru also apparently has penguins. They only come out in the morning and evening; so I got up at 7:30, but when I walked down to the ocean there were no penguins in sight. I chatted to a man at the beach who told me they had made their trip from land to sea at 6:30. Out of luck, I decided to stick around the town for the day and wait for the penguins to come back home. It's not like I'm in a rush to get anywhere in particular. The town is idealic and uneventful. It seems as ... read more