By Maree Shogren. We arrived on the South Island via a short 45 min. (and cheap) plane ride from Wellington to Christchurch. Our goal was to drive 5 hours to where we were intending to go on wildlife tours to see the Royal Albatross and the yellow-eyed penguins that just happened to be around at that time of year. On the way there Adam wanted to stop in the town Oamaru because it was supposed to have interesting architecture.
Once in Oamaru we noticed that there was only one street that had
particularly interesting architecture. The street and buildings were built on a boardwalk overlooking the beach in 1882 and all were still original and intact. The British decided this town would make a good port for exporting lamb and beef back to Europe. The first thing you notice about Oamaru when you get out of the car is the overwhelming stench of the place. Apparently blue penguins live under that boardwalk and since penguins eat meat, fish and whatever else they can get their beaks around...the place stunk to high heaven of penguin poo. Luckily for us, the penguins were out feeding when we were there. The locals said they are really loud in the evenings when they come back from sea.
There was some weird stuff to look at.
Atom as drawn into this building like a moth to a flame.
As we started to mosey about looking into shop windows and such, we came to the realization that this was now an artsy, crafty type community. Lots of art galleries, curio shops, bead stores, lambswool being put through the gamut, a whisky brewery (Adam bought some and it had a baby bee in it - we don't think it was meant to be there) and an auditorium. Once a week the town puts on a play about some catastrophic storm they had there in the early 1900's, that killed a bunch of cows. The lady that was telling us about it also gave us a good tip on where to find penguins on the way to Dunedin, so that was helpful.
We tried our best to fit in with the locals. Photography by Carol Edwards.
I happened to notice that there was a photographer who takes those old fashioned pictures. I normally think those pictures are kind of cheesy since you just get dressed up in old clothes and pose in front of a curtain or something, but this was an authentic town from 1882 so I thought it would make a pretty cool souvenir. Adam refused to do it. I convinced him that we would regret it if we didn't get it taken, and we wouldn't be coming back, so we should do it. He finally conceded with the stipulation that the picture be taken outside next to the old timey bicycle and that I pay for it. Go figure. The picture came out really well and I think Adam looks quite dapper in a top hat!
The road to the lighthouse.
So we were back on the road to Dunedin and we were told to stop and look at the giant round rocks along the way. I was expecting Herculean, monolithic boulders so I was a little disappointed to see that yeah, they were as tall as a person and perfectly round, but not nearly as large as I had anticipated in my mind. Maybe I'm just spoiled by the gigantic geologic formations in Alaska? Who knows, but I definitely wasn't impressed. Plus, they wanted $3 just to use the staircase down to the beach. We quickly bolted and went looking for a lighthouse that was to be our landmark for pristine penguin viewing.
Down to the viewing hut.
From the hut we were able to watch penguins emerge from the sea. They seemed exhausted and would pause for several minutes at at time, seemingly to rest, before making their way into the bushes.
Alien flowers.
And that it was! Just down the hill from the lighthouse was a little penguin viewing hut where you could spy on them secretly. When we'd had our fill of spying, we decided to walk along the cliff above the beach and we found that the penguins liked to hang out right there! We were able to get within 5 feet of parents trying to feed their young, who in turn were having to fend off seagulls that were trying to steal the chicks much needed lunch. When we got to Dunedin and paid for the tour to see the penguins...it was nothing compared to what we experienced here. We also got to watch sea lions basking in the sun and tons of little bunnies running around everywhere.
I had never considered the possiblity of penguins hanging around in high grass and bushes. I have been misled by nature documentaries!
Females were distinctly different looking than the males.
Our day traveling to Dunedin was full of adventure and it was a warm, sunny day. The closer we got to our destination, the sky got darker and the wind started to pick up and we were starting to get a dose of why Dunedin is Celtic for Edinburgh and why the Scots felt so at home there.
These are supposed to be the most endangered penguins, and as a result they are all tagged.
A seagull was trying to steal the regurgitated food before it got into the babies mouth.
These sheep had primo pasteur.
