Blue Penguins

We set off from Wanaka at about 9.30, another clear blue sky day with a bit of frost. We headed across the Lindis pass and stopped at the summit for a quick leg stretch and a photo. The Lindis pass was not as spectacular as some of the others, the scenery was more rolling and less snow covered. Probably harsh if you saw it first before say Milford Sound it would seem more impressive I'm sure. At Omarama we turned right towards Oamaru and stopped for a coffee, pies and toasties. The road from here followed the river to the coast and was pretty flat and largely straight - very easy to drive with the cruise control set to 100km/h. We passed a few damns on the river with hydroelectric power stations. About half an hour before Oamaru we stopped at Maori Rock Carvings. A short walk to some cliffs that looked like sandstone and we could jusy about make out some old Maori drawings on what would have been cave shelter walls. They were very faint but the guide boards showed what was there when they were fully visible, though some stone areas had been taken away to museums. The kids were shocked that there was graffiti on and around the carvings, presumably from a few years back as they were fenced off now.

We pressed on to Oamaru and went straight to the Blue Penguin Colony and booked our tickets for the evening tour to watch them come ashore. We drove back a little way towards the town and parked up on the harbour side. We got an ice cream from the Penguin's Rest - raspberry for Ed. Kiwi fruit for me (I thought it tasted a bit like rhubarb We walked through the old town - lots of buildings built from the local stone, unusual for New Zealand where most buildings we had seen so far were wood construction. We bought some fudge, a stone painted as a penguin and a small, cuddly panda that looked lonely! After another coffee the kids went to the steampunk playground while I drove to our motel to pick up the key. The owner was a really friendly kiwi lady who used to live in Broomfield Road in Clapham! She gave me lots of tips about the local area.

We had been told by the Blue Penguin lady who served us that we could drive up the coast a little and after about 3.30pm we might see some yellow eyed penguins. However the kids were having such fun in the playground (playing with a girl from Perth called Emily and some other kids on a big hamster wheel, zipline and slide, which Ed got too scared to come down) that we thought we'd stray there and head to the Blue Penguins just before 5. There were other places up the coast tomorrow where we should be able to see the yellow eyed penguins.

We got to the penguins at 5 after taking some photos of the "Penguin Crossing" signs. Doors opened about 5.15 and we took our spot in the premium grandstand, closer to the penguins when they got to the top of the beach. Commentary started at about 5.30 and gave us some info on the penguins. The two fur seals we could see on the rocks ate fish not seals we were told. Th penguins assemble about 500m offshore and swim in in groups. The first was announced as coming in just after 6 and after a few minutes we spotted movement on the beach and could se some penguins standing still with their wings out - they do this to cool down apparently. Then they came up the beach and assembled in a big group about half way down and after a minute or two got the courage to head up. They ran surprisingly quickly through two channels in the fence and then too refuge under the raised walkway beyond. A couple of minutes later they popped out again and headed off to their burrows. They waddled with bodies almost horizontal to the ground rather than vertical like you would expect. Their were 21 penguins in this group. A few minutes later a second group followed a similar routine, this time with 5 or so. In between we had been watching a lone penguin on the far side of the rocks who didn't seem to want to come up on his own. A third group also came in and in total 48 penguins came up - the most so fat this winter season. We then saw three penguins huddled ina group a third of the way up the rocks. We watched them for a while but they seemed in no hurry to go anyway so we left for food ourselves, happy with the numbers we'd seen - a month or so ago for 6 weeks there had been none or 1 or 2 ashore due to stormy weather so 48 was brilliant to see.

Food purchased from the supermarket and back to our room to eat.Read more