28.11.2017: Observation of a little penguin colony

After breakfast, it's time to pack our bags again and hit the highway.

Our drive takes us first along a deep blue lake sparkling in the sun until we reach a dam, where we stop for a quick photo.

Shortly after, we pass the small town of Kurow, where I noted a photo stop at a hay bale family, which Eric (understandably) comments with a slightly unbelieving 'Really now?' However, we are unsuccessful in looking for it along the highway.

So we continue straight to the small town of Duntroon, where a handful of buildings bring the charm of 19th century Duntroon to life. This includes a church that looks like a castle with its battlements, an old forge, the disused railway station, and the prison. A nice way to stretch our legs for a few minutes.

The next point on my list is only a few minutes away by car. The Elephant Rocks are a collection of large, sometimes bizarrely shaped rocks that lie in the middle of a meadow and where sheep graze. An adventure playground for children to climb on the rocks.

The road winds along the Danseys Pass until Oamaru with its Victorian flair. In 2013, I just drove by here - time to change that! We first head to our hostel and store the groceries in the refrigerator. Then we walk to the city center and buy two tickets for the penguin viewing tonight. Since we are both hungry and haven't cooked lunch, we dine at McDonald's for a change before continuing our city tour. We are drawn to the harbor and for the first time to the sea.

From here we want to see where we need to go tonight and walk the short distance to the visitor center of the little penguin colony, the world's smallest penguin species.

I inquire at the counter if we are allowed to walk through the open gate - and we are. But you can't get very far here. You can only see some nesting boxes, so we decide to explore the rest of the area and walk past the counter into the fenced colony. The penguins only return from fishing in the evening, so we just stroll around between the dozens of nesting boxes until we discover a room further back where you can look into some from above. There are actually penguin chicks inside - usually one, but sometimes two. Some are still tiny and fluffy, while others already seem quite fledged. After about 3 minutes, an employee of the visitor center comes and asks if we have a valid ticket for this area. Umm - ticket? We make long faces. I stumble around a bit, saying that our 'intrusion' wasn't intentional and that we only have tickets for the penguin viewing tonight and who knows, maybe that saved our a** because luckily we don't have to pay extra - actually entry to the area would have cost us $15 per person. We quickly follow the woman outside and apologize again when we arrive at the exit. It takes a few meters until we find our speech again. No one at the reception stopped us when we passed through the door and we didn't notice any signs or price lists, but thanks to our mishap we got to see penguin chicks for free.

In the evening, we are back at the site of our unconscious criminal activities (this time completely legally with a ticket) and take our seats in the stands. We don't have to wait long until the first group swims to the beach and then seeks refuge under the sidewalk until the search for the right nesting box begins. Despite patrols by supervisors, some people do not follow the existing photo ban and have to be repeatedly warned by the rangers. After the second wave of returning penguins, some visitors are already standing up and leaving. We are one of the few who stay until the end and see 4-5 'waves of penguins' landing - a total of 214. Some take shortcuts, squeeze between the fence slats, and then waddle along the path intended for visitors right past the viewers. The calls of the increasing penguins, which reach an average height of 35-40 cm and weigh about one kilo, keep getting louder until each one has found its nest. Little penguins have poor eyesight and as we experience first-hand, if they head to the wrong nest, they are roughly thrown out by the waiting parent. While we unfortunately cannot take any souvenir photos home, the cute little birds will stay in our memories for a long time. A truly worthwhile experience for the whole family.