Oamaru & Dunedin

The next major city we were going to stop at was Dunedin. However we had heard that Oamaru was a good stop to see some wildlife and in particular see a penguin colony. Leaving Christchurch we travelled south down the east coast for about 3 hours before we arrived in Oamaru. We were staying in a small campsite right on the coast with backdrop of the Southern Alps. We were told by the campsite owner that there were two colonies of penguins that inhabited the area; The Little Blue Penguins and The Yellow Eyed Penguins. We learnt that the Yellow Eyed penguins are in fact one of the rarest form of penguin on the planet.  On our first night we went to the area of land where we were told we could see the Little Blue Penguins. On arriving we found out that a charity had set up a lookout and a small fee was charged to the public to go in and watch them. We were sadly too late to pay and watch as they had already started to arrive. We decided to go up on to the cliffs to see if we could see any of the Yellow Eyed penguins. Knowing that our luck with seeing wildlife had not been the best so far, we were very surprised to see two of them just under the viewing platform. Apparently to see one in the cliffs is lucky so to see to we felt really privileged.

The following day we went and had a walk around the small Victorian town which was very quaint. We did a little bit of research and found that the best time to see the Yellow Eyed penguins was just before sunset. So we went back to the cliffs and waited, our luck was in and we watched several penguins make their way from the sea, waddling to the cliffs. We were also lucky enough to see some sea lions and seals. From here we made our way to the Blue Penguin charity look out.  We paid our money and took a place in the lookout which was more of a small stadium. As it was winter the penguin numbers usually decline and we were told to expect to see between 30 and 50 Baby Blue’s come out of the sea. Yet again luck was on our side as the researchers counted over 140 make the journey from the sea to their nest, we were amazed. Unfortunately we were unable to take any photos as the flash effects the penguins eye site and the charity are very strict on enforcing the no photography rule, so you will have to take our word for it; these penguins were adorable. 

Yellow Eyed Penguin

Our first impression of Dunedin was that it was such a student town. It is home to Otego University and the city is therefore littered with bars and pubs offering discounted drinks and eats; we felt right at home. Our campsite was a next to a stream which we followed one evening to find glow worms sparkling in the bushes. It was a lovely unexpected treat as they glitter looking very special. We spent our first full day exploring what Dunedin had to offer, we took a trip to the shopping centre, the botanical gardens and to the Forsyth Barr rugby stadium which Jonny was most impressed with.

The following day it was time to do something we were both very excited about, a tour of the Cadburys Chocolate Factory. We were treated with many samples which went down a treat. Of course we are bias but decided it is not as good as the Birmingham factory back home. 

We had a lovely time in both places and before we knew it we were moving on.